Service Tax
1. Taxation of Service
Service tax was introduced for the first time in 1994 through
insertion of Chapter V in the Finance Act, 1994 (the "Finance
Act") as a mean to broaden the indirect tax base. It may be
noted that there is no separate enactment for service tax till date
and it continues to be governed by the provisions of Chapter V of
the Finance Act (ss 64 to 100) and the rules incorporated under the
Service Tax Rules, 1994.
The Finance Act provides for methods of levying service tax, the
circumstances in which the levy would arise, the procedures to be
followed and allied matters such as registration, self-assessment,
penalty, etc. Initially, the levy of service tax was confined only
to three services. Since then, year after year, the scope of
service tax gradually increased and extended to over 120 services.
The Finance Act, which provides for levy of service tax has been
substantially amended by the Finance Act, 2012, w.e.f., 1.07.2012.
There
