How to file service tax ? when it last date?

Payment of Service tax

A person liable to pay tax shall pay the same in prescribed manner [section 68(1)]. The service tax is payable 5th of the month following the month in which payments are received toward value of taxable services except in March [rule 6(1) of Service tax Rules] [Till 1-3-2005, the service tax was payable by 25th of following month].

If the assessee is an individual or proprietary firm or partnership firm, the tax is payable on quarterly basis within 5 days at the end of quarter except in March. (rule 6). This facility is not available to HUF firm in view of clear wording of the provision.

Meaning of quarter - As per rule 2(1)(e) of Service Tax Rules, 鈥榪uarter鈥?means period between 1st January to 31st March or 1st April to 30th June or 1st July to 30th September or 1st October to 31st December of a financial year.

Exception in March - Exception has been made in case of March. Service tax on value of taxable services received during month of March or quarter of March is required to be paid by 31st March.

Rule 6(1) makes it clear that the liability is to pay service tax on payments towards value taxable services actually received. Thus, service tax is not payable on amounts charged in the bills/invoice, but on amounts actually received.

Calculate of tax liability

The service tax is payable 5th of the month following the month in which payments are received toward value of taxable services [rule 6(1) of Service tax Rules]. Thus, service tax is not payable on basis of amounts charged in the bills/invoice, but only on amounts actually received during the relevant period.

If you have given some credit note after getting payment, you can adjust that if corresponding service tax is also refunded to customer/client. Legally, the adjustment is possible only if full or part of services were not provided to customer/client.

Practically, it is very common to give some discount/reduction while settling the Bill. Assessee is required to pay only on the amount received from customer and not on amount billed to customer.

Mode of payment of service tax

The tax is payable by a TR-6 Challan in the bank where excise duty is accepted in that Commissionerate. The major account head is 鈥?44鈥? In addition, separate accounting code has been given to each service. Yellow colour TR-6 challans should be used to minimise wrong classification of revenue - Cochin Commissionerate TN 126/96 dated 13.11.1996. The tax paid should be rounded off in rupees.

CBE&C has been authorised to prescribe any other mode or manner of payment. [rule 6(2)].

Education cess should be shown separately under separate account head in TR-6 challan.

Interest for late payment of service tax

In case of delayed payment of service tax, there is mandatory payment of simple interest under section 75 for the period which the payment is delayed. The interest rate is 13% w.e.f. 10-9-2004, vide notification No. 26/2004-ST dated 10-9-2004 [Earlier interest @ 15% per annum from 11-5-2002. The interest rate was 24% upto 11-5-2002].

There is no provision to waive this interest on delayed payment - section 75 of Finance Act, 1994 - view confirmed in Sree Vadivamigai Textile Mills Ltd. v. CCE 2005 STT 703 = 179 ELT 151 (CESTAT SMB).

Returns

Every assessee has to submit half yearly return in form ST-3 in triplicate within 25 days of the end of the half-year. 鈥楬alf year鈥?means 1st April to 30th September and 1st October to 31st March of financial year. The return should be accompanied by TR-6 challans, evidencing payment of duty.

Nil return essential even if no turnover - Even if there was no business during the period, assessee will have to file 鈥楴il鈥?return as long as registration certificate is valid.

Last date for filing return is a bank holiday - If last day of payment and filing return is a public holiday, tax can be paid and return can be submitted on next working day - CBE&C circular No. 63/12/2003-ST dated 14-10-2003. Section 10 of General Clauses Act also provides that if the last day prescribed for any thing to be done (e.g. filing application, appeal etc.) is a holiday or the office is closed on that day, it can be done on next working day.

Electronic filing of return

Department has introduced e-filing of service tax return on experimental basis from April, 2003. It is optional. The procedure has been described in CBE&C circular No. 52/1/2003-ST dated 11-3-2003. Guidelines are also issued in question answer form on CBE&C website. The facility is available to all service providers.

Assessee should apply one month in advance in Annexure I. He will be given user ID and password and technical details will be supplied to him. Assessee will download form for entering details of ST-3 and TR-6 challans from central server. He will enter necessary details. After return is filed, computer will generate a key number and will generate acknowledgement. Assessee can take print out and keep it for his record. - Circular No. 71/1/2004-ST dated 2-1-2004. Visit CBE&C website for further details.


Audit of accounts

Audit of account of service tax providers can be done by Central Excise audit parties, as per norms prescribed by the department. A comprehensive 鈥楽ervice Tax Audit Manual鈥?has been prepared to provide guidelines to departmental officers conducting audit - CBE&C circular No. 742/58/2003-CX dated 3-9-2003 Audit has been extended to all categories of assessees. Selection of assessees and auditing will be as per guidelines in Service Tax Audit Manual - CBE&C circular No. 775/8/2004-CX dated 17-2-2004.

Audit is done on selective basis and not of all assessees. You will be given 15 days notice before conducting audit of your records. Your accounting and other records, balance sheet etc. can be checked and verified. Information can be called by issue of summons also.

2. Assessment

Like Income tax, service tax assessment is basically self-assessment. There is no provision for compulsory assessment of assessee鈥檚 return. Show cause *** demand notice can be issued within one year. Notice beyond one year can be issued only if there is fraud, suppression of facts, wilful misstatement or collusion.

Every person liable to pay tax shall himself assess the tax due on the services provided by him. A return in prescribed form will be submitted to Superintendent of Central Excise [section 70(1)].

As per rule 2(1)(b) of Service Tax Rules, 鈥榓ssessment鈥?includes self assessment of service tax by the assessee, reassessment, provisional assessment, best judgment assessment and any order of assessment in which the tax assessed is nil; determination of the interest on the tax assessed or reassessed [Now, there is no provision of assessment. There is only provision of 鈥榩rovisional assessment鈥橾.

As per section 73(1) of Finance Act, 1994, if the assessee has fully disclosed all material facts to make an assessment, a notice has to be served within one year from 鈥榬elevant date鈥?

Various penalties have been provided under the Act. The penalties can be imposed by Central Excise Officers. There is no provision for prosecution under the Act.

Penalty for non-payment or delayed payment of service tax

If service tax is not paid or belatedly paid, penalty shall be imposed, which will be minimum Rs. 200 per day during which such failure continues or @ 2% per month, whichever is higher, starting with the first day after due date till date of actual payment of outstanding amount. Mercifully, the penalty cannot exceed the service tax which was payable. In addition, of course, service tax and interest is payable. [section 76 of Finance Act, 1994].

As per section 80, this penalty can be waived or reduced if proper cause is shown.

Penalty for contravention of Act or Rules

Penalty for contravention of any provision of the Chapter or Rules (of service tax) can be upto Rs. 1,000 [section 77]. The penalty can be waived under section 80, if assessee proves that failure was due to reasonable cause.

Penalty in case of fraud, suppression of facts etc.

Where any tax is not levied or paid or erroneously refunded, the person shall be liable to pay penalty which shall not be less than amount of service tax but can be upto twice the amount of service tax amount of service tax not levied or not paid or erroneously refunded [section 78]. The penalty can be waived under section 80, if assessee proves that failure was due to reasonable cause. [The penalty will be reduced to 25%, if tax, interest and penalty is paid within 30 days from date of receipt of order of Central Excise Officer].

Service tax is a tax levied on services rendered by a person and the responsibility of payment of the tax is cast on the service provider. It is an indirect tax as it can be recovered from the service receiver by the service provider in course of his business transactions. Service Tax was introduced in India in 1994 by Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994. It was imposed on a initial set of three services in 1994 and the scope of the service tax has since been expanded continuously by subsequent Finance Acts. The Finance Act, extends the levy of service tax to the whole of India, except the State of Jammu & Kashmir.

The Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) under Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance, deals with the task of formulation of policy concerning levy and collection of Service Tax. In exercise of the powers conferred, the Central Government makes service tax rules for the purpose of the assessment and collection of service tax. The Service Tax is being administered by various Central Excise Commissionerates, working under the Central Board of Excise & Customs. There are six Commissionerates located at metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Bangalore which deal exclusively with work related to Service Tax. Directorate of Service Tax at Mumbai over sees the activities at the field level for technical and policy level coordination.

BulletRegistration

* A person liable to pay service tax should file an application for registration within thirty days from the date on which the service tax on particular taxable service comes into effect or within thirty days from the commencement of his activity.
* Every service provider of a taxable service is required to take registration by filing the Form ST-1 in duplicate with the jurisdictional Central Excise Office.
* A 鈥榬egistered' service provider is referred to as an 鈥榓ssessee'.
* A single registration is sufficient even when an assessee is providing more than one taxable services. However, he has to mention all the services being provided by him in the application for registration and the field office shall make suitable entries/endorsements in the registration certificate.
* A fresh registration is required to be obtained in case of transfer of business to another person.
* Any registered assessee when ceases to provide the taxable service shall surrender the registration certificate immediately.
* In case a registered assessee starts providing any new service from the same premises, he need not apply for a fresh registration. He can simply fill in the Form S.T.1 for necessary amendments he desires to make in his existing information. The new form may be submitted to the jurisdictional Superintendent for necessary endorsement of the new service category in his Registration certificate.

In case of Individuals or Proprietary Concerns and Partnership Firm, service tax is to be paid on quarterly basis. The due date for payment of service tax is the 5th of the month immediately following the respective quarter. (Quarters are : April to June, July to September, October to December and January to March). However, payment for the last quarter i.e. January to March is required to be made by 31st of March itself. In case of any other category of service provider than specified above, service tax is to be paid on a monthly basis, by the 5th of the following month. However, payment for the month of March is required to be made by 31st of March itself. Service tax is to be paid on the amount realized / received by the assessee during the relevant period ( i.e. a month or a quarter as the case may be).

The unique feature of Service Tax is reliance on collection of tax, primarily through voluntary compliance. System of self-assessment of Service Tax Returns by service tax assesses was introduced w.e.f. 01.04.2001. The jurisdictional Superintendent of Central Excise is authorized to cross verify the correctness of self assessed returns. Tax returns are expected to be filed half yearly. Central Excise officers are authorized to conduct surveys to bring the prospective service tax assesses under the tax net.

Service tax is payable @ 12% of the 鈥榞ross amount' charged by the service provider for providing such taxable service. The Education Cess is payable @ 2% of the service tax payable.

BulletService Tax Exemptions

The Central Government can grant partial or total exemption by issuing an exemption notification. But it cannot be granted by the Government with retrospective effect. The general exemptions are :-

* Small service providers whose turnover is less than Rs 4 lakhs per annum are exempt from service tax.
* There is no service tax on export of services.
* Services provided to UN and International Agencies and supplies to SEZ(Special Economic Zones) are exempt from service tax.
* Service tax is not payable on value of goods and material supplied while providing services. Such exclusion is permissible only if Cenvat credit on such goods and material is not taken.

For more click on http://india.gov.in/business/taxation/se...

I think you mean filing of service tax return, it has to be filed in form ST 3. you need to file half yearly, the due date being 15th days from the end of the half year that is Oct 15 and April 15.