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3. Petitioner is engaged in the provision of ATM Management Services for various banks at pan India level and undertake end to end services for the banks. Petitioner has paid Service Tax on the entire value of the contractual consideration received from banks on account of rendering of the aforesaid services and has also been regularly filing returns with the Service Tax Authorities. It is contended that petitioner render these ATM Management services to various banks across the Country whereby, end to end management of the ATM Machines is provided by the petitioner. The petitioner has duly discharged Service Tax on the entire revenue earned from such transaction. It is the grievance of the petitioner that the respondents have sought to levy VAT on the very same consideration by passing the Impugned Assessment Orders and Demand Notices by ignoring the gamut of services provided by the petitioner and treating the transaction as a "financial lease" and therefore, holding the same to be transfer of right to use the ATM Machines and "deemed sale of goods" which is not only without jurisdiction or authority of law but also illegal, arbitrary and contrary to the material on record and deserve to be quashed.

(i) The transaction between the Petitioner and Banks does not involve a financial lease. The payment of Service Tax by the Petitioner is not in dispute but the VAT authorities have ignored that payment by stating that such payment was incorrect and that the transaction is one involving financial lease on which VAT ought to be paid.
(ii) Under the Agreements with the Banks, the Petitioner provides end to end services to provide ATM related services to Banks. The Petitioner is responsible for the successful operation of the ATM transactions by the Bank's customers and therefore, is responsible for deploying its own ATM machines, their installation, operation and maintenance, insurance etc. The dominant intention of the transaction is undoubtedly to provide services and not to transfer any property in the ATM Machines to the Banks.
● Ownership as well as risks pertaining to the ATMs always lies with petitioner.
● Petitioner is responsible to maintain operational efficiency of the ATMs and other assets. In case of downtime beyond tolerable limit, petitioner is liable to pay penalty. ● Petitioner provides bank guarantee which can be redeemed by banks in case of non-performance. The banks can also terminate the contract in case of non-performance. ● Security of the ATM machine along with that of the cash is of the petitioner. Petitioner takes insurance for both the ATM Machine as well as the cash to be loaded on the same. ● The petitioner assists Banks to identify the optimal location for deployment of ATMs and assist the Banks in entire set up of the site, which includes renovation or preparation of site,
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WP No. 9550 of 2020
period, the banks deduct penalty from the monthly fixed payments.
● The petitioner earns revenue which is based on number of transactions undertaken by the users/ customer of Banks.
(ii) The material on record discloses that the petitioner is a service provider of ATM Management Services for various Banks at pan India level and undertakes end-to-end services for the banks in this regard and has been discharging Service Tax on the consideration received from banks on account of rendering the aforesaid services. Under the Agreements entered into with the Banks, the petitioner provides end-to-end services to provide ATM related services to Banks. The petitioner is responsible for the successful operation of the ATM transactions by the Bank's customers and therefore, is responsible for deploying its own ATM machines, their installation, operation and maintenance, insurance etc. The dominant intention of the transaction is undoubtedly to provide services and the ATM machines and other equipment never stood transferred to the Banks. The risk and reward with respect to the ATM and equipment is with the petitioner. The ATMs and equipment and even the cash handled by the petitioner in the