Taxability of Activities of Business Consultancy

2015-VIL-431-KAR
THE STATE OF KARNATAKA Vs IBM INDIA PVT LTD
Karnataka Sales Tax Act – Sale – Goods – Taxability of activities of business consultancy services and implementation of the Enterprises Resource Planning (ERP) software – Whether the activity is pure services not involving any sale of goods or any transfer of property in goods in the execution of works contract – Development and integration of ERP software
HELD – In integration process there is no transfer of any goods involved. There is no marketable commodity in existence to be sold. Unless such a commodity, whether tangible or intangible, exists there cannot be a sale – the title of the software vests with the client and not with the assessee. What the assessee is entitled to is the consideration for the services rendered – the said deliverable materials do not constitute commercially available software and are not marketable. They are not goods available in the market – The entire consideration received for providing services to the client have been subjected to service tax. Therefore, no portion of the consideration received could be attributed to sale of the software. Therefore, the finding recorded by the Tribunal is based on legal evidence and supported by the legal position as declared by the Apex Court in several judgments – Revenue revision petition dismissed