Service tax registration of branches of ccompany

Your specific query has been a subject matter of various erstwhile litigations.  While judgments exist both in your favour as well as against, you may consider taking a position to avail CENVAT credit for the period prior to registration as well. 

Although you can expect the department to stir up a litigation on this account, you could defend your position on various grounds (along with appropriate backing of  judicial precedents), some of which are  :

1) Other cases have specifically

1) registration is a procedural lapse and a substative benefit of CENVAT credit cannot be denied for a procedural lapse of non-registration;

2) Separate penal conseqences(section 77) are enshrined under the Finance Act 1994 failure to obtain registration is treated as an independent procedural non‑compliance, for which a commensurate penalty has already been prescribed under the Act.,

It is pertinent to note that the position stated above would normally attract litigation although one could hope for a favourable order at the CESTAT level.

Saransh S

HM Giriya & Co (Bangalore)

e-mail: saransh.giriya @ gmail.com

You can take the cenvat credit on input or input service in regards to your barnch but you should amend this barnch on centralised registration. 

Note: You are certainly eligible to avail CENVAT credit for future periods after obtaining registration for each of the branches. 

My earlier advice was specifically in respect of eligibility to avail CENAVT credit for the period prior to registration of the branches.