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TMI Blog2022 (7) TMI 1118X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mmittee may have to carry out audit of various other declarants and it would be impossible for them to prepare Minutes of the Meeting over night. This is one of the reason the circular dated 27th August 2019 has been issued where it says that during the enquiry or audit the liability is admitted by the person in the audit report . As could be seen from the four audit objections mentioned above, the declarant has admitted the duty liability under each head. Since the audit was conducted on 29th March 2019 and 1st April 2019, these would be the dates on which the amount of duty has been quantified. Therefore, the amount of duty has been quantified on or before 30th June 2019. Therefore, draft of the Minutes of the Managing Committee has been prepared by June 2019 itself and hence it can be safely concluded that though there was audit, amount of duty quantified also has been quantified before 30th June 2019. In our view, therefore, rejection of petitioner s declaration on the ground that final audit report is issued after 30th June 2019 is incorrect. Respondents are directed to reconsider the declaration filed by petitioner and issue necessary discharge certificate in Form S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oner was called upon to pay the same alongwith interest for the delayed payment. Petitioner made payment on or about 9th August 2019. Petitioner was also called upon to pay the late fee applicable on account of delayed payment which was also paid by petitioner. A total of Rs.41,500/was paid towards late fee. 5. In reference to the audit objections against petitioner and as per dues paid by petitioner, except part of interest amount of service tax already paid, petitioner vide its letter dated 6th September 2019 informed the audit department that they would like to apply for relief under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 (herein after referred to as SVLDRS ). After the scheme came into force with effect from 1st September 2019, petitioner filed online application Form No.1 under SVLDRS on 17 th December 2019. Petitioner declared tax dues under Section 123 (c) of the Finance Act, 2019 (the Act) at Rs.1,39,74,842/- and amount payable under the scheme as per Section 121 (e) of the Act as NIL after availing relief under Section 124(1)(d) of the Act and deduction of Rs.1,14,18,634/deposited towards service tax, interest and late fees. Respondent No.3 issue ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n, fifty per cent. of the tax dues; (e) where the tax dues are payable on account of a voluntary disclosure by the declarant, then, no relief shall be available with respect to tax dues. (2) The relief calculated under sub-section (1) shall be subject to the condition that any amount paid as pre-deposit at any stage of appellate proceedings under the indirect tax enactment or as deposit during enquiry, investigation or audit, shall be deducted when issuing the statement indicating the amount payable by the declarant: Provided that if the amount of pre-deposit or deposit already paid by the declarant exceeds the amount payable by the declarant, as indicated in the statement issued by the designated committee, the declarant shall not be entitled to any refund. 7. Petitioner chose to avail of the scheme because as mentioned under Section 124 (a) petitioner will escape penalty and interest. Who can make a declaration under the scheme is provided in Section 125 which reads as under : 125. (1) All persons shall be eligible to make a declaration under this Scheme except the following, namely:- (a) who have filed an appeal before the appellate forum and such app ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ular 1071/4/2019-CX 8 dated 27th August 2019 issued by Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs in which clause (10)(g) reads as under : (g) Cases under an enquiry, investigation or audit where the duty demand has been quantified on or before the 30th day of June, 2019 are eligible under the Scheme. Section 2(r) defines quantified as a written communication of the amount of duty payable under the indirect tax enactment. It is clarified that such written communication will include a letter intimating duty demand; or duty liability admitted by the person during enquiry, investigation or audit; or audit report etc. 10. As per this clause in cases under audit where the duty demanded has been quantified on or before 30th June 2019 are eligible under the scheme. It also clarifies that if the duty liability is admitted by the person during the enquiry, even that would fall within the definition quantified under Section 2(r) of SVLDRS. 11. It is true that there was audit of petitioner. To see whether the duty demand was quantified on or before 30th June 2019, let us examine the audit report which was released to petitioner on 9th October 2019. In the audit report the date ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eement : The assessee has agreed to pay the late fee and requested for one week time for interest payment. Further, they have requested to close the matter. Decision of MCM : Para accepted. Pursue for the recovery or else SCN shall be issued. Action Taken : Assessee paid the late fee of Rs.16,000/- vide CTIN No. 1907021687 dated 09.08.2019, Rs. 1500/- vide CTIN No. 1907021683 dated 09.08.2019, Rs. 3000/- vide CTIN No. 1907021677 dated 09.08.2019, Rs.500/- vide CTIN No. 1907021235 dated 09.08.2019, Rs.20,000 vide Challan No. 50025 dated 13.03.2019, Rs.500/- vide Challan No. 00520 dated 25.04.2015. Hence Para closed. Audit Objection Code No. ST CSR99 Audit Para 3 : Default payment of Service Tax : It was observed that assessee has defaulted in Service Tax payment during the period 2016-17 April-June, 2017-18. The assessee was requested to pay Service Tax alongwith interest in terms of Section 75 of Finance Act, 1994. . Revenue involved : ST Rs.80,97,267 + Interest Taxpayer s Agreement/Reasons for Disagreement : The assessee has agreed and voluntarily paid the Service tax amount of Rs.24,50,000 vide Challan No. 24, Rs.20,99,599 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s mentioned above, the declarant has admitted the duty liability under each head. Since the audit was conducted on 29th March 2019 and 1st April 2019, these would be the dates on which the amount of duty has been quantified. Therefore, the amount of duty has been quantified on or before 30th June 2019. 13. Mr. Deshmukh relied upon judgment of this court in JSW Steel Ltd. vs Union of India and Others 2021 SCC OnLine Bom 3584 to submit that the court cannot come to a conclusion that the amount has been quantified before 30th June 2019. In our view, this judgment is not applicable to the facts and circumstances of this case. We also have to note that in the letter dated 9th October 2019 from respondents forwarding the audit report, the opening paragraph reads as under : Please refer to Minutes of MCM for the month of June 2019 (Copy enclosed) pertaining to DAR No.883/2018-19 of M/s. B Chopda Construction Pvt. Ltd. The details of Paras 1, 2, 3 4 are as follows:- (emphasis supplied) 14. Therefore, draft of the Minutes of the Managing Committee has been prepared by June 2019 itself and hence in our view we can safely conclude that though there was audit, amount of d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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