There shall be levied a tax (hereinafter referred to as the service tax) at the rate of twelve percent on the value of all services, other than those services specified in the negative list, provided or agreed to be provided in the taxable territory by one person to another and collected in such manner as may be prescribed. Laws governing service tax are the Finance Act 1994(As amended by Finance Act 2012), Service Tax Rules 1994, various notifications, circulars issued by the department from time to time and judgments of various court proceedings. Service Tax extends to whole India except the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Form ST-1 is required as an application form for registration and after the completion of registration procedures, the authority of the department issues form ST-2 which is the certificate of registration. Form ST-3 is required to file a return under service tax.
REGISTRATION
Basic Exemption Limit for Service Tax Registration is Rs. 10 Lakh. Registration becomes compulsory exceeding the turnover of Rs. 9 Lakh.
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Application for registration is to be made online (website www.aces.gov.in) in form ST-1 to the Superintendent of Central Excise.
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The form shall be filed online with all the required details and submitted online itself.
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A print of the form submitted online shall be taken and along the documents as specified, shall be submitted to the department at the concerned commissioner-ate.
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The registration certificate will be granted by the department, in Form ST-2 within seven days of filling of an application complete and properly filed up. In case registration certificate is not issued within seven days, the registration is deemed to have been granted.
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STC Code for each assessee on the lines of PAN, irrespective of the number of services rendered
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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.
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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 the existing information. The new form may be submitted to the jurisdictional Superintendent for necessary endorsement of the new service category in his Registration certificate.
Where there is a change in any information or details furnished by an assessee in Form ST-1 at the time of obtaining registration or he intends to furnish any additional information or detail, such change or information or details shall be intimated, in writing, by the assessee, to the jurisdictional AC/DC of Central Excise, as the case may be, within a period of thirty days of such change.
PENALTY
If there is a delay in registration, penalty of Rs. 200 per day of delay, restricted to Rs 10000 can be imposed under section 77(1) of Finance Act, 1994. The penalty under section 77 is not automatic. If the assessee can prove that there was a reasonable cause for the delay in registration, the penalty could be waived under section 80.
REVERSE CHARGE
Under this scheme, service tax is payable by service recipient instead of service provider. Under this charge service receiver has to register himself under service tax. Further service receiver can-not claim general exemption limit of 10 Lakh rupees. So he has to pay even on few rupees of service received. In case of Reverse charge mechanism Point of taxation is Date of Payment to service provider.
