The last date of service Tax return filing for the Quarter July to September was on 30th April. Though previously it was 15th April, it was revised to 30th April.
This was the return for the quarter in which many changes took place. Many notifications came into force after 1st July 2012, so there was Negative list on one hand, Reverse charge & Abatements on other.
The Return was combination of all the three elements & the assesse was to see that all these compliances had to be done.
Notifications: In the Return the assesse has first to mention the Nature of Service, then any exemption claimed by the assesse. If the exemption is claimed by the assesse then Notification Number had to be mentioned.
After that if any abatement is claimed then again Notification Number had to be mentioned. There are a number of Notifications issued which can be accessed at ACES site. Many of earlier issued Notification has been rescinded due the introduction of Negative list. So the latest notifications of 2012 to 2013 are applicable. If assesse fails to mention Notification Number then your ST3 directly gets rejected.
Reverse Charge: The next thing is how to account for the reverse charge method or how do you show the reverse charge method. This is again a complex issue because CBEC has said that if service is provided under the reverse charge method then the service provider has to charge only his portion in his Bill/Invoice. For example in case of Manpower service then service provider has to charge 3.09% in his bill.
But how do you account for that in the ST3, as assesse has to mention the full amount of Gross Receipts. The only correct method would be to show the full Gross Receipts then deduct the 25% of it & mention it in the column of Exempted receipts other than exports, in this way we can correctly get the service tax amount.
Service Tax Rejected: After completion of filing of Return of ST3, you realize that the return for April to June was rejected due to incorrect mention of abatement notification.
The assesse does not get any notification or any message if his ST3 has been rejected. This is one of the most irritating part as one only realizes that his return is rejected when you login & check your account. The return which is rejected have to be resubmitted by correcting the errors.
Now that Return for the Quarter July to September have been filed, hope that they don’t get rejected.
Suggestions: CBEC must revamp their ACES website & should see that it is assesse friendly.
Hope CBEC is listening!
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