Page 116 - GSTL_11th June 2020_Vol 37_Part 2

202 GST LAW TIMES [ Vol. 37
taxation would have to be taken - Turnover would mean the aggregate amount
for which sales are effected or services rendered by an enterprise - Conse-
quently, amount of increase in inventory due to purchase of inventory by the
appellant cannot be construed as turnover. [paras 14, 17, 18]
Exemptions from Service Tax - Amount of increase in inventory due to
purchase of inventory by the appellant being excluded from turnover, admit-
tedly the amount remaining is less than ` ten lakhs, and hence benefit of ex-
emption under Notification No. 25/2012-S.T. available to the appellant. [paras
18, 19]
Appeal allowed
CASE CITED
Commissioner v. Punjab Stainless Steel Industries
— 2014 (307) E.L.T. 214 (S.C.) — Relied on .................................................. [Paras 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18]
REPRESENTED BY : S/Shri Puneet Agrawal, Gaurav Gupta and Chetan
Kumar Shukla, Advocates, for the Appellant.
Shri Sanjay Jain, Authorised Representative, for the
Respondent.
[Order per : Anil Choudhary, Member (J)]. - M/s. SGS Construction &
Developers Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the ‘appellant’) is registered with the
Service Tax Department vide registration No. AAHCS7169QSD001 for legal con-
sultancy services, etc. The appellant’s primary business is development of prop-
erties for sale.
2. The appellant paid Service tax on reverse charge basis, in the F.Y.
2012-13 upon receiving legal consultancy services, even though the appellant
was eligible for exemption under the Notification No. 25/2012-S.T. (at Sl. No. 6)
which exempted a business entity from Service Tax, if the turnover in the previ-
ous financial year was equal to or less than 10 lakhs rupees. As per the appellant,
his turnover for the F.Y. 2011-12 was Rs. 2.04 lakhs and for F.Y. 2012-13 was
Rs. 6.78 lakhs which was below Rs. 10 lakhs, and he was eligible for exemption
under Notification No. 25/2012-S.T.
3. Pursuant to above, the appellant filed a refund application dated
29-8-2013 for claiming refund of Service Tax wrongly paid on receiving legal
consultancy services, for the period of October 2012 to December 2012, along
with all relevant documents including its profit and loss account for the year
ending 2011-12.
4. Both the lower authorities took the view that the exemption is not
available to the appellant. The lower authorities were of the view, that the turno-
ver of the appellant is more than Rs. Ten lakhs. The appellate authority whose
order is assailed before us, also went on to hold that the exemption is available
only to the service provider, and not to the service receiver, paying tax under
reverse charge basis.
5. For the purpose of ascertaining the turnover of the appellant, the Ad-
judicating Authority has placed reliance on Section 43A of Companies Act, 1956.
According to the Adjudicating Authority, the following figures were picked from
the Profit and Loss account for the purpose of ascertaining the turnover of the
appellant :

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