Circular No. 1009/16/2015-CX - Dated: 23-10-2015 - Central Excise - Guidelines for launching of Prosecution under the Central Excise Act, 1944 and Finance Act, 1994 regarding Service tax

The person  who are liable to prosecuted ?

Person liable to be prosecuted

 Whoever commits any of the offences specified under sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 or sub-section (1) of section 89 of the Finance Act, 1994, can be prosecuted. Section 9AA (1) of Central Excise Act, 1944 provides that where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Section 9AA (2) of Central Excise Act, 1944 provides that where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Explanation to Section 9AA provides that (a) “Company” means anybody corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals and (b) “director” in relation to a firm means a partner of the firm. These provisions under Section 9AA of Central Excise Act, 1944 have been made applicable to Service Tax also vide Section 83 of the Finance Act, 1994.

Corporate criminal liability: officers and partners can be prosecuted for company service tax or excise evasion. Persons in charge of and responsible for a company's business are prosecutable alongside the company for service tax or central excise evasion; where an offence by a company is shown to involve the consent, connivance or neglect of a director, manager, secretary or other officer, that individual is deemed guilty. The statutory definition of company includes firms and associations and treats a partner as a director, extending corporate liability principles to service tax prosecutions.