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TMI Blog2018 (11) TMI 1804X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... here must be involvement of three parties namely, the service provider, service receiver and the agent facilitating procurement of service for and on behalf of the service provider. In other words, all the three parties involved in the contract must be known to each other, in order to be classifiable under such head of service. It is an admitted fact on record that for booking of ticket, the passenger only approached the appellant and not the GSA. Verifying the economic aspect, the sub-agent, like the appellant approaches a particular GSA for booking of tickets. Thus, in absence of any connection between the GSA, the appellant and its customer, the activities cannot be considered as a service, exigable to service tax under the taxable categ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to sell the tickets of such airlines; any customer intending to book a ticket, approaches the agent (other than GSA), who obtains the details such as name of the passenger, age, gender, passport number etc., and approaches the GSA of the particular airline for booking of ticket, which is issued directly in the name of the passenger. For providing the services of booking of tickets, the GSAs discharge the service tax liability under the taxable category of Air Travel Agent Service . The GSAs also pay commission amount to the agents on the basis of tickets booked by them. 1.3 In the present case, for booking of tickets on behalf of the passengers, the appellant had received the commission amount from the GSAs. The department proceeded ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... liable to be taxed under the taxable category of Business Auxiliary Service . The impugned order has dropped the partial demand proposed for recovery in the show cause notice, on the ground that on the commission amount received by one branch from another branch of the same company cannot be subjected to levy of service tax inasmuch as the branch offices and the head office are belonging to one corporate entity and there is no involvement of two separate persons in the transactions. Feeling aggrieved with the impugned order dated 16.09.2014, both the assessee-appellant and Revenue have preferred appeals before the Tribunal. 2. The assessee-appellant has assailed the impugned order on the ground that the services provided are in connect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d on the same to the sub-agent, the assessee-appellant in the present case. Thus, it has been contended by Revenue that the appellant is acting as an agent in the transactions made between the GSAs and the customers and for that purpose, received the commission amount from the GSAs. According to Revenue, such amount of commission received by the appellant should be liable to service tax under the category of business auxiliary service. 5. On perusal of the statutory provisions vis-a-vis the activities undertaken by the appellant, we find that the appellant is not an agent, working on behalf of the customers for facilitating purchase of tickets from the GSAs. The customers approaching the appellant for booking of tickets are not aware abo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . 6. With regard to the appeal filed by Revenue, it is an admitted fact on record that the head office and the branch offices of the appellant run their business under one umbrella i.e. the appellant s company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. The head office and the branch offices of one corporate entity cannot be termed as separate persons, one as the service provider and the other as the service receiver. Thus, in absence of any provider-receiver of service relationship, the commission amount shared by the branch office with the head office cannot be subjected to tax under such category of service. Thus, we do not find any justifiable reason to entertain the prayer made by Revenue in support of allowing their appeal. 7 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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