TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (2) TMI 889
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.... following observations:- "4.3 In the instant case, the excise labels supplied by the state prohibition department appeared to be in the nature of composite supply as the labels are supplied by the state excise department for affixing on the liquor bottles manufactured by the tax payer as per the relevant instructions / procedures prescribed by the State Government to indicate compliance and the labels are not for sale as such by the taxpayer. It, therefore, appears that the supply of labels by the Department of Prohibition and Excise, Government of Tamil Nadu is naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with the service provided by the said department to the taxpayer to comply with the requirement to indicate the duty paid nature of the ultimate goods supplied by the taxpayer. 4.4 Further, on verification of the demand report ID No. DI2018041200004 and e-acknowledgement reference details of the Department of Prohibition and Excise, Government of Tamil Nadu furnished by the taxpayer, it appeared that the demand is in the form of "Fee Type" and the activity is also mentioned as a service I.e. "Service Name: Label cost". It, therefore, appeared that the supply o....
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....d by the 1st respondent Joint Commissioner of GST & CE (Appeals II) reads as under:- "7. I have carefully considered all the relevant facts of this appeal including the counter points made by the appellants in their grounds of appeal as well as those made during the virtual hearing. The issue that calls for decision in this appeal is whether the appellant has right to claim the refund of the GST paid by them on RCM basis on the amounts paid to the Government of Tamil Nadu for the activity of procuring and affixing holograms on the bottles containing the alcoholic beverages manufactured by them. Admittedly, the appellants herein are engaged in manufacture, bottling and distribution of alcoholic beverages under license and as per conditions stipulated by the Government of Tamil Nadu (Government for short). One of the mandatory conditions that the appellants have to comply is to procure the security holograms from the Government by paying a prescribed amount and affix the same on all the bottles containing the alcoholic beverage. The appellants were paying taxes as per GST Law under RCM basis on such payments made to procure the security holograms. The appellants claim that t....
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....eason that the activity of grant of license and providing the holograms are two distinctly different activities with different objectives. The licensing of the manufacture, bottling and supply of alcoholic liquor would have its objective for regulate and garner revenue for the Government from such supply whereas, as per policy note for the year 2012-13 Issued by the Home, Prohibition and Excise Department of Government of Tamil Nadu as per Para 2.16 titled 'STATE EXCISE LABELS' it has been observed that: "In G.O (Ms) No.115, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department dated 05/06/2003, the Government ordered use of polyester hologram excise labels with modem technology to prevent the transportation and sale of spurious liquor. Pursuant to this, polyester holograms that cannot be forged are being manufactured and distributed by a private company selected by the open tender system in March. 2004. These labels are being affixed on the IMFS and Beer bottles." It is therefore, clear that the objective of use of holograms is to prevent the transportation and sale of spurious liquor. Hence, the payments made for procuring the holograms cannot get covered under the ca....
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....herefore hold that the appellants' appeal fails on the grounds of merit and therefore is liable to be rejected. In view of the above discussion and findings, I proceed to pass the following Order: ORDER I reject the appeal filed by the appellant bearing A.No.114/2020/GSTA-II/ADC/CO dated 19/11.2020." 5. The facts of the case are that the petitioner is engaged in the manufacture and sale of "Beer" from its Brewery. As is required under the Excise Policy of the State Government, the petitioner has to affix "holographic stickers" on every bottle of Beer which is sold in the retail market through TASMAC. It is intended to ensure that no spurious liquor is sold in the market. It also indicates payment of State Excise on every bottle of Beer sold by the petitioner. 6. In this connection, the petitioner has drawn attention to liquor policy of the Government of Tamil Nadu as also some of the laboratories giving details of the purpose of Holographic Excise Adhesive Label (Heal) which indicates these "holographic stickers" are intended to ensure collection of tax and also to protect consumer and to curb sale of illicit liquor in the market. 7. The case of the p....
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.... "Service by way of grant of alcoholic liquor licence, against consideration in the form of licence fee or application fee or by whatever name it is called". 12. It is the case of the petitioner that the "holographic stickers" purchased by the petitioner from the Prohibition and Excise Department was supply of goods and not service and therefore not liable to tax in terms of Notification No. 13/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017. It is further submitted that service by way of grant of alcoholic liquor licence, against consideration in the form of license fee or application fee or by whatever name it is called by the State Government in which it is engaged as public authorities shall be treated neither as a supply of goods nor a supply of service in terms of Notification No. 25/2019-Central Tax (Rate) dated 30.09.2019. It is therefore submitted that the petitioner was entitled to refund of the amount paid on tax on Reverse Charge Basis under Notification No. 13/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017. 13. The case of the petitioner is that since the petitioner is purchasing "holographic stickers" from the Prohibition and Excise Department, it is not taxable in the han....
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....pply of goods nor supply of service prior to 30.09.2018. 21. I have considered the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Senior Standing Counsel for the respondents. 22. There are 2 distinct activity carried out by the State Government. The 1st activity is the activity of granting liquor license to the manufacturers for manufacturing alcoholic liquor in the State of Tamil Nadu under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937. It is an activity carried by the State of Tamil Nadu as a sovereign authority. 23. As per Section 7 (2) of the respective GST enactments, certain activities or transactions undertaken by the Central Government, a State Government or any local authority in which they are engaged as public authorities shall be treated neither as a supply of goods nor supply of services. It has to be notified by the Government on the recommendation of the GST Council. 24. In this connection, Notification No. 25/2019-Central Tax (Rate) dated 30.09.2019 has been issued. As per the Notification No. 25/2019-Central Tax (Rate) dated 30.09.2019, service by way of grant of alcoholic liquor license, against consideration in t....
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....... ... 4 ... ... ... 5 Services supplied by the Central Government, State Government, Union territory or local authority to a business entity excluding, - (1) Renting of immovable property, and (2) Services specified below- (i) Services by the Department of Posts by way of speed post, express parcel post, life insurance, and agency services provided to a person other than Central Government, State Government or Union territory or local authority; (ii) Services in relation to an aircraft or a vessel, inside or outside the precincts of a port or an airport; (iii) Transport of goods or passengers. Central Government, State Government, Union territory or local authority Any business entity located in the taxable territory 30. On the other hand, if the supply of "holographic sticker" (excise label) is treated as a supply of "goods", it would be outside the purview of tax payable by Reverse Charge Basis (RCB) at Sl.No.5 to Notification No. 13/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 28.06.2017. 31. As per Section 2 (52) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017, "goods" means every kind of movable property other than mo....
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....nted, marked, stamped, or graphic matter affixed to, or appearing upon, the tubular fluorescent lamp. [Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Particular and Manner of their Display on Labels of Tubular Fluorescent Lamps) Regulations, 2009, Regn. 2(b)] "LABEL" means any written, printed, marked, stamped, or graphic matter affixed to, or appearing upon, room air conditioner. [Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Particulars and Manner of their Display on Labels of Room Air Conditioners) Regulations, 2009, Regn. 2(1)(b)] "LABEL" means any written, printed, marked, stamped, or graphic matter affixed to, or appearing upon, household frost free refrigerator. [Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Particulars and Manner of their Display on Labels of Household Frost Free Refrigerators) Regulation, 2009 2(1)(b)] "LABEL" means any written, printed, marked or graphic matter affixed to, or appearing upon, the distribution transformer [Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Particulars and Manner of their Display on Labels of Distribution Transformers) Regulations, 2009, Regn. 2(1)(c)] "LABEL" includes any band or ticket, [(English) Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1928, S. 7] ....
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....atisfies certain conditions relating to the process by which it was produced or its characteristics. Labelled or Sealed, Neither the word "labelled" nor the word "sealed" necessarily means that it should contain the name of manufacturer, 106 IC 587 : 29 Cr LJ 75 : 9 PLT 434 : 9 AI Cr R 352 : AIR 1928 Pat 213." 33. Holographic Sticker (Excise Label) is a "label". Holographic Sticker (Excise Label) is therefore 'goods' within the meaning of Section 2 (52) of the respective GST enactments. In paragraph 4.3 of Order in RFD-06 in C.No. IV/09/51/2020-GST (R) dated 20.08.2020 itself it has been clarified by the 2nd respondent that excise labels i.e., "holographic stickers" were supplied by the Prohibition and Excise Department. 34. As per Section 2 (m) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the expression "mark" includes a device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter, numeral, shape of goods, packaging or combination of colours or any combination thereof in Section 2 (m) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999. Similarly, the expression "package" in Section 2(q) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 also includes "label". 35. The expression "mark" and "package" in Sec....
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.... Illustration: Where goods are packed and transported with insurance, the supply of goods, packing materials, transport and insurance is a composite supply and supply of goods is a principal supply. "taxable supply" means a supply of goods or services or both which is leviable to tax under this Act. 42. As far as the manufacturing license under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937 and the rules made thereunder are concerned, it is one time annual license fee paid by a manufacturer of alcoholic beverage to the Prohibition and Excise Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu. As far as the supply of "holographic stickers" (excise labels) are concerned, they are to be procured and affixed by such manufacturers viz., breweries / distilleries as and when manufactured (brewed / distilled) alcoholic beverages are bottled and sealed and are to be removed for sale either in the wholesale or retail market. 43. That apart, under Section 2 (30) of the respective GST enactments, supply should consist of two or more taxable supplies of goods or services or both, or any combination thereof, which are naturally bundled and supplied in conjunction with each other in the....