The New Delhi bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal held that the invoices or challan issued by the provider of input services was a relevant document for availing CENVAT credit under rule 9 of the CENVAT Credit Rules,2004.
Ajay Mishra, the appellant assessee engaged in providing the taxable services of Consulting Engineer Service (CES) to their major clients for providing consultation for roads, bridges, tunnels, etc.
The assessee appealed against the order passed by the adjudicating authority by imposing a penalty and interest for availing exemption by the assessee.
Abhishek Rastogi and Manindre N. Verma, the counsels for the assessee contended that the service tax was not payable on construction of roads made anywhere in India.
Further submitted that the description of service as provided in the contract executed with the clients indicates that the services were provided concerning a road to be constructed in the State of Jammu & Kashmir and the services were held to be intangible services with no relation to immovable property, hence, are wrong.
Rajeev Kapoor, the counsel for the revenue contended that the addresses of the business establishment of the appellant as well as of their referred service recipient were also found existing in the taxable territory and those recipients were found registered with the service tax department on such addresses which are in taxable territory.
The bench observed that the invoice/bill or challan issued by the provider of input service was a relevant document for availing of CENVAT credit under rule 9 of the CENVAT Credit Rules.
The two-member bench comprising Rachana Gupta (Judicial) and R.Priya (Technical) held that the substantial benefit of availing of CENVAT credit cannot be denied on the grounds of procedural lapse while allowing the appeal filed by the assessee.
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