9911796707
TMI Blog2013 (2) TMI 408X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onerate. 2. Briefly stated facts of the case are that the appellant are registered with the Service Tax Department for rendering 'Renting of Immovable Property Services'. On Scrutiny of the records by the Officers, it appeared that the appellant had not included the electricity and air conditioning charges in the taxable value while paying Service tax on the charges collected towards 'Renting of Immovable Property Services' from June 2005 to January 2007 and also not paid any Service tax on 'Operation & Maintenance charges under 'Maintenance & Repair Services' from 16-6-2005 to 31-5-2007. The above facts came to the notice of the Department only during the course of scrutiny of records made by the Officers of the SIV Cell of the Chenn ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eement and therefore, the question of treating the operation and maintenance charges as taxable under Management, Maintenance & Repair Services does not arise. (iv) that the appellant is discharging Service tax on the operation and maintenance charges from the clients with effect from 1-6-2007. (v) that the contract entered into with tenants is in the nature of a composite contract, and cannot be vivisected for the purpose of Service tax. It is submitted that as the entire amount is collected as lease rent the same cannot be bifurcated for the sake of levy of Service tax under the Management, Maintenance or Repair Service. (vi) To support his contention, the appellant relied on the followin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reiterating the submissions already made in the appeal memorandum, she has further submitted that this is an issue where the Department demanded Service tax on the value representing the electricity consumption and further holding that her client has suppressed the facts from the Department, imposed equal penalty. 5.2 In this regard, she has submitted that no Service tax is demandable on the amount representing electricity charges which was the actual amount paid to the Electricity Board. Hence, not includible for payment of Service tax as the same is deductible in terms of Service Tax Valuation Rules. In addition, she has also relied on the Tribunal, Chennai decision in the case of Plaza Maintenance & Services Ltd. v. Commr. of Servi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ncessional power tariff applicable to Research and Development institutions. The Department had issued a Show Cause Notice to the appellant as to why Electricity Charges and Energy Charges for the Air-condition equipments should not be included in the taxable value for determining Service tax under "Renting of Immovable Property Service". 6.2 The appellant contended that the Biotech Research and Development Industry cannot afford to absorb the actual cost of infrastructure, repair, maintenance, consumables, etc. which have to be subsidized by State/Central Govt. for the economic development of the country through the Frontier technology namely Biotechnology. In this context, the Govt. of Tamil Nadu had allotted the land at very subsid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ess amount towards Electricity Charges. It is also not disputed that the appellant are providing 'Renting of Immovable Property Service'. I find that the Electricity Charges collected from their client and paid towards TNEB is nothing but an incidental reimbursable expense, which the appellant had incurred while providing the service i.e. 'Renting of Immovable Property Service'. In view of the above I hold that the incidental reimbursable expense, which the appellant had incurred as a "Pure Agent" need not be included in the taxable value as per Rule 5(2) of the Service Tax (Determination of Value) Rules, 2006. Thus the tax already paid by the appellant is in order. (b) Whether 'Operation & Maintenance' Charges coll ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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