No Service Tax On Catering Services Provided To Educational Institutions: CESTAT

The New Delhi Bench of Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has held that no service tax on catering services provided to educational institutions. Dr. Rachna Gupta (Judicial Member) and Hemambika R. Priya (Technical Member) were addressing the issue of whether the catering services provided by the assessee to a School with hostel facility are covered under the exemption from payment of service tax given at serial no.9 of Notification No.25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012. The assessee/appellant is a sole proprietorship concern and is inter alia engaged in providing services in the nature of food to educational institutions and also is engaged in trading activities. Department found that assessee contravened the provision of Section 66, 66B, 67, 68, 69 and 70 of the Finance Act, 1994 read with Rule 4, 6 and 7 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 in as much as they have failed to pay Service Tax in respect of services provided under the category of 'Outdoor Catering Services'. The assessee submitted that the activity of the assessee was exempted from service tax vide serial no.9 of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012. Department argued that the service being provided as that of food preparation labour as well as supplying of Food on contracts basis falls under the definition of Outdoor Catering Services in terms of Section 65(105)(zzt) of Finance Act, 1994 as amended upto 30.06.2012 and thereafter the service is appearing taxable in terms of Section 65B (44) of the Act. The Tribunal after looking into the Notification No.25/2012 opined that the activity of rendering catering services was clarified by the Department itself to be the part of “auxiliary educational services”. This activity was specifically exempted vide amendment in the said serial no.9 of Mega-Exemption Notification. As per Notification No.06/2014 dated 11.07.2014, the services of catering provided to the educational institutions including the mid-day meal were made exempted from service tax for the period 11.07.2014 to 31.03.2015. This observation is sufficient to hold that the exemption of this Mega-exemption Notification was available to the assessee for the entire period in dispute, added the bench. The Tribunal held that the assessee was not liable to pay any service tax while rendering catering services to the educational institutes. In view of the above, the Tribunal allowed the appeal. Case Title: M/s Smt. Kala Kudal v. The Commissioner, Central Excise & GST, Udaipur (Rajasthan) Case Number: Service Tax Appeal No. 51606 Of 2019 Counsel for Appellant/ Assessee: Vivek Sharma and Saumya Mehrotra Counsel for Respondent/ Department: Anand Narayan Click Here To Read Order

No Service Tax On Catering Services Provided To Educational Institutions: CESTAT

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