The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the central goods and services tax (CGST) department’s appeal seeking to levy a service tax of Rs 1.19 billion and a penalty of Rs 1.25 billion on Bharti Airtel over waivers provided under its employee call allowance scheme.
A bench upheld the January ruling of the Chandigarh bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), which had quashed the tax and penalty demand raised by the department.
Under the ‘Airtel Employees Services Scheme’, the company had waived telephone charges up to a certain limit for its own employees using mobile or fixed-line connections. The benefit was not extended to family members or employees of other group companies.
