Top Stories Charter Services for Transportation of Senior Executive Officials to attend Business Meeting in relation to Manufacture and Sale of Finished Goods is Input Service: CESTAT [Read Order] Charter Services for Transportation of Senior Executive Officials to attend Business Meeting in relation to Manufacture and Sale of Finished Goods is Input Service, rules CESTAT By Kalyani B. Nair – On May 20, 2024 1:32 pm – 2 mins read The Allahabad Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal ( CESTAT ) held that the charter services for transportation of senior executive officials to attend business meeting in relation to manufacture and sale of finished goods is input service. The revenue filed the appeal alleging that there is statutory definition of ‘input service’ under which only specified services can be treated as ‘input service’. All services procured by a manufacturer can not be treated as ‘input service’ but only those services which are within ambit of definition of input service.

Thus, the services which fall either under main definition or under inclusive definition would be treated as ‘input service’. The counsel for the assessee reiterated the finds recorded by the Commissioner (Appeals) in the impugned order stating that the services were used for furtherance of cost of the business of manufacture of the goods. The definition of the input services do not require, the services should have been used directly in the process of manufacture of finished goods.

The definition of the input service is wide enough to cover all the services received by the appellant as input services without being directly used in the process of manufacture. If it is to establish that the services were used by the manufacturer for the production of the finished goods which is one of the criteria to credit could not have been denied. A Two Member Bench comprising PK Choudhary, Judicial Member and Sanjiv Srivastava observed that “In the present case, Commissioner (Appeals) have concluded that charter services were raised for transportation of the senior executive officials of the company for attending the business meeting in relation of the manufacture and sale of finished goods. We do not find any reason to differ with the findings recorded in the impugned order by Appellate Authority and the same is upheld. Appeal is dismissed.”