Service Tax For 15 New Sectors To Be Deferred

The introduction of service tax for 15 new services is going to be deferred beyond July 1. The expansion of service tax net was one of the most important announcements made by finance minister Yashwant Sinha in the Budget this year.

According to budget estimates, the revenue department expects to rake in about Rs 3600 crore this fiscal, Rs 1500 crore more than last year's revised estimates.

Explaining the reason for the delay, officials said the department wants to be absolutely sure that they have worked out all the details before introducing the tax.

While service tax has been introduced earlier, the 15 specific services will be tapped extensively only this year, and so it is necessary to ensure that the scheme is flawless.

However, the delay will not hamper the total collections for the year, they maintained.

Officials, however, conceded that there is a distinct possibility of protests emanting from the sectors which are now going to be taxed.

Already, the department has recieved representations from several service associations to defer the imposition.

They added that it would not be wise to hike the collection estimates from these services before seeing the trends in revenue generation for about three months.

However the officials said they are confident that the notification will be announced within July.