In a bid to guide taxpayers and make tax payments easier, the Central Board of Customs and Excise today came out with two consolidated draft circulars on service tax which would replace all circulars issued so far.
The draft circulars, on which the Board has sought comments from the public by June 29, would supercede all circulars, clarifications and instructions issued by the government since the levy was introduced in 1994, CBEC said.
While the draft on 'Procedural issues in Service Tax - clarification' aims at consolidating procedures for payment of service tax, it also deals with issues concerning availment and utilisation of CENVAT credit by tax payers.
The second draft deals with scope, valuation and classification of taxable services, export of services, scope of exemptions and matters concerning levy of service tax.
These drafts were issued in pursuance of a report prepared by former chief commissioner T R Rustagi on utility of various circulars and instructions issued by CBEC so far.
Earlier, after examining the Rustagi report, the Board had withdrawn 48 circulars which were found to be redundant or inconsistent with the existing law and procedures.
These circulars, the Board said, only seek to clarifiy the scope of the Finance Act and in the event of any inconsistency or contradiction between the circular and the provisions of the Act, the later would prevail.
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