{"id":5752,"date":"2025-09-05T16:17:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T10:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?p=5752"},"modified":"2025-09-05T16:17:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T10:47:48","slug":"installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc","title":{"rendered":"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre><strong>Case Details:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/latest-news-updates\/excise-service-tax\/101010000000405515\/entire-activity-of-installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-rightly-held-sale-not-service-appeal-dismissed-sc\"> Commissioner of Service Tax (LTU) Versus VXL Instruments Ltd. (2025) 33 Centax 274 (S.C.)<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/pre>\n<h2><em>Judiciary and Counsel Details<\/em><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>J.B. Pardiwala <\/strong>&amp;<strong> R. Mahadevan<\/strong>, JJ.<\/li>\n<li><strong> S\/Shri Raghavendra M. Kulkarni<\/strong>, <strong>Navanjay Mahapatra<\/strong>, <strong>Keshav Thakur<\/strong>, <strong>Snehashish Mukherjee<\/strong>, Advs. &amp;<strong> Gurmeet Singh Makker<\/strong>, AOR, for the Petitioner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><em>Facts of the Case<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The appellant was engaged in the manufacture of Thin Clients, which required software to be embedded to render the system functional. For this purpose, the appellant entered into an agreement with Microsoft (MS), under which they were authorized to procure off-the-shelf MS operating system software and replicate it into individual hard discs subsequently installed in the Thin Clients. The appellant further procured Certificates of Authenticity (COA) stickers separately from authorized MS distributors, which were essential for making the software operational, and these COAs were purchased on a High Sea Sale basis. The entire activity involved installation of software and later affixation of COA stickers on the Thin Clients. The Tribunal had earlier held that the whole transaction amounted to a sale and not a service. Aggrieved by the said decision, the appellant approached the Supreme Court under Section 130E of the Customs Act, 1962, and the matter was accordingly placed before the Supreme Court.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:1,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:280}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><em>Supreme Court Held<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The Supreme Court held that the order of the Tribunal did not call for interference, as the transaction in its entirety was rightly treated as a sale and not as a service. It observed that the appeal disclosed no substantial question of law warranting consideration and accordingly dismissed the appeal. The Court thereby affirmed the Tribunal\u2019s finding that the installation of software together with the affixation of COA stickers formed part of a composite sale transaction.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:1,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:280}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><em>List of Case Cited\u00a0<\/em><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/search?searchData=(2025)%2033%20Centax%20273%20(Tri.%20-%20Bang.)&amp;itemType=AP\">VXL Instruments Ltd. v. Commissioner<\/a> \u2014 (2025) 33 Centax 273 (Tri. &#8211; Bang.) \u2014 Affirmed [Para 2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Case Details: Commissioner of Service Tax (LTU) Versus VXL Instruments Ltd. (2025)&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":5788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-excise-service-tax","category-news-excise-service-tax","category-est-case-chronicles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SC upheld that installing software with COA stickers amounts to sale and not service; appeal challenging taxability of such activity was dismissed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SC upheld that installing software with COA stickers amounts to sale and not service; appeal challenging taxability of such activity was dismissed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centax-Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-05T10:47:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Koyna Goswami\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Koyna Goswami\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Koyna Goswami\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/969e369d040b346ae1be58ac6cdd103a\"},\"headline\":\"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-05T10:47:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc\"},\"wordCount\":293,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Excise &amp; Service Tax\",\"News\",\"Case Chronicles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc\",\"name\":\"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-05T10:47:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"SC upheld that installing software with COA stickers amounts to sale and not service; appeal challenging taxability of such activity was dismissed.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg\",\"width\":920,\"height\":540,\"caption\":\"Installing Software COA Stickers Sale SC\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Centax-Blogs\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Centax-Blogs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp\",\"width\":536,\"height\":133,\"caption\":\"Centax-Blogs\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/969e369d040b346ae1be58ac6cdd103a\",\"name\":\"Koyna Goswami\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e66b12eb5198403b3252951dae8e25f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e66b12eb5198403b3252951dae8e25f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Koyna Goswami\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/author\/koyna\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC","description":"SC upheld that installing software with COA stickers amounts to sale and not service; appeal challenging taxability of such activity was dismissed.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC","og_description":"SC upheld that installing software with COA stickers amounts to sale and not service; appeal challenging taxability of such activity was dismissed.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc","og_site_name":"Centax-Blogs","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia","article_published_time":"2025-09-05T10:47:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":920,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Koyna Goswami","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Koyna Goswami","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc"},"author":{"name":"Koyna Goswami","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/969e369d040b346ae1be58ac6cdd103a"},"headline":"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC","datePublished":"2025-09-05T10:47:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc"},"wordCount":293,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg","articleSection":["Excise &amp; Service Tax","News","Case Chronicles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc","name":"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-05T10:47:48+00:00","description":"SC upheld that installing software with COA stickers amounts to sale and not service; appeal challenging taxability of such activity was dismissed.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1.-Installing-Software-With-COA-Stickers-Is-Sale-Not-Service-SC.jpg","width":920,"height":540,"caption":"Installing Software COA Stickers Sale SC"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/installing-software-with-coa-stickers-is-sale-not-service-sc#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Installing Software With COA Stickers Is Sale\u2014Not Service | SC"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/","name":"Centax-Blogs","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Centax-Blogs","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp","width":536,"height":133,"caption":"Centax-Blogs"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/969e369d040b346ae1be58ac6cdd103a","name":"Koyna Goswami","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e66b12eb5198403b3252951dae8e25f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e66b12eb5198403b3252951dae8e25f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Koyna Goswami"},"url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/author\/koyna"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5752"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5770,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752\/revisions\/5770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}