Service Tax on GTA who don't give any Consignment Note

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M.Sreenivasan (Querist)
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22 November 2008 As per rule 2(1)(d)(v) of Service Tax Rules, Consignor or consignee who is paying freight will be liable to pay service tax, if consignor or consignee is any one of the following -
(a) any factory registered under or governed by the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948).
(b) any company formed or registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956).
(c) any corporation established by or under any law.
(d) any society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any law corresponding to that Act in force in any part of India.
(e) any co-operative society established by or under any law.
(f) any dealer of excisable goods, who is registered under the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) or the rules made thereunder.
(g) any body corporate established, or a partnership firm registered, by or under any law.

My question is We are one among the above but if the GTA does not give any Consigment Note or any document and he is a individual driver /owner.

ARE we liable to pay service tax on same ?

Ravikumar.G

Ravikumar.G (Expert)
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22 November 2008 It is mandatory:
Rule 4B of the Rules prescribes that the goods transport agency shall issue a consignment note, which would be serially numbered and would contain the names of the consignor and consignee, the vehicle registration number, details of goods transported, details of place of origin and destination, and the person (consignor / consignee/goods transport agency) liable to pay service tax. In case of less container load (LCL) cargo, where the goods transport agent is not aware of the vehicle registration number at the time when he receives the goods and issues consignment note, he may mention the non-availability of vehicle registration number on the copy issued to the consignor. However, after he comes to know about the vehicle registration number, he should mention the same, consignment note-wise, in the records maintained by him and produce the same in case of verification. Similarly, in case of trans-shipment of goods en-route (i.e. where the goods covered under a consignment note are shifted from one vehicle to another), the records of registration numbers of the vehicles carrying such goods under a consignment note must be recorded as soon as the said information is available to the goods transport agent. These procedural relaxations are provided for such special cases only and, in all other cases, mention of vehicle registration number on the consignment note, at the time of its issue would continue to remain a mandatory requirement.

Ravikumar.G

Ravikumar.G (Expert)
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22 November 2008 Read
Circular No. 97 / 8 /2007 Dt 23.08.07

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M.Sreenivasan

M.Sreenivasan (Querist)
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22 November 2008 Thank you Ravikumar. You have clarified the point on Consignment note.

My question is if the Transporter is not giving any document or Consignment note for service .

Now as receiver Shall i have to pay service tax on transport charges inspight the transporter is not giving Consignment Note. OR can i take a stand that the service provider did't give consigment note so i don't have liablity to pay service tax.

Ravikumar.G

Ravikumar.G (Expert)
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22 November 2008 You cannot say that mere not giving of consignment note that i would not pay service tax. It is violation of law. You are not supposed to send excise goods without excise invoice. If checked by the preventive authority they will be penalised.

K V Subba Rao

K V Subba Rao (Expert)
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22 November 2008 Failure on the part of individual lorry owner in complying the requirement of issuing a Goods Consignment Note does not materially alter the nature of transaction and therefore does not absolve you from responsibility to pay Service Tax.

As per my vague memory, this point is covered in Gabbawalla or V S Datey's books also