Voluntary compliance scheme deadline prompts extended office and bank hours to accept declarations; partial payment required to qualify.
Operational measures facilitate final filings under the Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme (VCES) 2013: Service Tax offices will operate extended hours and accept demand drafts/pay orders under the Receipt Payment Rules, and designated banks will extend hours to receive payments. Declarants must remit the required portion of declared tax by the statutory deadline to remain eligible; failure to pay will result in ineligibility and, from the following year, authorities will enforce statutory arrest and prosecution provisions against non-compliant service providers.

Electronic payment requirement expanded: broader set of service taxpayers must remit service tax via internet banking.
Taxpayers who paid at least the reduced threshold in the preceding financial year, including CENVAT-utilised amounts, must deposit Service Tax electronically by internet banking under the amended proviso to Rule 6(2) of the Service Tax Rules; a corresponding amendment to Rule 8(1) of the Central Excise Rules imposes the same requirement for central excise, with both notifications taking effect from the stated effective date.

Service tax registration surrender procedure requires ACES filing with specified documents; pre migration registrations can use manual surrender.
Procedure requires electronic filing of surrender applications via the ACES module with submission of a signed printout and supporting documents to the jurisdictional Superintendent or Centralized Surrender Cell; required documents include Annexure I application and undertaking, up to six ST 3 returns, profit & loss and balance sheets (or alternative evidence), and Annexure II disclosures of show cause notices, demands, appeals, audits and investigations. Pre migration registrations may file manually; the Superintendent processes requests, may seek reconciliations (with specified exemptions), and will notify cancellation by e mail, subject to a 15 day cure period for deficiencies.

Voluntary Compliance Scheme: declaration and payment rules clarified, allowing installment payments and limiting inquiry powers.
The VCES requires submission of tax-due declarations in Form VCES-I, which contains an undertaking that information is correct; no extra undertakings may be demanded. The Scheme allows payment of the minimum first-tranche amount in installments, permits the remaining payment by the later deadline without interest, and applies interest only to amounts unpaid after that deadline. The Designated Authority may perform arithmetic checks but not investigatory verification; a Commissioner may issue a show-cause notice only if he records reasons to believe a declaration is substantially false.

Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme: offices open weekends to accept and process declarations before the scheme deadline.
The notice instructs that the Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme (VCES-2013) is in effect and that the deadline for submitting declarations is imminent; to facilitate participation the office will remain open on all Saturdays of December to accept and process VCES filings, and trade associations are requested to publicise the notice among their members.

Voluntary Compliance Encouragement allows regularisation of past service tax liabilities subject to strict limits on rejections and procedural safeguards.
Designated authorities must accept and acknowledge declarations under the Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme, assist declarants to cure defects, and avoid returning declarations. Rejection on grounds of pre existing inquiries, investigations or audits must be construed strictly and limited to the specific period or issue under inquiry; where reasons for rejection exist a timely written notice of intention to reject must be issued. Payments made after the scheme began but before filing may be included in a declaration provided Cenvat credit was not used; amounts already discharged before the scheme are not eligible for declaration.

E-payment threshold reduction requires electronic deposit of service tax by qualifying assessees and notifies parallel central excise change.
An amendment lowers the electronic payment threshold for service tax so that an assessee who paid a total of service tax in the preceding financial year, including amounts paid by utilisation of CENVAT credit, must deposit service tax electronically through internet banking under the proviso to Rule 6(2) of the Service Tax Rules. A parallel amendment to the third proviso to Rule 8(1) of the Central Excise Rules imposes a corresponding obligation; both notifications take effect from the stated implementation date and Commissioners must issue public notices.

Specified restaurant service tax liability extends to air-conditioned sections and related areas, non-air-conditioned outlets remain exempt.
A restaurant that has air conditioning or central air heating at any time during the year is a specified restaurant and its services in serving food or beverages attract service tax; in a complex with clearly demarcated restaurants served from a common kitchen only the specified restaurant's services are taxable while services of non-air-conditioned outlets remain exempt with CENVAT credit governed by the CENVAT Credit Rules. Services by a specified restaurant in other hotel areas are taxable, and goods sold on an MRP basis are excluded when valuing the taxable service portion.

Exporters' refunds will be credited via RTGS/NEFT; claimants must submit one-time bank authorisation and fees may be deducted.
Sanctioned rebate and refund amounts must be paid electronically via the RTGS/NEFT facility of State Bank of India, Rajkot from 01.11.2013. Claimants filing fresh claims after 15.10.2013 must submit a bank-certified One Time Authorisation (Annexure A) valid for one financial year; changes require fresh Authorisation. Divisional sanctioning authorities will maintain an Authorisation Register, submit Annexure B with a consolidated cheque to the authorised SBI branch, and record payment UTR details in the Refund/Rebate Order. Banks may deduct RTGS/NEFT charges and must provide remittance details in Annexure B-1.

Specified restaurant service tax applies where any part of an establishment is air-conditioned; non AC demarcated outlets remain exempt.
Service tax applies to services rendered by a specified restaurant-one with any air conditioning or central air heating at any time in the year. Where a complex has clearly demarcated air conditioned and non air conditioned restaurants supplied from a common kitchen, only the specified restaurant's services are taxable while the non AC outlet's services remain exempt with Cenvat credit treatment under the Cenvat Credit Rules. Services by a specified restaurant in other hotel areas are taxable, and goods sold on fixed MRP must be excluded when determining the service value.

Appointment of common adjudicating authority assigned adjudication of three show cause notices to a specified Additional Commissioner.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs assigns adjudication of three show cause notices against Divya Tourism Private Limited to Shri J. S. Negi, Additional Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Service Tax, Ahmedabad, and directs that the adjudication be answerable to the Additional Commissioner in that office, while identifying the originating service tax divisions for administrative linkage.

Adjudication assignment transfers responsibility for specific service tax show cause notices to a designated commissioner for resolution.
The adjudication of two specified service tax show cause notices issued to M.R.K.R Construction and Industries Private Ltd is assigned to the Commissioner of Central Excise Hyderabad II, with file references and notice dates recorded in the annexed table and reporting relationships to the Commissioners of Central Excise Guntur and Hyderabad III noted; the transfer is communicated to the Chief Commissioner and DGCEI for administrative routing.

Appointment of Common Adjudicating Authority assigns adjudication of numerous service tax show cause notices to a designated commissioner.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs, invoking statutory powers, assigns to Dr. Ram Niwas, Commissioner of Central Excise, Mumbai II, the adjudication of specified service tax show cause notices listed in the Table; entries 1-40 are answerable to Commissioner of Service Tax I Mumbai and entries 41-100 are answerable to Commissioner of Service Tax II Mumbai.

Education services exemption covers auxiliary services to institutions, excluding outsourced transport, catering and related services from service tax.
Education services are exempt from service tax under the negative list and by notification: services provided to an educational institution in respect of education exempted from service tax are exempt when rendered as auxiliary educational services or renting of immovable property. "Auxiliary educational services" include imparting skill or knowledge, course content development, admission-related services, conduct of examinations, transportation of students/faculty/staff, government-sponsored mid-day meal catering, and other outsourced services ordinarily carried out by institutions; such outsourced services (e.g., transport, hostels, housekeeping, security, canteen) are therefore exempt.

Service tax exemption for hotel and restaurant services in disaster-affected area provides relief for hospitality sector during relief period.
The Central Government, under sub-section (2) of section 93 of the Finance Act, 1994, exempts from the whole of service tax leviable under section 66B services consisting of renting of rooms in hotels, inns, guest houses, clubs, campsites or other commercial lodging places, and services relating to serving food or beverages by restaurants, eating joints or messes when provided to any person in the State of Uttarakhand; the exemption is limited to the ad-hoc relief period specified in the order.

Arrest powers for service tax evasion: conditions, procedural safeguards and bail processes when evasion exceeds prescribed threshold.
The Finance Act amendments classify certain service tax offences as cognizable and others as non cognizable and bailable, and permit arrest where offences under section 89(1)(i) or (ii) involve evasion exceeding the statutory threshold. Arrests require authorization by the Commissioner based on credible material, observance of CrPC procedures, preparation of a D.K. Basu compliant arrest memo, gender sensitive and medical safeguards, and distinct bail and production rules depending on the clause under which the offence falls.

Extension of filing deadline for Form ST-3 granted to accommodate upload difficulties and prevent technical noncompliance.
An administrative order under sub-rule(4) of rule 7 of the Service Tax Rules authorises an extension of the date of submission for Form ST-3 for the relevant half-year, on account of difficulties faced by assessees in uploading the offline utilities, thereby permitting filings within the extended period to address technical impediments to electronic submission.

Voluntary Compliance Scheme clarifies scope, eligibility, CENVAT treatment and audit initiation versus culmination for tax declarations.
Clarifies that VCES covers "tax dues" for Oct two thousand seven to Dec two thousand twelve, treats separate service tax registrations as distinct assessees for eligibility, and includes liabilities from wrongful CENVAT credit use. Communications requesting roving information without requisition of documents do not invoke section 106(2)(a). Declarations are permissible despite post cutoff inquiries unless the same issue is already the subject of proceedings for any covered period. The designated authority must follow natural justice in rejecting declarations, may allow amendments before the filing cutoff, and audit initiation and culmination are defined for eligibility determinations.

Voluntary compliance scheme: form, payment and acknowledgement procedures prescribed, officials designated to process declarations under service tax administration.
Notification prescribes the form and manner of declaration, acknowledgement, manner of payment of tax dues and form of issuing acknowledgement of discharge of tax dues under the Service Tax Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme, 2013, and designates Deputy Commissioners/Assistant Commissioners of Service Tax divisions as the authorities to receive declarations and issue acknowledgements pursuant to Finance Act provisions.

Centralized registration procedure under service tax: online ST 1 filing with documentary annexures and undertakings governs consolidation and record transfer.
The Notice prescribes that applicants seeking centralized registration must file the registration application online and submit the signed ST 1 printout with prescribed annexures, including branch-wise details, pending adjudications/appeals, a notarised affidavit certifying centralized accounting/billing and an undertaking to produce records for audit or enquiries; after grant, single branch registrations must be surrendered and branchwise CENVAT balances reported for transfer. The timeline for registration begins only when the application is complete, and deficiency memos must be issued within the statutory period.