Job work vs manpower supply: classification determines whether services to apparel exporters attract service tax.
Classification between manpower supply and job work depends on contractual terms and factual scope: manpower supply places personnel under recipient control with charges tied to deployed labour, while job work assigns a specific fabrication task with provider accountability and per-piece valuation. Service tax exemption under the negative list applies only where the job work involves a process subject to excise duties. Determination of tax liability requires case-by-case examination of control, payment basis, accountability, place of work, and related contractual terms.

Swachh Bharat Cess: accounting codes allocated for tax collection, interest, penalties and refund deductions to ensure compliance.
Swachh Bharat Cess is an additional levy on taxable services (excluding fully exempt or otherwise not liable services) and the Controller General of Accounts has allotted Minor Head 506 Swachh Bharat Cess with sub heads for tax collection, interest receipts, penalties and deduction of refunds to enable correct accounting and compliance; trade associations are asked to notify their members.

Testing and ancillary seed services as agricultural operations exempt from service tax, therefore not leviable under the negative list.
The circular clarifies that the negative list exemption for agricultural operations including testing covers testing and ancillary services (seed certification, technical inspection, analysis, tagging) as a composite process and, following removal of the word "seed" from the entry, such services are not leviable to service tax under the statutory negative list.

Swachh Bharat Cess applies to taxable services, charged on service value, excluded from cenvat credit and invoiced separately.
Swachh Bharat Cess is a separate cess levied on the value of taxable services from 15 November 2015, additional to service tax and not a cess on tax. It applies to all taxable services except those fully exempt or in the negative list, must be invoiced and accounted for separately under a distinct accounting code, follows existing service tax valuation, abatement and reverse charge rules, and is not eligible for Cenvat credit.

Swachh Bharat Cess levy on taxable services; accounting codes and subheads assigned and public notices directed.
Swachh Bharat Cess is imposed on taxable services except those fully exempt or otherwise not liable; the Controller General of Accounts has allocated a new Minor Head and specific sub heads for tax collection, interest, penalties and deduction of refunds, and the circular directs acknowledgement, issuance of trade and public notices, and wide publicity for administrative implementation.

Refund of CENVAT credit: provisional major portion paid promptly to service exporters under rule five, subject to verification.
Scheme for refund of accumulated CENVAT credit to exporters of services under rule 5: eligible pending claims filed by the cutoff date that are not finally adjudicated must be accompanied by an auditor's certificate and a claimant undertaking. Upon receipt, the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner will acknowledge and make a provisional payment of a substantial portion of the claim within five working days by a prescribed letter; this payment is administrative and subject to verification, potential show cause notices, recovery of inadmissible amounts, and monthly MIS reporting.

Monetary threshold for arrest in excise and service tax cases raised; arrests allowed only where evasion meets revised statutory threshold.
Arrests and prosecutions for evasion of Central Excise duty, Service Tax or misuse of Cenvat Credit under the specified clauses of Section 9 of the Central Excise Act and Section 89 of the Finance Act are to be initiated only when the monetary evasion meets the revised prescribed threshold; earlier circulars are amended and implementation difficulties should be reported to the Board.

Prosecution threshold: require mens rea and substantial evasion or habitual offending, with prior sanction before filing complaint.
Prosecution may be launched only where evidence establishes mens rea and ordinarily where evasion or misuse meets a substantial threshold; habitual evaders may be prosecuted irrespective of that threshold. Sanction for prosecution must be obtained from specified senior authorities, with DGCEI cases requiring Director General sanction. Adjudicating authorities should indicate fitness for prosecution; prosecution proposals must follow a prescribed investigation report format, be filed promptly after sanction, tracked in prosecution registers, and supervised to avoid undue delay. Withdrawals, compounding offers, and appeals are governed by stated procedures.

Goods Transport Agency service classification clarifies composite-service treatment and abatement applicability for road transportation services.
Service tax applies to services of a Goods Transport Agency, defined by provision of road transport services and issuance of a consignment note. A GTA's supply is a single composite service encompassing ancillary activities (loading, unloading, packing, transshipment, temporary storage) if charged in the GTA's invoice, and such ancillary services form part of the GTA service for purposes of abatement. Time-bound delivery commitments do not exclude the activity from GTA service provided the entire transport is by road and a consignment note is issued.

Show Cause Notice waiver permits oral notice and payment to obtain closure of proceedings without penalty in non-fraud cases.
An assessee may waive a written Show Cause Notice by written request and payment of tax/duty, interest and the reduced penalty, allowing oral notice and representation; the statutory payment window runs from department's receipt of the waiver letter, payments made before receipt are permitted, and in non-fraud cases payment of tax and interest before or within the prescribed period leads to no penalty and deemed conclusion of proceedings, which may be approved by an officer of rank equal to the adjudicating authority.

Service tax on food delivery depends on whether the transaction's dominant character is sale or includes a service element.
Transactions involving pick-up or home delivery of food are characterised as a sale, not a service, where no on-site service elements (ambience, entertainment, air conditioning, personalized hospitality) are offered; Service Tax applies only if a service element exists, and where delivery is provided free the transaction is not liable to Service Tax.

Service tax on restaurant services increased; effective tax on abated value rises while abatement for food supply remains unchanged.
The service tax rate for restaurant services was increased effective 1 June 2015; valuation of services for establishments having air conditioning or central air heating is governed by Rule 2C, which prescribes the service portion as a fixed proportion of the total amount charged, and the increased tax rate applies to the abated value. The abatement itself was not changed and exemption continues for establishments without air conditioning or central air heating at any time during the year.

Reverse charge liability: notified service recipients must register and pay service tax when specified services are notified for recipient-side payment.
Payment of service tax on a reverse charge basis places liability on notified recipients who must register, file returns and pay tax; a specified list of services is subject to full or partial reverse charge with percentages allocated between provider and recipient. Applicability is subject to conditions (recipient categories, nature of provider, and place of provision), specified exemptions for small providers and certain recipients, prohibition on using CENVAT credit for reverse charge payments, independent liabilities under partial reverse charge, and separate valuation options for works contracts. Non-compliance attracts interest and penalties.

Digital signature authentication enables verifiable electronic records and a specified PDF-based verification process for signed invoices and documents.
Prescribed procedures allow assessees to maintain electronic records and authenticate invoices by digital signatures issued by recognized certifying authorities, subject to prior notification of signer and certificate details to the jurisdictional officer and separate records for each registration; officers may require and verify printouts during enquiries and may verify digitally signed documents via PDF signature panels, modification history, and signer certificate details, adding validated certificates to trusted identities upon satisfaction.

Return scrutiny: risk based detailed manual review of ST 3 returns to verify taxability, valuation and CENVAT reconciliation.
Guidelines establish a two-tier scrutiny regime for ST-3 returns from 01.08.2015: automated preliminary validation in ACES and risk based detailed manual scrutiny of selected returns. Detailed scrutiny verifies correctness of self assessment-taxability, valuation under Section 67, exemptions/abatements, export treatment and CENVAT credit admissibility-using assessment documents (agreements, invoices) and reconciliations with income tax returns and Form 26AS, supported by prescribed checklists, observation sheets, reporting templates and confidentiality of risk data.

Air-conditioned restaurant service tax liability clarified: only establishments with air-conditioning or central air-heating attract tax.
Service tax applies only to restaurants, eating-joints and messes that have air-conditioning or central air-heating in any part of the establishment; those without such facilities are exempt. For taxable air-conditioned or air-heated restaurants, sixty percent of the value charged is deductible and service tax is calculated on the remaining forty percent.

Service tax on restaurant services: increased rate now applies to abated value, raising the effective tax on total bill.
Valuation of services for serving food or beverages at restaurants with air conditioning or central air heating follows the existing rule treating a defined portion of the total amount charged as the taxable service value after an abatement; the revised central service tax rate applies to that abated value, increasing the effective tax on the total amount charged. Establishments without air conditioning or central air heating continue to fall within the exemption.

Service tax exemption withdrawal makes construction and related services to government taxable under amended rules.
Withdrawal of exemption on specified construction and allied services supplied to government entities was effected by the Union Budget 2015, rendering such services taxable with effect from 01.04.2015. The change removes the earlier exemption for services to the Government, a local authority or a governmental authority consisting of construction, erection, commissioning, installation, completion, fitting out, repair, maintenance, renovation or alteration.

Service tax rate increase takes effect, broadening taxable services to amusement admissions, alcohol contract manufacturing, and lottery services.
The Finance Act, 2015 increases the Service Tax rate effective 1 June 2015 and simultaneously withdraws the Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess from that date; concomitant rule amendments revise alternative rates for specified services. Amendments remove Negative List exclusions for admission to entertainment events and access to amusement facilities, and exclude alcoholic liquor production from the Negative List, thereby making admission/access services, contract manufacturing of potable liquor, and certain lottery-related distributor services subject to service tax. Government-to-business service taxation and the Swachh Bharat Cess are enabled but await notified commencement dates.

Customs duty changes and concurrent CVD concession clarified; excise rules and service tax exemptions for select social schemes revised.
Amendments implement Finance Bill, 2015 measures revising Customs tariffs (BCD increases and reductions, selective BCD exemptions, reduced export duty on certain iron ore fines, and withdrawal of some additional duty exemptions), restructure Central Excise duties and capacity rules (tobacco packing machines speed bands, withdrawal of specified input exemptions, narrowed concessional rates for computer components, and withdrawal of certain defence-related exemptions), clarify simultaneous availment of BCD and concessional or exempt CVD for specified imports, amend CENVAT Credit Rules to allow use of education cesses credit for basic excise duty in prescribed cases, and exempt services under specified government social schemes from service tax.