Essel Propack Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Thane - I - (Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal) (06 Oct 2015)

Difference between sales tax charged and NPV paid not includible as transaction value

Excise

Distinguishing three judgments of the Supreme Court that the difference between amounts collected by Assessee from its customers as sales tax and the amount paid as sales tax to the Department pursuant to a sales tax incentive scheme, is includible in the meaning of ‘transaction value’ as per Section 4 of the Central Excise Act, 1944, CESTAT, Mumbai, ruled otherwise. It noted that none of the previous decisions dealt with schemes by which it became optional for assessees to pay the amount either at the end of stipulated period or at any point of time earlier on the basis of Net Present Value of the amount of sales tax to be paid at the end of deferral period. The bench reasoned that the retention period is very long and the “value of the money changes with time”. Hence, the concept of Net Present Value has to mean the value of deferred sales tax at the time of clearance. While Maharashtra has specified Net Present Value by way of notification, other states do not have provisions similar to this; CBEC has not provided rules for treatment of Net Present Value.

Tags : EXCISE SALES TAX NET PRESENT VALUE TRANSACTION VALUE