Business exhibition services: overseas venue and installation are outside tax net; domestic stall rentals may not qualify as export.
Hiring premises abroad and arranging stall installation are services performed wholly outside India and thus not taxable under the Rules for services provided from outside India, while renting stalls to Indian exhibitors for an overseas exhibition is a service provided in India and does not qualify as an export of services because consideration is not received in convertible foreign currency; the clarification is limited to the period prior to the subsequent exemption notification for Business Exhibition Service.

E filing assistance: new ACES support includes helpdesk, facilitation centres, manuals and automated account recovery.
Operational support for ACES e filing comprises a national Service Desk with ticketing and escalation, email submission of XML files, ACES Certified Facilitation Centres providing digitization and authorised on behalf filing services, web based Learning Management Software and user manuals, jurisdictional Range Officers empowered to update credentials and regenerate TIPIN/password, and automated password recovery being implemented by the Directorate.

Deemed construction service: builders liable for service tax unless full payment follows issuance of a competent completion certificate.
Construction of complex intended for sale is deemed a taxable service by the builder unless full consideration is paid after issuance of a competent authority completion certificate. The explanatory amendment effective from 1-7-2010 treats construction for sale as a service except where no sum is received from or on behalf of the buyer before grant of the completion certificate. Pre-effective-date services attracted no tax but any amounts collected as service tax for such services must be deposited; payments made before the effective date are exempt subject to documentary evidence. "Authority competent" includes registered architects, chartered engineers and licensed surveyors authorised to issue completion certificates.

Cenvat Credit misclassification: verify service classification and recover inadmissible credits to protect revenue.
Irregular availment of Cenvat Credit by hotel chains arises where recipients claim full credit by treating services from hotel management providers as Management Consultancy Services, though such inputs are more properly Business Auxiliary, Business Support or Franchise Services. Field formations must verify classifications, prevent or recover inadmissible credits, and ensure recipients discharge the burden of proof for correct availment; Commissioner, Service Tax-I, Mumbai to complete verification and report results.

Audit frequency norms require mandatory audits for top-paying service taxpayers and risk-based selection to avoid duplication.
Service tax audit policy prescribes a graduated audit-frequency regime by annual service tax payments (including cash and Cenvat), with the highest payment band subject to mandatory audit annually preferably using CAAP. Non-mandatory taxpayers are selected for audit through a risk assessment process using a quantitative "risk parameter," and selection should avoid duplication with simultaneous detailed return scrutiny.

Wording amendment in service tax guidance substitutes 'notification' for 'circular', clarifying fumigation classification terminology.
Corrigendum substitutes the word "notification" for the word "circular" in paragraph 2(b), line five of the prior service tax text, an editorial correction clarifying the reference point for guidance on whether fumigation of export cargo falls under cleaning services.

Inclusion of handling charges in taxable value increases service tax liability where transport and loading services are supplied together.
Where the same contractor supplies transportation and loading/unloading services, loading and unloading (handling) charges must be added to transport charges to determine the taxable value for Service Tax; exclusion of handling charges by M/s. FCI led to underpayment and improper reliance on the exemption slab, and the Board/Ministry circulars and prior office clarification require inclusion of those charges when computing Service Tax liability.

Service tax exemption for Janata Personal Accident Policy confirmed for state-specified group schemes serving targeted populations.
Service tax exemption applies to Janata Personal Accident Policy (JPAP) group schemes customized by insurers per state government specifications to provide low sum assured risk cover to targeted populations and to fulfil prescribed rural or social sector obligations, and such schemes are covered by Notification No. 3/1994 ST despite no explicit definition of JPAP in that notification.

Cleaning services: fumigation of export cargo does not meet the statutory cleaning-services definition and is not taxable as such.
Fumigation of export cargo, including agricultural or horticultural produce whether loaded into containers or otherwise, does not fall within the statutory definition of cleaning services under the Finance Act, 1994, since that definition is limited to cleaning of objects or premises associated with commercial or industrial buildings, factories, plants, machinery, tanks or reservoirs; notifications exempting specialised container cleaning do not alter the statutory scope.