9911796707
TMI Blog2014 (8) TMI 148X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ose of not imposing penalty under Section 76. Thus, a mere mention of Section 80 in the order portion is nothing more than an inadvertence of no consequence. Reasons for delayed payment of service tax - Held that:- The statutory levies cannot be obviated for so long merely because the computer was down. Further, even if the computer was down, the appellant could have filed the return manually and paid service tax by computing the same manually. Further even if their untenable argument is considered for a moment, being aware that they had not paid service tax due and not filed statutory ST-3 returns for so long, if their bonafides were above board, they should/ would have atleast informed the department about it. It was only when the raid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2. The appellants contend that they have been registered with the Central Excise Department since 2002 and they could not file the ST-3 returns and could not deposit service tax because their computer was down. They had also contended that the original adjudicating authority waived the penalty under Section 76 by referring to Section 80 of the Finance Act, 1994. Once penalty under Section 76 on account of Section 80 of the Act ibid was not imposed, question of imposing penalty under Sections 77 and 78 ibid should not have arisen. Learned DR defended the impugned order stating that the appellants have never claimed that they were not aware of their tax liability, the period involved is from April 2004 to December, 2005 and having regard to t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , 2004 to December, 2005. The statutory levies cannot be obviated for so long merely because the computer was down. Further, even if the computer was down, the appellant could have filed the return manually and paid service tax by computing the same manually. Further even if their untenable argument is considered for a moment, being aware that they had not paid service tax due and not filed statutory ST-3 returns for so long, if their bonafides were above board, they should/ would have atleast informed the department about it. It was only when the raid was conducted and they were caught, that they admitted their violations. It is pertinent to note that the appellants have not claimed that they were not aware of their liability. Thus the ing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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