Basic understading of service tax

Service tax at glance

Satya Renuka (CA Final)

?

??? I.???? Introduction:

?

?Basically Taxes are of two types those are direct and indirect taxes.

?In direct Taxes incidence of tax will be on the same person who is enjoying the income. For example Income tax is payable by the person who is receiving it.

But whereas in indirect taxes the burden of tax is shifted to some other person. For example Mr.X is providing consulting engineer service, for that service he charges the amount along with service tax. Simply he collects the amount from client and pays to the Government.

Broadly speaking, direct taxes are those which are paid after the income reaches hands of taxpayer, while indirect taxes are paid before the goods/services reach the tax payer.

?

Constitutional background of service tax:

Service tax was initially started with 3 services in the year 1994.With in one decade this list has gone to more than 100 services. It is expected that the number of service tax assesses would cross the number of income tax payers in a few years due to the fact that almost all services have slowly covered by service tax net.

There is no separate Act for Service tax that governs the levy and collection.. Levy and collection of Service tax is governed under Chapters V ??and VA of Finance Act, 1994.

Unfortunately there is no definition in the provision of Service tax law for the word service, only incidences of taxes is defined under the Act.

As per Black?s Law Dictionary ?means an intangible Commodity in the form of human effort such

as use of labour, skill or knowledge for the benefit of another.?

As per Webster?s dictionary ?performance of any duties or work for another, helpful or

professional activity?.

Service tax is destination based consumption tax in the form of Value Added Tax. This is collected as per the service tax provisions.

?

?

?

?? II.???? Levy of Service Tax:

To attract service tax three conditions must be satisfied:

1.?? There must be a service provider( the person who provides service)

2.?? ?service receiver and(the person who receives service)

3.?? ?Taxable service ( which is defined under section 65(105))

All the above conditions must be satisfied to attract the service tax liability.

For Example Mr. A is a chartered Accountant maintains the accounts of his client M/s P & Co. and charges the fees of 10000 every month.

Now we will examine this case in the light of service tax. As per section 65(105)(s) any service provided or to be provided to any person, by practicing chartered accountant in his professional capacity, in any manner, is taxable service.

In the above example Mr. A is service provider providing taxable service of accounting to the service receiver (M/s. P & Co.). All the three conditions are satisfied as per definition. So, Mr. A is liable to pay service on the fees received by him. If ?A? is maintaining his own accounts in this case service provider and service is the same person, so the basic conditions of service tax is not satisfied.? ?To attract service tax liability all the three conditions must be satisfied. Even if one condition is not satisfied then that service is not a taxable service.

Generally service provider is liable to pay service tax but ??as per Section 68(2) the government to notify the services with regard to which service receiver would be held liable to pay service tax.

Those are:

1.?? Sponsorship service

2.?? Goods transport agency service.

3.?? Any taxable service provided or to be provided by any person from outside India and received by any person in India.

4.?? Insurance auxiliary service.

?

? III.???? Registration:

Every person liable to pay service tax is required to register himself by making an application to the Superintendent of Central Excise(SCE) as per section 69 of the Act. An exemption limit is given to small service provider which is Rs.10 lakhs, specified by notification 6/2005 ST Dated 01.03.05 as amended from time to time.

This exemption is not available for

1.?? Branded service providers (those who provide services under the brand name or trade name of others.)

2.?? The person who is liable to pay service on the status of Service Receiver.

As per Rule 4 of Service Tax Rules 1994, to get it registered, an application in Form ST-1 would have to be filed within thirty days from the date on which the taxable service is provided/tax levied on such service. Penalty of Rs. 200 per day or 5000 whichever is higher for delay in registration.

There are three types of registration.

1.?? Centralized registration

2.?? Registration of single premises

3.?? Input service distributor

?

Centralized registration is taking single central registration covering all the place of provision of service. In case the service provider provides one or more taxable service from more than one premise or offices and who has a centralized accounting system or centralized billing can opt for centralized registration.

?

?When an assessee provides one or more services from one premise/office such assessee is

required to seek registration of single premises with the service tax authorities having

jurisdiction over the area where his premise is situated.

?

Input service distributor has been defined under rule 2(m) to mean an office of the provider of output service, which receives invoices issued under rule 4A of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 towards purchases of input services and issues invoice, bill or, as the case may be, challan for the purposes of distributing the credit of service tax paid on the said services to such manufacturer or producer or provider, as the case may be

?

?

?

? IV.???? Classification of Services:

If the service falls under more than one category the requirement of classification will arise at that time the liability of the assessee is depends upon the correct classification of services. For the purpose of classification of services we need to consider the following.

1.?? Based on the Category which gives the most specific description of the service.

2.?? Based on the essential character Where that service is falling under composite services

3.?? Based on the sub-clause which occurs first among the sub-clauses which equally merit consideration as per section 65A

4.?? Based on the non statutory principles as to consideration of trade parlance especially where certain terms are not defined.

What is the Need of Classification?

?

The service provider should ensure that he classifies the service properly as this would enable him to ascertain his liability correctly. Correct classification is critical as the exemptions under service tax barring the general exemptions are based on specified categories and if the classification is wrong, the service provider may either end up paying more the required or even face a liability.

?

?

?

?? V.???? Payment of Service Tax:

Service tax liability arises when payment is received not at the time of service provided. But we need to apply the rate which is prevailing on the date of service not on the date of receipt of money. Even advance received for providing services also liable for service tax without consideration of time of providing of services.

The rates of service tax will change time to time. The rate of service tax will summarized below.

?

Payment of service tax must be through GAR-7 challan and through designated branches.GAR-7 Challan and list of designated branches will be available in the CBEC web site. www.cbec.gov.in? or www.aces.gov.in

?

? VI.???? Due date for payment of Service Tax:

The service tax collected must be credited to account of Central Government within the prescribed due dates.

The due dates of payment of service tax summarized below:

?

But for the month of March due date for payment of service tax is 31^st March

?If the assessee is failed to pay tax within the due date he needs to pay tax along with interest 13% p.a. until the date of payment of tax.

The following Illustration helps us to better understanding of implication of service tax and its calculation

Illustration: Mr.X supplied food for Mr.A?s Marriage was held on 9^th December 2008 and he billed Rs.100000 in the same month. But he received the amount in the month of 6^th March 2009.What is the implication of Service tax on Mr.X?

1.?? The activity of providing food on occasions is covered under the definition of outdoor caterer service. So it is a taxable service and Mr. A is a service provider and Mr.X receiving service on the occasion of his marriage. So the basic conditions for service tax applicably are satisfied (Service provider, service receiver, taxable service).?

2.?? He provided service in the month of December 2008 and received the amount in the month of March 2009, he need to pay service tax in the month of march?09 not in the month of December because service tax is liable to pay in the month of amount received not in the month of service provided or amount billed.

3.?? He needs to pay service on the amount received @ 10.3% not at the rate of 12.36% while applying the rate of service tax we need to consider rate prevailing at the time of service provided not at the time of amount received.

4.?? If he didn?t pay the service tax with the due date he needs to pay the amount with interest. The same is illustrated in the figures below for clear understanding.

Calculation of Service Tax:

?Service tax may be calculated inclusive or exclusive of service tax. Let us see the calculation of service tax with examples.

If the amount received inclusive of service tax (Means this 100000 includes service tax also) then the calculation is as follows.

Service Tax=Amount received (inclusive of service tax) X Rate/100+Rate

I.e. 100000 X10.3/110.3 = 9338

If the amount received is exclusive of service tax (Means Rs.100000 + Service Tax) then the calculation is as follows.

Service Tax Amount=Amount received (Exclusive of service tax) X Rate/100

I.e. 100000 X 10.3/100 = 10300

If he paid the service in on April 5^th he need to pay service tax along with interest (Due date for march is 31^st March not 5^th of April (Refer the table of due dates). So interest calculation is as follows.

Interest = Service tax (Including Edu.Cess and SHE Cess) X13/100 X No of days delayed/365

I.e. 9338 or 10300 X 13% X 5/365=16 or 18

?

?VII.???? Filing of returns:

Every service provider or service receiver who liable to pay tax is required to submit half yearly returns in Form ST-3 or Form ST-3A with relevant copies of GAR-7 in the triplicate.

1.?? The returns are to be filed for the half year ending 30^th September by 25^th October.

2.?? The returns are to be filed for the half year ending 31^st March by 25^th April.

Late filling of returns will attract penalty .Rule 7C of service Tax Rules mentioned about penalty

1.?? Rs. 500 for delay of 15 days from the prescribed date

2.?? Rs. 1000 where the delay is between 15 and 30 days from the prescribed date.

3.?? Rs. 1000 + Rs. 100 per day of delay where the delay is beyond 30 days from the prescribed date but not exceeding? Rs.2000 in terms of Section 70.

We can download the return from the website of www.cbec.gov.in ?

The assesse needs to file the electronic returns if he has paid excise and service tax of 10 lakhs or more (including payment by utilization of CENVAT Credit) in the previous year. I this was made it compulsory from 1^st April 2010 by the notification no.01/2010-Service Tax

?

?

?

VIII.???? CENVAT Credit:

Cenvat credit is a concept introduced to overcome cascading effect of indirect taxes. Because of the cascading effect assessee is paying tax more than one time for the same goods and services. Cenvat Credit is nothing but adjusting the tax already paid which included in the current tax.

The service provider providing taxable services is entitled to avail CENVAT credit of the service tax paid on

1.?? Inputs

2.?? Capital goods and

3.?? Input services

Those must be used for providing taxable services.

Inputs means:

All goods, except light diesel oil, high speed diesel oil and motor spirit, commonly known as petrol and motor vehicles, used for proving any output service.

Input services means:

Any service used by a provider of taxable service for providing an output service.

Capital goods:

Capital goods which are used for providing output taxable services.

By utilization of CENVAT credit the liability of the tax will be reduced. The outflow of funds will be less. For example we need to pay service tax of Rs.100000, if he has credit of inputs and input services of Rs.10000 then he can adjust that amount with tax payable. Instead of tax Rs. 1 Lakh, now he can pay Rs. 900000(100000(Tax)-10000(input credit)). The burden of tax will be reduced with the CENVAT Credit.

?

? IX.???? Utilization of CENVAT Credit:

The CENVAT Credit may be utilized for payment of:

1.?? any duty of excise on any final product; or

2.?? an amount equal to CENVAT credit taken on inputs if such inputs are removed as such or after being partially processed.

3.?? an amount equal to the CENVAT Credit taken on capital goods if such capital goods are removed as such; or

4.?? an amount under sub rule (2) of rule 16 of Central Excise Rules,200; or

5.?? Service tax on any output service.

?

?? X.???? Important Websites:

Some important and useful sites for updates and information about service tax are as follows:

1.?? www.cbec.gov.in Good site of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), giving notifications and circulars and general information on excise, customs law and service tax and more over it is a free website.

2.?? www.judis.nic.in? It is a good site for various case laws lists and Supreme Court judgments.

3.?? www.ace.gov.in It is a good site for recent updates and Circulars and notifications.

4.?? www.servicetaxonline.com? This website covers all service tax matters.

5.?? www.taxmann.com It gives information on changes in corporate laws and taxation but it is a paid site.

6.?? www.taxindiaonline.com? We can information regarding service tax and customs and excise duty and other indirect tax matters from this site.

?

? XI.???? Conclusion:

It is a good and challenging field for upcoming chartered Accountants only few chartered accountants are practicing in this field. Lack of clarity in certain maters the chances of debate is more in this field. With the introduction of GST (Goods and Service Tax) I hope that all these uncertain things may get clarified.

?

?

For suggestions and clarifications contact me on ksatyarenuka@gmail.com

?

Service tax at glance

Satya Renuka (CA Final)

?

??? I.???? Introduction:

?

?Basically Taxes are of two types those are direct and indirect taxes.

?In direct Taxes incidence of tax will be on the same person who is enjoying the income. For example Income tax is payable by the person who is receiving it.

But whereas in indirect taxes the burden of tax is shifted to some other person. For example Mr.X is providing consulting engineer service, for that service he charges the amount along with service tax. Simply he collects the amount from client and pays to the Government.

Broadly speaking, direct taxes are those which are paid after the income reaches hands of taxpayer, while indirect taxes are paid before the goods/services reach the tax payer.

?

Constitutional background of service tax:

Service tax was initially started with 3 services in the year 1994.With in one decade this list has gone to more than 100 services. It is expected that the number of service tax assesses would cross the number of income tax payers in a few years due to the fact that almost all services have slowly covered by service tax net.

There is no separate Act for Service tax that governs the levy and collection.. Levy and collection of Service tax is governed under Chapters V ??and VA of Finance Act, 1994.

Unfortunately there is no definition in the provision of Service tax law for the word service, only incidences of taxes is defined under the Act.

As per Black?s Law Dictionary ?means an intangible Commodity in the form of human effort such

as use of labour, skill or knowledge for the benefit of another.?

As per Webster?s dictionary ?performance of any duties or work for another, helpful or

professional activity?.

Service tax is destination based consumption tax in the form of Value Added Tax. This is collected as per the service tax provisions.

?

?

?

?? II.???? Levy of Service Tax:

To attract service tax three conditions must be satisfied:

1.?? There must be a service provider( the person who provides service)

2.?? ?service receiver and(the person who receives service)

3.?? ?Taxable service ( which is defined under section 65(105))

All the above conditions must be satisfied to attract the service tax liability.

For Example Mr. A is a chartered Accountant maintains the accounts of his client M/s P & Co. and charges the fees of 10000 every month.

Now we will examine this case in the light of service tax. As per section 65(105)(s) any service provided or to be provided to any person, by practicing chartered accountant in his professional capacity, in any manner, is taxable service.

In the above example Mr. A is service provider providing taxable service of accounting to the service receiver (M/s. P & Co.). All the three conditions are satisfied as per definition. So, Mr. A is liable to pay service on the fees received by him. If ?A? is maintaining his own accounts in this case service provider and service is the same person, so the basic conditions of service tax is not satisfied.? ?To attract service tax liability all the three conditions must be satisfied. Even if one condition is not satisfied then that service is not a taxable service.

Generally service provider is liable to pay service tax but ??as per Section 68(2) the government to notify the services with regard to which service receiver would be held liable to pay service tax.

Those are:

1.?? Sponsorship service

2.?? Goods transport agency service.

3.?? Any taxable service provided or to be provided by any person from outside India and received by any person in India.

4.?? Insurance auxiliary service.

?

? III.???? Registration:

Every person liable to pay service tax is required to register himself by making an application to the Superintendent of Central Excise(SCE) as per section 69 of the Act. An exemption limit is given to small service provider which is Rs.10 lakhs, specified by notification 6/2005 ST Dated 01.03.05 as amended from time to time.

This exemption is not available for

1.?? Branded service providers (those who provide services under the brand name or trade name of others.)

2.?? The person who is liable to pay service on the status of Service Receiver.

As per Rule 4 of Service Tax Rules 1994, to get it registered, an application in Form ST-1 would have to be filed within thirty days from the date on which the taxable service is provided/tax levied on such service. Penalty of Rs. 200 per day or 5000 whichever is higher for delay in registration.

There are three types of registration.

1.?? Centralized registration

2.?? Registration of single premises

3.?? Input service distributor

?

Centralized registration is taking single central registration covering all the place of provision of service. In case the service provider provides one or more taxable service from more than one premise or offices and who has a centralized accounting system or centralized billing can opt for centralized registration.

?

?When an assessee provides one or more services from one premise/office such assessee is

required to seek registration of single premises with the service tax authorities having

jurisdiction over the area where his premise is situated.

?

Input service distributor has been defined under rule 2(m) to mean an office of the provider of output service, which receives invoices issued under rule 4A of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 towards purchases of input services and issues invoice, bill or, as the case may be, challan for the purposes of distributing the credit of service tax paid on the said services to such manufacturer or producer or provider, as the case may be

?

?

?

? IV.???? Classification of Services:

If the service falls under more than one category the requirement of classification will arise at that time the liability of the assessee is depends upon the correct classification of services. For the purpose of classification of services we need to consider the following.

1.?? Based on the Category which gives the most specific description of the service.

2.?? Based on the essential character Where that service is falling under composite services

3.?? Based on the sub-clause which occurs first among the sub-clauses which equally merit consideration as per section 65A

4.?? Based on the non statutory principles as to consideration of trade parlance especially where certain terms are not defined.

What is the Need of Classification?

?

The service provider should ensure that he classifies the service properly as this would enable him to ascertain his liability correctly. Correct classification is critical as the exemptions under service tax barring the general exemptions are based on specified categories and if the classification is wrong, the service provider may either end up paying more the required or even face a liability.

?

?

?

?? V.???? Payment of Service Tax:

Service tax liability arises when payment is received not at the time of service provided. But we need to apply the rate which is prevailing on the date of service not on the date of receipt of money. Even advance received for providing services also liable for service tax without consideration of time of providing of services.

The rates of service tax will change time to time. The rate of service tax will summarized below.

?

Payment of service tax must be through GAR-7 challan and through designated branches.GAR-7 Challan and list of designated branches will be available in the CBEC web site. www.cbec.gov.in? or www.aces.gov.in

?

? VI.???? Due date for payment of Service Tax:

The service tax collected must be credited to account of Central Government within the prescribed due dates.

The due dates of payment of service tax summarized below:

?

But for the month of March due date for payment of service tax is 31^st March

?If the assessee is failed to pay tax within the due date he needs to pay tax along with interest 13% p.a. until the date of payment of tax.

The following Illustration helps us to better understanding of implication of service tax and its calculation

Illustration: Mr.X supplied food for Mr.A?s Marriage was held on 9^th December 2008 and he billed Rs.100000 in the same month. But he received the amount in the month of 6^th March 2009.What is the implication of Service tax on Mr.X?

1.?? The activity of providing food on occasions is covered under the definition of outdoor caterer service. So it is a taxable service and Mr. A is a service provider and Mr.X receiving service on the occasion of his marriage. So the basic conditions for service tax applicably are satisfied (Service provider, service receiver, taxable service).?

2.?? He provided service in the month of December 2008 and received the amount in the month of March 2009, he need to pay service tax in the month of march?09 not in the month of December because service tax is liable to pay in the month of amount received not in the month of service provided or amount billed.

3.?? He needs to pay service on the amount received @ 10.3% not at the rate of 12.36% while applying the rate of service tax we need to consider rate prevailing at the time of service provided not at the time of amount received.

4.?? If he didn?t pay the service tax with the due date he needs to pay the amount with interest. The same is illustrated in the figures below for clear understanding.

Calculation of Service Tax:

?Service tax may be calculated inclusive or exclusive of service tax. Let us see the calculation of service tax with examples.

If the amount received inclusive of service tax (Means this 100000 includes service tax also) then the calculation is as follows.

Service Tax=Amount received (inclusive of service tax) X Rate/100+Rate

I.e. 100000 X10.3/110.3 = 9338

If the amount received is exclusive of service tax (Means Rs.100000 + Service Tax) then the calculation is as follows.

Service Tax Amount=Amount received (Exclusive of service tax) X Rate/100

I.e. 100000 X 10.3/100 = 10300

If he paid the service in on April 5^th he need to pay service tax along with interest (Due date for march is 31^st March not 5^th of April (Refer the table of due dates). So interest calculation is as follows.

Interest = Service tax (Including Edu.Cess and SHE Cess) X13/100 X No of days delayed/365

I.e. 9338 or 10300 X 13% X 5/365=16 or 18

?

?VII.???? Filing of returns:

Every service provider or service receiver who liable to pay tax is required to submit half yearly returns in Form ST-3 or Form ST-3A with relevant copies of GAR-7 in the triplicate.

1.?? The returns are to be filed for the half year ending 30^th September by 25^th October.

2.?? The returns are to be filed for the half year ending 31^st March by 25^th April.

Late filling of returns will attract penalty .Rule 7C of service Tax Rules mentioned about penalty

1.?? Rs. 500 for delay of 15 days from the prescribed date

2.?? Rs. 1000 where the delay is between 15 and 30 days from the prescribed date.

3.?? Rs. 1000 + Rs. 100 per day of delay where the delay is beyond 30 days from the prescribed date but not exceeding? Rs.2000 in terms of Section 70.

We can download the return from the website of www.cbec.gov.in ?

The assesse needs to file the electronic returns if he has paid excise and service tax of 10 lakhs or more (including payment by utilization of CENVAT Credit) in the previous year. I this was made it compulsory from 1^st April 2010 by the notification no.01/2010-Service Tax

?

?

?

VIII.???? CENVAT Credit:

Cenvat credit is a concept introduced to overcome cascading effect of indirect taxes. Because of the cascading effect assessee is paying tax more than one time for the same goods and services. Cenvat Credit is nothing but adjusting the tax already paid which included in the current tax.

The service provider providing taxable services is entitled to avail CENVAT credit of the service tax paid on

1.?? Inputs

2.?? Capital goods and

3.?? Input services

Those must be used for providing taxable services.

Inputs means:

All goods, except light diesel oil, high speed diesel oil and motor spirit, commonly known as petrol and motor vehicles, used for proving any output service.

Input services means:

Any service used by a provider of taxable service for providing an output service.

Capital goods:

Capital goods which are used for providing output taxable services.

By utilization of CENVAT credit the liability of the tax will be reduced. The outflow of funds will be less. For example we need to pay service tax of Rs.100000, if he has credit of inputs and input services of Rs.10000 then he can adjust that amount with tax payable. Instead of tax Rs. 1 Lakh, now he can pay Rs. 900000(100000(Tax)-10000(input credit)). The burden of tax will be reduced with the CENVAT Credit.

?

? IX.???? Utilization of CENVAT Credit:

The CENVAT Credit may be utilized for payment of:

1.?? any duty of excise on any final product; or

2.?? an amount equal to CENVAT credit taken on inputs if such inputs are removed as such or after being partially processed.

3.?? an amount equal to the CENVAT Credit taken on capital goods if such capital goods are removed as such; or

4.?? an amount under sub rule (2) of rule 16 of Central Excise Rules,200; or

5.?? Service tax on any output service.

?

?? X.???? Important Websites:

Some important and useful sites for updates and information about service tax are as follows:

1.?? www.cbec.gov.in Good site of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), giving notifications and circulars and general information on excise, customs law and service tax and more over it is a free website.

2.?? www.judis.nic.in? It is a good site for various case laws lists and Supreme Court judgments.

3.?? www.ace.gov.in It is a good site for recent updates and Circulars and notifications.

4.?? www.servicetaxonline.com? This website covers all service tax matters.

5.?? www.taxmann.com It gives information on changes in corporate laws and taxation but it is a paid site.

6.?? www.taxindiaonline.com? We can information regarding service tax and customs and excise duty and other indirect tax matters from this site.

?

? XI.???? Conclusion:

It is a good and challenging field for upcoming chartered Accountants only few chartered accountants are practicing in this field. Lack of clarity in certain maters the chances of debate is more in this field. With the introduction of GST (Goods and Service Tax) I hope that all these uncertain things may get clarified.

?

?

For suggestions and clarifications contact me on ksatyarenuka@gmail.com