TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 924
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....stered with the central excise department and also had service tax registration to provide consultancy services. Its records were audited by the Accountant General Audit who felt that the respondent had provided services of value of Rs.31,33,91,662/- during the period April 2016 to March, 2017 to M/s Electro Motive Diesel, USA [EMD] as per an agreement and the nature of this service was that of intermediary service. 3. After 2012, all services other than those in the negative list became exigible to service tax. Sometimes the service provider and service recipient are in different locations and in such cases it becomes necessary to determine where the service has been provided because the Act extended only to the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir. It did not apply to other countries and, therefore, services rendered in some other country they were not exigible to service tax. The Place of Provisions of Service Rules, 2012 [POPS Rules] were notified to determine the place on provision of services. As per rule 3 of POPS Rules, the place of provision of a service shall be the location of this service recipient. However, some exceptions were made to the General Rule and as per....
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....ailways ("IR")'s production units and maintenance facilities for the purpose of order execution and technical support. k. Provide advice and guidance in clearance of warranty and claim material through customs. l. Provide advice and guidance in coordination with IR for clearing material being supplied to customers on FOB basis. m. Provide guidance on proper tendering proceedings to be followed for IR tenders. n. Provide advice and guidance for arranging bid bonds on behalf of Client Inc. or its subsidiaries for customers tenders at Client's directive. o. Provide advice and guidance in monitoring the tender process, analyze competitive scenario and present suggestions for next tender. p. Provide advice and guidance in preparation of tender documents. q. Carry out legal rectification of material supplied by client to customer in India upon receiving direction from client, consultant should arrange to carry out rectification and bill client for reimbursement, along with their currency invoice with all supporting documents." 7. The case of the department is that the respondent had, in providing advice and guidanc....
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....ere the agreement is with only one party, the service provider provides services to that party only. It does not matter that the services were consultancy services which would help the service recipient in dealing with some other parties. In Cube Highways and Transportation Assets Advisor Pvt Ltd. vs. Assistant Commissioner of CGST [2023 (77) G.S.T.L. 387 (Del.)] the Hon'ble Delhi High Court explained this position in the following words: "38. As noted above, the Appellate Authority had accepted that the services provided by the petitioner included identifying potential opportunities for investments in India, analyzing investment returns and related risks, preparing reports etc. However, the Adjudicating Authority concluded that the petitioner was "...performing these activities in India in his liaison capacity and the person acting in liaison capacity, has to act as a go between his principal and his principal's customers which are opportunities for investments' in the instant case". 39. Concededly, the said view is unsustainable. 40. The petitioner is the service provider. It is rendering the advisory services directly to I Squared and is not ac....
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....diary service. An intermediary essentially "arranges or facilitates" another supply (the "main supply") between two or more other persons and, does not himself provide the main supply. 3.2 Two distinct supplies: As discussed above, there are two distinct supplies in case of provision of intermediary services: (1) Main supply, between the two principals, which can be a supply of services or securities: (2) Ancillary supply, which is the service of facilitating or arranging the main supply between the two principals. This ancillary supply is supply of intermediary service and is clearly identifiable and distinguished from the main supply. A person involved in supply of main supply on principal to principal basis to another person cannot be considered as supplier of intermediary service. 3.3 Intermediary service provider to have the character of an agent, broker or any other similar person: The definition of "intermediary" itself provides that intermediary service providers-means a broker, an agent or any other person, by whatever name called... "This part of the definition is not inclusive but uses the expression "means" and does not expand the def....