TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (9) TMI 695
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....nt has paid the service tax on the entire consideration after claiming cenvat credit on the input services and filed the returns as per the provisions of the Finance Act, 1994. The Department entertained the view that the part of the said service rendered by the appellant would fall under Call Centre Service, which is exempt and thereby, issued show cause notice for restricting the Cenvat credit utilization up to 20% on the ground that the appellant was providing taxable as well as exempted services. After following the due process, original authority confirmed the demand. Aggrieved by the said order, the appellant filed appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) who also upheld the Order-in-Original and dismissed the appeal of the appellant. Hence, the present appeal. 3. Heard both the parties and perused the material on record. 4. Shri Bimal Jain, Ld. Consultant submits that the impugned order is not sustainable in law and the same has been passed without properly appreciating the facts and the law and the binding judicial precedents on the identical issue. He further submits that the Ld. Commissioner has not considered the appellant's submissions that its customer services were ....
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....ay service tax. 4.2 He also cited the decision of Crown Products Pvt. Ltd. Vs CCE, 2012 (28) S.T.R. 406 (Tri.) wherein the Tribunal has examined the position of the law and held that Section 5A(1A) of the Excise Act, is not applicable to the Finance Act and therefore, there is no clause barring a service provider from paying tax on exempted services. He also relied upon the decision in the case of CCE Vs. Narayan Polyplast, 2005 (179) E.L.T. 20 (S.C.) wherein the assessee, instead of availing exemption available to final products under a particular notification, took credit of duty paid on inputs and paid duty on the final product utilizing the credit and the Revenge sought to deny credit based on Rule 57C of the Central Excise Rules stipulating that credit is not admissible of duty paid on inputs used in the manufacture of exempted product, the Supreme Court held that the credit availed and duty paid is identical and hence the issue is Revenue neutral and accordingly dismissed the appeal of the Revenue. 4.3 Ld. Consultant also submits that Cenvat Credit of Rs. 2,63,407/- has wrongly been denied on management consultant's Service, Security Agency, and maintenance or Repair servic....
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....eement entered into by the appellant with M/s Spice Communications Limited. The appellant is supplying the customer care service under BAS by providing call support service and it has been held in the case of Phoenix IT Solutions Ltd. cited (Supra) wherein it has been held that assessee providing call centre service on behalf of the client would fall under BAS within the purview of Service Tax, the relevant para of the judgment is reproduced here in below: "12. According to the Notification No. 8/2003-ST., Call Centre means a commercial concern which provides assistance, help or information through telephone on behalf of another person whereas one of the activities covered by Business Auxiliary Service is provision of service on behalf of the client and service incidental to that service. When we look at the agreement between the companies in this case, role of call centre is to receive complaints, record the nature of the complaints, date and time of complaint. Call centre is required to help maintain a database of telephone numbers of Fuse off call centre/distribution section offices sub-division offices/division offices/circle offices etc. and the complaints are required to be....
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.... per Finance Act, 1994, different activities of Electricity Call Centre are definitely covered by Business Auxiliary Service. The activities of registration of complaints/monitoring of complaints, collection of payments, accounting for the same and management of accounts and complaints cannot be called as call centre activities. Before we conclude, it is necessary to examine whether this service is appropriately classifiable under SSBC. SSBC covers customer relationship management service, accounting and processing of transactions, infrastructure support service and other transaction processes. It is to be noted that SSBC is the service provided in relation to business or commerce whereas Business Auxiliary Service is service provided on behalf of the client. Therefore, what is required to be seen is whether the services are provided to the customer or to electricity company/department. When complaints are registered and amounts are collected, in reality, the appellant is acting on behalf of the electricity company/department as far as the customers are concerned, having a direct interaction with the customer. In case of SSBC, that would not be the case. The interaction would ....
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.... Export of Services Rules, 2005." 8. We also find that in the case of Commissioner of Central Excise Vs. Federal Mogul TPR India Ltd cite (Supra) the Hon'ble Karnataka High Court has held as under: "11. Section 5A(1A) of the Central Excise Act provides for power to grant exemption from duty of excise. Section SA(1A) of the Central Excise Act specifically provides that "for the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that where an exemption under Sub-section (1) in respect of any excisable goods from the whole of the duty of excise leviable therean has been granted absolutely, the manufacturer of such excisable goods shall not pay the duty of excise on such goods", 12. The words "shall not pay" enumerated in the said provision specifically denotes that it is the mandatory requirement on the manufacturer of such excisable goods not to pay the duty of excise on such goods in respect of which an exemption under Section 5A(1A) has been granted absolutely. Such a mandatory requirement of "not to pay" the duty of excise on goods exempted under Sub-section (1) of Section 5(A) is not found in Section 93 of the Service Tax Act. Section 83 of the Service Tax Act provides for applicati....