Brush-Up - 3 # Service Tax # - Service Tax Updates - 25th November, 2013‏‏

25th November, 2013 was booked for changes. CBEC have brought out the following amendments and clarifications.

1. E-Payment limit decreases

W.e.f. 1st January, 2014 the limit of e-payment of Service Tax & Central Excise Duty has been reduced from Rupees Ten  Lakhs to Rupees One Lakhs. It means that assessee having tax liability more than Rupees One Lakhs have to mandatory paid service tax through electronically mode. 

(Notification 16/2013 - Service Tax  dated 22nd November, 2013)

(http://www.servicetax.gov.in/st-notfns-home.htm)

2. VCES Clarification - Circular No.174/9/2013 – ST dated 25th November, 2013

CBEC has issued the the captioned circular to bring more clarity in VCES, 2013.

The said Circular is being issued in pursuance with the recently held interactive sessions at Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, which were chaired by the Hon’ble Finance Minister. In the circular those issues have been answered / clarified which have not been specifically clarified hitherto or clarified adequately. 

Mainly the questions related to acceptance, rejection of declaration, tax dues etc. have been answered.

(http://www.servicetax.gov.in/st-circulars-home.htm)

3.  Central Excise :- Valuation Rules Amended (W.e.f 1st December, 2013)

Rules 8, 9 and 10 of the Central Excise Valuation (Determination of Price of Excisable Goods) Rules, 2000 has been amended vide Notification No. 14/2013-CENT dated 22-11-2013

Old rules have been substituted by the new rules. 

Summary of new rules are as under : -

Rule 8 -  

Now in case of partly consumption goods, value of such goods taken as 110% COP. Earlier it covers the cases where the whole of excisable goods were captively consumed.

 Rule 9  -  

Now in case of part of the excisable goods not sold by the assessee  to or through the relative of the assessee , as per the amendment the value of such goods shall be the normal transaction value.

(Relative as per the sub-clauses (ii), (iii) or (iv) of clause (b) of  sub-section (3) of section 4 of the Act)

 Rule 10  - 

Now in case of part of goods unsold by the inter-connected undertaking, the value of such goods shall be determined in the manner prescribed in the rule.

(Earlier these Rules talks about when whole of the excisable goods are not sold by the assessee to or through the relative / inter-connected undertaking. Substituted rules talks about valuation of part of goods unsold by the assessee)

(http://www.cbec.gov.in/excise/cx-act/notfns-2013/cx-nt2013/cent14-2013.htm)

 Hope the information assist you in fulfilling Professional Commitments.

Warm Regards

Gaurav Arya

Chartered Accountant

"Victory is not a property of brilliants but it is a crown for those who pursue hard work with confidence and devotion"

Brush-Up - 2 # Service Tax # - Changes in provisions of Service Tax in relation to SEZ‏

Last week two major amendments were brought in the provisions of Service Tax in relation to SEZ. Changes are as follows:-

1. Time Limit for Furnishing of Quarterly Statement

Notification No. 15/2013 dated 21st November, 2013 has prescribed the time limit for filing the quarterly statement to the jurisdictional Superintendent of Central Excise.

 The same has been come into effect by substituting the clause (d) of sub para (II) of para 3 of the Notification No.12/2013-Service Tax, dated the 1^st July, 2013. The new text is as follows:-

"Now, as per the New Notification every SEZ unit or the Developer shall furnish to the jurisdictional Superintendent of Central Excise a quarterly statement in Form A-3, furnishing the details of specified services received by it without payment of service tax, by 30^th of the month following the particular quarter:

Provided that for the quarter of July, 2013 to September, 2013, the said statement shall be furnished by the 15^th of December, 2013."

2. Inclusion of Two more services

Good News for SEZ sector, now they can receive two more Input Services without payment of Service Tax.

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce (SEZ Division) vide Instruction No. 79 dated 19th November, 2013 have included two more services in the list of default authorised services, namely:-

   (i) Rent-a-Cab Scheme Operator's Services

   (ii) SEZ Online Services

Now, the list of default authorised services expanded to 58 services. 

Hope shared information help you to fulfil the professional commitments.

Warm Regards

Gaurav Arya

Chartered Accountant

"Victory is not a property of brilliants but it is a crown for those who pursue hard work with confidence and devotion"

Brush-Up - 1 # - Service Tax Rebate Claims -Declaration may be filed after export in case of IT-enabled services/call centres [Wipro Ltd. v. Union of India [2013] 39 STT 639/32 taxmann.com 113 (Delhi)]‏

Decision - In favour of Assessee. Rebate Claim allowed.

As regards requirement of filing declaration, it was held that in case of assessee engaged in services provided in call centre or BPO centre, every phone call is an export of taxable service, while input services are received only at regular intervals, depending upon arrangement with service-providers. It is impossible to anticipate date of export and with precision demarcate point of time prior to export. 

Further, such service-exporter cannot value and specify amount of service tax/cess payable on input services "actually required" to be used in providing exported service, which can be known only when bill or invoice for input-services is received. Hence, it is impossible for an assessee to comply with requirement of filing of declaration of input services actually required 'prior to date of export'.

 Filing of a declaration after date of export and after all requisite details were available was a sufficient compliance. Therefore, assessee was eligible for rebate even if declaration was filed after export.

Warm Regards

Gaurav Arya

Chartered Accountant

Service Tax Refund- Notification 27/2012 - ST & 39/2012 - CE