TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (8) TMI 1688
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....the Business Support Service is of Rs. 3,04,92,400/- and for Information Technology Software Services is of Rs. 2,10,537/- . 2. The Department has also filed Service Tax Appeal No. 53575 of 2014 against the same impugned order by which the Adjudicating Authority has dropped the demand pertaining the import of services from M/s Echostar Satellite and Broadcasting Services. As both the appeals emanate out of a common order, the two appeals are taken up together for disposal. 3. The Appellant is engaged in broadcasting of various channels such as Aaj Tak, Headline Today, Dilli Aaj Tak, and Tez and is registered with the Service Tax Department for rendering taxable services, namely, Broadcasting Services, Online Information and Data Based Access and Retrieval Services, Management, Maintenance and Repair Services (in short MMR) etc. During the course of audit of the record of the Appellant by the department, certain discrepancies were noticed, which led to the issuance of four Show Cause Notices the details of which are reproduced as under; S No. SCN dated Relevant Period BSS ITSS 1 19.10.2010 01.05.2006 to 30.09.2009 16.05.2008 to ....
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....ed order has confirmed the demand of service tax on the Appellant under 'reverse charge' on payment made by it to Intelsat under the category of BSS, which is not liable for payment of service tax. The Appellant is a broadcaster and has hired transponder capacity on the satellites owned by Intelsat. Intelsat is a company specialised in satellite operation and the said capacity was used by the Appellant for uplinking and downlinking of signals to provide broadcasting services. It has also been submitted that the taxable services of 'BSS' covers the activities specified under Section 65(104c) of the Act. Learned Advocate submitted that the services rendered by the Appellant is beyond the ambit of 'BSS' and for which he has place reliance on the Circular of CBEC dated 28.02.2006, which clarified introduction of BSS to all such outsourced services. The Appellant is not engaged in such activities so as to come within the purview of BSS. Reliance has been also placed on the decision of this Tribunal in Commissioner vs. R D Kute & Company [2017-TIOL-1131-CESTAT-MUM], wherein it was held as under; "6. We also take note that the definition o....
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....the category of 'BSS' by applying the principle of Section 65A of the Finance Act. Hence, the confirmation of demand under the category of 'BSS' is not sustainable and deserves to be set aside. (vii) Learned Advocate also submitted that the confirmation of demand of service tax under Information Technology Support Services (in short ITSS) is not sustainable and has rightly been set aside in the impugned order as the said demand pertains to services received by the Appellant from abroad for repair of information technology software. Such services of maintenance of Information Technology Software Service has been made taxable with effect from 16.05.2008 by way of insertion of Clause (b) to the definition of Management, Maintenance and Repair Services under Section 65 (64) of the Act and so the said service cannot be taxed under the category of any service including ITSS. Reliance has been placed on the decision of this Tribunal in SAP India Private Limited vs. Commissioner [2011 (21) STR 303 (Tri.-Bang.)]. It is for this reason that the same has been dropped prior to 16.05.2008. However, the confirmation of demand for the period from ....
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....ness or commerce and includes evaluation of prospective customers, telemarketing, processing of purchase orders and fulfilment services, information and tracking of delivery schedules, managing distribution and logistics, customer relationship management services, accounting and processing of transactions, operational assistance for marketing, formulation of customer service and pricing policies, infrastructural support services and other transaction processing. Explanation -For the purposes of this clause, the expression "infrastructural support services" includes providing office along with office utilities, lounge, reception with competent personnel to handle messages, secretarial services, internet and telecom facilities, pantry and security"; 9. The taxable service is defined under Section 65 (105)(zzq) which is as under; "Section 65 (105)(zzzq): "Taxable Service" means any service provided or to be provided to any person, by any other person, in relation to support services of business or commerce, in any manner; 10. From a perusal of the above stated statutory definitions it is seen that Business Support Service (BSS) covers in its ambit various activities ....