AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (1) TMI 264
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....le or exempt from service tax during the different periods involved in the show cause notices; in the course of such provisions, the Appellant entered into agreements with specialist visiting doctors to provide their specialized services to the Appellant's hospital. Based on information that the Appellant were engaged in providing Business Support Services and were not paying service tax thereon, an investigation was initiated against the Appellant. As per the department, the services provided by the Appellant are not Health Care Services but are Business Support Services provided to doctors in the form of infrastructural support and administrative support to the doctors in the hospital and therefore, the Appellant are liable to pay service tax under the taxable category of 'Support Services of Business or Commerce'. On these allegations, the department had issued a show cause notice dated 28.05.2012 and subsequently issued the show cause notice dated 20.05.2014 (which is impugned in the present appeal), by invoking the extended period of limitation, alleging that the activity engaged in by the doctors for gain/livelihood would also constitute business. It was also alleged that the....
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....mere non-disclosure/non-filing of ST-3 returns does not amount to suppression of facts and therefore, extended period cannot be invoked. For this, he relies on the following judgment: * CCE & ST vs. Elegant Developers [2025 SCC Online SC 2376] 5. On the other hand, the learned Authorized Representative for the department reiterates the findings of the impugned order. 6. We have considered the submissions made by both the parties and perused the material on record. We find that the issue involved in the present appeals is no longer res integra as has been settled by the Tribunal in favour of the Appellant in Appellant's own case as cited supra. Further, we find that the Tribunal in various cases as cited supra, has decided the issue in favour of the assessees/appellants wherein it has been consistently held that the services rendered by the hospitals do not fall under the category of 'Business Support Services' rather the said services fall under the category of 'Health Care Services' which are exempt from the payment of service tax. In this regard, we may refer to decision of the Tribunal in the case of SJS Healthcare Limited (supra), wherein identical issue was invo....
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....from the remuneration paid to the visiting doctors. 9. We find that this issue is no more res integra and has been settled in favour of the assessee by various decisions (cited supra). In the case of Sir Ganga Hospital vs. CCE, Delhi-I (cited supra), it was observed by the Tribunal as under: "6. The proceedings by the Revenue, initiated against the appellant hospitals, are mainly on the inference drawn to the effect that the retained amount by the hospitals out of total charges collected from the patients should be considered as an amount for providing the infrastructure like room and certain other secretarial facilities to the doctors to attend to their work in the appellants hospitals. We find this is only an inference and not coming out manifestly from the terms of the agreement. Here, it is very relevant to note that the appellant hospitals are engaged in providing health care services. This can be done by appointing the required professionals directly as employees. The same can also be done by having contractual arrangements like the present ones. In such arrangement, the doctors of required qualification are engaged/contractually appointed to provide health ....
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....nvolves the idea of an occupation requiring either purely intellectual skill, or of manual skill controlled, as in painting and sculpture, of surgery, by the intellectual skill of the operator, as distinguished from an occupation which is substantially the production or sale or arrangements for the production or sale of commodities" "...a professional activity must be an activity carried on by an individual by his personal skill and intelligence...... and unless the profession carried on by (a person) also partakes of the character of a commercial nature" the professional activity cannot be said to be an activity of a commercial character." 8. Applying the above ratio and examining the scope of the tax entry for BSS, we are of the considered view that there is no taxable activity identifiable in the present arrangement for tax liability of the appellant hospitals." The decision of Sir Ganga Hospital's case was followed in the case of CCE & ST, Panchkula vs. Alchemist Hospital Limited (cited supra) and it was held by the Tribunal that "respondent-assessee were not provided any Business Support Service to the consultants/doctors or patient, therefore, no service tax....