Due date for filing service tax return for October 2013 – March 2014 is 25th April, 2014, without any change in the frequency of filing returns.
Service Tax Return (ST-3) excel utility for the period of October 2013 to March 2014, i.e. second half of the financial year 2013-14 is now available in ACES for e-filing by the assesses in both online and offline version.
Every assessee whether an Individual, Partnership firm, Company and others who are holding a Service Tax Registration Number and Certificate are mandated to file their service tax return within the due date. Such return filing would be mandatory even if the assessee has not provided any taxable service during the said period. Hence, an assessee not having any taxable service shall file a NIL Service Tax Return.
Due date for filing Service Tax Return:
Service Tax filing is done on a half yearly basis and the due date being 25th of the succeeding month of each half year end.
- April to September – 25th October
- October to March – 25th April
Thus, if an assessee has not filed his return for the previous half year shall have to first file his service tax   return for the previous half year along with the interest and penalty accrued on the same.
Penalty for late filing of Service Tax:
An assessee failing to file service tax return on or within the due date shall be liable for penalty of Rs. 500 on delay of up to 15 days and further delay beyond 15 days till 30 days from the due date is Rs. 1000. If the delay is above 30 days, the penalty levied shall be Rs. 1000 plus Rs. 100(per day beyond 30 days) till the return is actually filed.