TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (12) TMI 945
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....nder the category of 'Club or Association Membership Service' for the period 16.6.2005 to 31.12.2006 and also demanded the interest and imposed penalty under Section 76, 77 and 78 and appropriated an amount of Rs. 12,44,722/- paid by the appellant. 2. Briefly the facts of the present case are that the appellants are engaged in providing various club facilities to their members and they are holding service tax registration under the category of 'Club and Fitness Service'. 2.1 On the intelligence gathered by the officers of Bangalore Zonal Unit of the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence, Bangalore (BZU), that Palm Meadows are rendering various club facilities without paying appropriate service tax on the said service, doc....
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....ed and thereafter, after the completion of investigation, a show-cause notice was issued and after following the due process, the Commissioner confirmed the demand along with interest and penalties. 3. Heard both sides and perused the records. 4. Learned consultant appearing for the appellant submitted that the impugned order is not sustainable in law as the same has been passed without properly appreciating the facts and the law. He further submitted that the impugned order has been passed merely on assumptions, unwarranted inferences and presumptions by ignoring the statutory provisions. He further submitted that the nature of activity undertaken by the appellant is not that of 'Club or Association Membership Service'. The persons w....
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....d legal. It is his further submission that in the present case, the service receivers are totally independent persons from the appellant and they are only customers who avail services of the appellant independently under the scheme formulated by the appellant. It is clear that the amount collected is from the customer and not from the Members. Accordingly, the activity does not fall under the category of 'Club or Association' service and the impugned order is required to be set aside on this ground also. He further submitted that the impugned order considering the Business Division of the appellant 'Palm Meadows Club' as a separate entity and the customers are members of that entity is not proper and legal. He further submitted that even fo....
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....ties or advantages for a subscription or any other amount are liable for service tax. In the present case, the service recipients are totally independent person and they are only the customers who avail services of the appellant independently under the scheme formulated by the appellant. Further, we find that the appellants are not paying the service tax on the entrance fee and are paying service tax with regard to all other services provided by them and it has been admitted by the Manager of the Company in its statement recorded during the investigation. We also note that even for the sake of argument, we consider the appellant as a 'Club or Association' even then the entrance fee charged by the appellant is not liable to service tax in vi....