Superintendent of Central
Excise given Powers to Handle Service Tax Case upto
Rs 1 lakh
[Service
Tax Notification No. 130 dated 20th September 2010]
Subject: Powers of
adjudication of Central Excise Officers in Service Tax cases – instructions.
Attention is invited to Board’s
Circular No. 80/1/2005 – ST dated 10.05.2005 and No. 97/8/2007 dated 23.08.2007
(para12.2) which specifies uniform monetary limits for adjudication of cases
under section 73 and section 83 A of the Finance Act, 1994. At present adjudication powers in Service Tax
cases have been delegated upto the level of Assistant
Commissioners and Superintendents were not vested with any authority to
adjudicate cases. The Board has decided to confer the power of adjudication on
Superintendents for cases involving service tax upto
Rs. 1 lakh in a show cause notice, except in respect
of issues relating to taxability of services, valuation of services and cases
involving extended period. Accordingly
the monetary limits for adjudication of cases has been revised vide
Notification No. 48/2010 – Service Tax dated 8th September 2010.
2. The revised monetary limits are as follows:
|
Table I |
||
|
Sr. No. |
Central Excise Officer |
Amount of service tax or CENVAT credit specified
in a notice for the purpose of adjudication under Section 83A |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
|
(1) |
Superintendent of Central Excise |
Not exceeding Rs. one lakh
(excluding the cases relating to taxability of services or valuation of
services and cases involving extended period of limitation.) |
|
(2) |
Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or
Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise |
Not exceeding Rs. five lakhs
(except cases where Superintendents are empowered to adjudicate.) |
|
(3) |
Joint Commissioner of Central Excise |
Above Rs. five lakhs
but not exceeding Rs. fifty lakhs |
|
(4) |
Additional Commissioner of Central Excise |
Above Rs. twenty lakhs
but not exceeding Rs. fifty lakhs |
|
(5) |
Commissioner of Central Excise |
Without limit. |
The revised monetary
limits for the purpose of adjudication under section 73 are as specified as
below,-
|
Table – II |
||
|
Sr. No. |
Central Excise
Officer |
Amount of Service Tax
or CENVAT credit specified in a notice for the purpose of adjudication. |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
|
(1) |
Superintendent of Central Excise |
Not exceeding Rs. one lakh
(excluding the cases relating to taxability of services or valuation of
services and cases involving extended period of limitation.) |
|
(2) |
Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or
Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise |
Not exceeding Rs. five lakhs
(except cases where Superintendents are empowered to adjudicate.) |
|
(3) |
Joint Commissioner of Central Excise |
Above Rs. five lakhs
but not exceeding Rs. fifty lakhs |
|
(4) |
Additional Commissioner of Central Excise |
Above Rs. twenty lakhs
but not exceeding Rs. fifty lakhs |
|
(5) |
Commissioner of Central Excise |
Without limit. |
3. In respect of the above powers of
adjudication conferred on the Superintendents, it is clarified as under,-
(i) The
Superintendents would be competent to decide cases that involve Service Tax and
/ or CENVAT credit upto Rs. one lakh
in individual show cause notices.
(ii) They would not be
competent to decide cases that involve taxability of services, valuation of
services, eligibility of exemption and cases involving suppression of facts,
fraud, collusion, willful mis-statement etc.
(iii) They would be competent
to decide cases involving wrong availment of CENVAT
credit upto a monetary limit of Rs. one lakh.
(iv) The jurisdictional Commissioners of Central Excise may redistribute the
pending cases in the Commissionerate based on above
factors. It is further clarified that notwithstanding this revision, in all
cases, where the personal hearing has already been completed, orders will be
passed by the officer before whom the hearing has been held. Such orders should
normally be issued within a month of the date of completion of the personal
hearing.
(v) It may also be noted that
the age-wise pendency of cases as shown in the Monthly Technical Report should
be reported based on the date of issuance of show cause notice and not on the
basis of transfer of cases to the new Adjudicating Authority. The
jurisdictional Commissioners should ensure that the work of re-allocation of
the pending cases, issuance of corrigendum to the Show Cause Notices, transfer
of relevant files and records etc, should be completed in a time-bound manner
at the most within a month. A compliance report in this regard should be sent
to the Chief Commissioner by the Commissioner, who in turn, should submit the
details to the DGST by 30th September 2010. DGST will consolidate and submit a
report to the Board by 15.10.2010 to the effect that all the work regarding
re-allocation of cases has been completed.
4. The contents of this circular may be suitably
brought to the notice of the field formations and the Trade.
F. No. 137/68/2010 – CX. 4