The Central Board of Excise and Customes has made electronic payment of service tax compulsory from April 1, 2010, for those who have in 2009-2010 paid a total service tax of Rs 10 lakh or more, including the amount paid by utilisation of Cenvat credit.
Prior to the notification No.1/2010, the electronic payment option was available only to those who had paid a service tax of Rs 50 lakh or more including utilisation of Cenvat credit.
The service provider who pays the service tax online will also have to file the half-yearly service tax return electronically through the ACES (Automation of Central Excise And Service Tax) platform from April 1.
With this amendment to rule 6(2) and rule 7(3) now even smaller service providers with a service tax collection of up to Rs 83,333 per month (or Rs 10 lakh per annum) will have to pay it online and file half-yearly returns electronically.
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