Only 30 per cent of those registered from the Service Industry pay the tax while the remaining 70 per cent do not pay either because they are not aware of their responsibility or are registered despite being out of its ambit.

Making an elaborate presentation on the need to deregister from the Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax with regard to Service Tax if the service provider was below the threshold of Rs.10 lakh, Guntur Central Excise and Customs Commissioner C.P. Rao wanted everyone to make use of the VCES before December 31.

At a programme organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry Vijayawada Chapter at The Gateway Hotel recently, Mr. C.P. Rao said that people need to find out if they were in the ambit of Service Tax and register themselves and take advantage of the one-time scheme. The Service Tax had been existing for the past 18 years and people should understand it better now, he added.

Additional Commissioner S. Khader Rehman clarified the doubts of some of the corporate houses and also small entrepreneurs about the exemptions available to them. “The thumb rule now is to find out if you are in the Negative List of Service Tax and if you are not in that list and you are a service provider, you must register and pay the tax,” he observed.

One of the common complaints about service tax in starred-hotels, the Commissioner said that 40 per cent of the bill usually comprises cost of the food and remaining service on which tax had to be paid. “We do not know if the hotels were showing us the same bills they give you,” but he opined that they needed to be more transparent. The CII Vijayawada chapter chairman M. Lakshmi Prasad and Vice-Chairman V.V.M. Krishna were also present.