TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (3) TMI 62
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....eas, Management Consultancy and other services which are taxable under the Finance Act, 1994 for payment service tax. For this purpose the appellants have registered themselves with the jurisdictional service tax authorities and have obtained service tax registration certificate No.AAACK2632BST002. The appellants also avail CENVAT credit of service tax paid on input services as per the provisions of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 (for short, referred to as 'CCR'). 2.2 During the course of EA-2000 audit conducted by the Department on the books of account maintained by the appellants, the Department had enquired about the appellant's availing of Cenvat Credit and the exemption benefit availed on export of services by way of filing periodical refund claims with the department. On scrutiny of the documents and the books of accounts for the period 2007-2008 to 2008-2009, the Department had interpreted that the appellants have taken CENVAT credit of service tax on some of the input services in an irregular manner as these are not covered within the scope of input service' under Rule 2(l) of CCR of 2004 and therefore the appellants are not eligible for such credits. Further, some of the bra....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....NVAT benefit. Therefore, the Tribunal had allowed the appeal filed by the appellants, by way of remand to the original authority for proper and effective adjudication of the matter, in line with the observations made therein. Further, the said order of the Tribunal also directed that the original authority should examine the case laws relied upon by both sides for the fact finding, whether the benefit of CENVAT credit should be available to the appellant. 2.3 In adjudication of the dispute in remand proceedings, the learned Commissioner in the impugned order dated 25.03.2021 had confirmed the demand of service tax amounting to Rs. 3,60,81,814/- along with interest; and imposed penalties under Section 77, 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. Feeling aggrieved with the impugned Order, the appellants have filed this appeal before the Tribunal. 3.1 Learned Advocate for the appellants submitted that the appellants herein are engaged in providing various IT and IT enabled services for various technology like SAP/Oracle/Microsoft/Jawa/Business Intelligence/ Testing and other data processing support services to its worldwide group companies and certain domestic clients. For the purposes of p....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ance & Insurance auxiliary service and Goods Transport Operator services. Therefore, he claimed that the confirmation of adjudged demands in the impugned order is not sustainable. 3.3 Learned Advocate in support of their stand, relied upon the following CBIC Circular, decisions of the Tribunal: (i) Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited Vs. Commissioner of Service Tax, Mumbai-II - Larger Bench Interim Order No.05/2024 dated 18.03.2024 (ii) CBIC CircularNo.943/²/2011-CX dated 29.04.2011 (iii) Innovasynth (I) Technologies Ltd.Vs. Commissioner of C.Ex., Raigad- 2015 (38)S.T.R. 1232 (Tri. - Mumbai.) (iv) J.P. Morgan Services India Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Commr. ofC.Ex. (S.T.), Mumbai, 2016 (42) S.T.R. 196 (Tri-Mumbai) (v) Orient Bell Limited Vs. Commissioner of Central Excise, Noida - 2017 (52) S.T.R. 56 (Tri-All.) (vi) Reliance Industries Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Central Excise & Service Tax, Mumbai - 2016 (45) S.T.R. 383 (Tri-Mumbai) (vii) Red Hat India (P) Ltd. Vs. Principal Commissioner of Service Tax, Pune - 2016 (44) S.T.R. 451 (Tri-Mumbai) (viii) Capgemini Technology Services India Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of CG....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....oviding the taxable output services. Insofar as the definition of 'input service' is concerned, Rule 2(l) ibid defining the said term has three main category of services specified for coverage or exclusion under its scope. The first category is the 'means' part, which includes any service used by a provider of output service for providing an output service, where the usage of services can be explicitly observed as being used for providing output service. The second category of input services are those which have been specifically provided under the 'inclusion' part, which are like services used in relation to modernisation, renovation or repairs of a factory, premises of provider of output service or an office relating to such factory or premises, advertisement or sales promotion, market research, storage upto the place of removal, procurement of inputs, accounting, auditing, financing, recruitment and quality control, coaching and training, computer networking, credit rating, share registry, security, business exhibition, legal services, inward transportation of inputs or capital goods and outward transportation up to the place of removal etc., as these are consumed directly or in....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....s. In order to find out the eligibility of a particular service as 'input service' under such definition, the nature and the purpose of use of the service in the ultimate provision of the output service is required to be examined inasmuch as the parameters of eligibility of such credit differs from case to case basis. 8.3 Learned Adjudicating Authority had broadly grouped the disputed services under 15 categories for his examination and in all such cases, except in the case of club & association services and Storage & warehousing services had denied the CENVAT credit on the basis of his findings recorded in the impugned order. We have also examined these aspects and in respect of the each of the disputed services, we would herein deal with the issue of its eligibility in the following paragraphs. 8.4 In respect of 'catering, food and outdoor catering services', it has been claimed by the appellants that being an IT service provider and as the offices operate on 24 X 7 basis, it is necessary for providing such basic facilities to their employees. Further, they have claimed that these input services are attributable to specific projects for which the employees are working or th....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ces have been used to keep a check over the wellness or health of a person, before taking up the assignment in the appellants company and for taking up job assignments/projects from time to time. Further, the invoices have been billed to the company and not for the individuals for their personal consumption. Hence, we are of the view that these services are eligible to be considered as 'input service'. Further, we also find that the Tribunal in the case of SITEL India Limited (supra) have held that health and fitness service as eligible input service, where the output service is being provided on 24X7 basis, which is also the situation in the present case. The relevant paragraph of the said order is given below: "5. ....I find that to decide whether service is an input service or otherwise, it cannot be decided only by the nomenclature of the service. It is necessary to ascertain what is the output service and whether the service in question is required for providing the output service. In the present case, the appellant is providing the BPO services. In the BPO services the major involvement is manpower who are required to perform their duties on 24x7 basis when the manpo....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....or personal consumption of employees under the category of eligible input service and therefore consider these services as ineligible input service. 8.9 It has been claimed by the appellants that 'public relations service', 'people relationship management service' have been engaged to conduct events by professional consultants to increase the brand value and visibility in order to promote its business. We find that the Co-ordinate Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Orient Bell Limited (supra) have examined the public relations service and have held that these are having an objective of enhancing Brand Value, support to Marketing & Promotional Initiatives, Building Corporate image, Creating Awareness etc. to enable the company in providing enhanced output services. In view of the above, we are of the view that these services could be considered as eligible input service. 9.1 The appellants have claimed that photography service, video tape service have been used for picturisation of various events organized by the appellants and video tape and pictures are projected at various commercial events and seminars which promote their output services. In this regard we find that the ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....the Larger Bench of the Tribunal, we one of the view that the Rent-a-Cab services received prior to 01.04.2011 in the present case is eligible input service, for taking CENVAT Credit. 9.3 In respect of 'ship management services', transport services through waterways' and 'sound recording service', the adjudicating authority had found that no invoice have been produced by the appellants before him to substantiate the nature of such service and its usage in provision of output service. Further, in respect of 'short term accommodation service', the adjudicating authority had found that such stays by the employees traveling for work are more in the nature of personal consumption. We also could not examine the factual aspect as no invoices or supporting documents have been produced by the appellants for such services. Therefore, we are of the view that these services are not eligible to be considered as eligible input service. 10. With respect to denial of input credit on the ground that the address of the premises are not included in the registration certificate, we find that the appellants had submitted a letter for inclusion of unregistered premises in the Service Tax Regist....