Intermediary services test failed for group procurement hub, making the services taxable import and defeating refund claims.

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....Core procurement services rendered by a foreign group procurement hub to an Indian entity were held not to be intermediary services, because the arrangement satisfied neither the statutory two-supply character of an intermediary nor a mere facilitation role. The Tribunal treated the foreign entity as an independent contractor acting on its own account under a principal-to-principal arrangement, so the services were an import of services with place of supply in India and were taxable there, defeating the refund claim. It also held that a refund application under the GST refund framework cannot be rejected solely as an afterthought merely because tax was first paid and non-taxability was later asserted.....