Service tax is charged on the taxable amount of services rendered by the service provider. At present the Central Government has recognised 119 services along with their accounting heads as taxable inIndia. Usually the service tax that the service providers have to pay is recovered from the receivers of the service. Some of the important provisions in relation to Service Tax Laws are provided below:

What is the procedure of Registration & when it is required to get registered?

When the total amount of taxable service in a year exceeds Rs.9lakhs, registration with the Service Tax office or the Central Excise office is required, making an application in Form ST – 1(in duplicate) within 30 days from the date of notification of taxable service. Department is required to issue the registration certificate within 7 days of the receipt of the application in Form ST – 2. In case of failure to issue the certificate, the registration is deemed to have been granted and the assessee can carry out his activities.

When is service tax required to be paid?

Service Tax is to be paid on accrual basis, that is,it is to be paid irrespective of the fact whether the payment of service is received or not. However professionals are entitled to pay tax on receipt basis.

In case the assessee is an individual or a proprietary or partnership firm, the Service tax is to be paid on quarterly basis. In other cases, the tax is payable on monthly basis. The payment is to be made by the 5^th day of the month following the quarter or month, as the case may be. Except for the quarter ending March, it is required to be paid latest by 31st March of that quarter itself. Payment is to be made using the G.A.R 7 form.

What are the compliances under the service tax laws?

• Service Tax return is to be submitted on half yearly basis in form ST-3/ ST-3A (in triplicate) along with a copy of the form GAR-7.
• Due date of filling return is on half yearly basis for all assessees:

• for April to Sept – 25^th Oct
• for Oct to Mar – 25^th April

• Having a PAN is essential for successful registration and for payment of service tax within the due date.
• If a person fails to furnish in due time the return which he is required to furnish then he shall be liable to penalty which may extend to an amount not exceeding one thousand rupees.

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