Service tax collection in Kolkata down 18%

Service tax collection in Kolkata circle, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of tax collections in West Bengal, for the months of April and May, has fallen by about 18 per cent over the same period last year. 

The service tax collection in the two months this fiscal has been Rs 247 crore, against Rs 302 crore in the corresponding period in 2008-09 fiscal.

The decline was due to reduction in service tax to 10 per cent in February this month, against 12 per cent earlier, said  V K Goel, commisioner of service tax, Kolkata, at an interactive session organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) in Kolkata on Wednesday.

In 2008-09, there was nearly a 20 per cent increase in service tax collection from Kolkata, at Rs 2,438 crore, as against Rs 2,023 crore last fiscal.

Despite the increase, the collection for FY 2008-09 had fallen short of its target of Rs 2,459 crore. 

The increase in service tax collection has also been due to the increase in the number of assessees which has gone up from 42,000 to 48,000 during the fiscal year 2008-09.

All India service tax collection for fiscal year 2008-09 was close to Rs 60,000 crore with the total number of assessees over 5.5 lakh.  For 2009-10, the national target for service tax collection has been fixed at Rs 68,900 crore.

Some of the sectors which contributed heavily were insurance, telecom, banking and real estate. Kolkata-based National Insurance Company Limited, BSNL, were some of the highest contributors, earlier Goel had said. .

"We are looking at a number of measures to facilitate payment and filing of return processes. The department has made it mandatory for all assessees whose total service tax payable is beyond Rs 50 lakh to pay online. We are trying to get the online facility for filing of returns as well. The department is working on it, it will take a year or two," he had said at an earlier interaction.