TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (11) TMI 847
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....-115-14-15 dated 5^th December 2014 of Commissioner of Service Tax (Appeals), Pune. This is the second round of appearance before the Tribunal and, on the former occasion, the matter had been remanded to the original authority with a direction to examine the various documents claimed to be in possession of the appellant as evidence of discharge of tax liability on accrual but sought to be recovered in the impugned proceedings on receipt basis and to consider the submission of the appellant that the tax liability reported in the statutory returns were an accurate reflection of the tax liability recorded in the books of accounts. In addition, the remand order directed a revisit of the tax held to be recoverable as provider of 'business auxili....
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....nd order of the Tribunal. 3. In this context, it would be worthwhile to recall some of the critical aspects of the proceedings initiated against the appellant. The appellant is registered as a provider of 'advertising agency' service under the Service Tax Rules, 1994 and claims to be exclusively discharging its role as an 'accredited agency' with the Indian Newspaper Society-a pivotal organisation for the print media of the country. It is not in dispute that the appellant had been discharging self-assessed tax liability during the period covered by the show cause notice leading to the impugned proceedings. It is the claim of the appellant that, though the legal provisions did require otherwise, they had been discharging the tax liability....
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....from these clients in 2005-06 and the corresponding challans for deposit in the relevant year coupled with the accounting entries of transfer of those very amounts to the 'bad debt' ledger. 5. The second unresolved aspect of the dispute is manifested in the demand of Rs. 2,66,604 allegedly short-paid as revealed from the remittance of service tax of Rs. 15,76,659 as ascertained from the returns for the period from 2002-03 to 2004-05 and the alleged liability of Rs. 18,43,263 ascertained by tax authorities from the 'trial balance.' Neither in the show cause notice nor in the proceedings before the lower authorities do we find any reference to the entry, or entries, in 'trial balance' from which the higher amount had been derived. We are n....
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....acking such accreditation, it would appear that the proceedings were initiated on the premise that this activity amounted to procurement of service for the client. In this context, a proper appreciation of the dispute can be formed from a narration of the role of 'accredited agency' in the media operations of the country. In such a vast, multicultural territory with a heritage of newspaper having contributed in the struggle for political independence and social reforms, the promotion of commercial interests among the citizenry fell to the fourth estate; it has a reach that other forms may find difficult to rival. Considering the scope for oligopolistic pricing in the circumstances, and the numerosity of registered newspapers, it is the symb....