Service tax on advertising, courier and pager services requires registration, valuation, deposit, returns and specified penalties.
Service tax at five percent was extended from 1 November 1996 to pagers, advertising agencies and courier agencies; responsible persons must register for each premises, collect tax, deposit it monthly using prescribed challans (with provisional assessment possible), maintain records, and file quarterly returns with supporting documents. The notice prescribes valuation rules for various taxable services, details interest on delayed payment, civil penalties for failure to collect or remit, penalties for suppression or misstatement, criminal sanctions for willful evasion or false statements, and appeal routes to Commissioner (Appeals) and the Appellate Tribunal.

Standing Committee for trade and industry reviews to meet quarterly and forward recommendations to the Board.
A Standing Committee is established to review problems and representations of trade and industry on customs and central excise matters, functioning as a preparatory consultative body to assist the Customs and Central Excise Advisory Council. It will include senior departmental officers and two rotating trade association nominees, deliberate on refund procedures, clearance and movement of goods, inter Custom House anomalies, Modvat admissibility, and warehousing/bonding, while excluding classification, valuation, duty rate issues and matters under adjudication or appeal. Meetings will be held at the DGI's office quarterly, with a Deputy Director serving as Secretary, and recommendations forwarded to the Board and Council.

Minimum land requirement for ICDs/CFS set to ensure capacity and future expansion for effective operations.
Minimum land requirement norms are prescribed for ICDs/CFS to ensure present needs and future expansion and effective functioning. Facilities proposed outside major city limits should be allocated several acres of land, while facilities inside city limits or in port areas may be provided on substantially smaller plots, with port areas like Jawaharlal Nehru Port cited as examples of reduced land footprints. Site selection must anticipate future expansion to enable optimal use of departmental resources.

Registration requirement: members and dealers must register with Central Excise for the place of their exchange trading operations.
Members and dealers of OTCEI must register their premises with the Central Excise Commissionerate having jurisdiction over the place from which they operate; the same obligation applies to members trading through computers from other centres, and prior registration as a broker on a conventional exchange does not relieve the separate duty to register as a member/dealer of OTCEI or other listed exchanges.

Tax Deduction at Source on Salaries: employer withholding, perquisite valuation and reporting obligations clarified for compliance.
The Circular sets out the rates and operational rules for tax deduction at source on salary for financial year 2005-06 under section 192: employers must estimate taxable salary including perquisites, compute tax at prescribed rates, deduct on average at each payment, or optionally pay tax on non-monetary perquisites on the employee's behalf; aggregation rules for multiple employers, relief procedures for arrears/advances, valuation and reporting of perquisites in Form No.12BA, issuance of TDS certificates, Chapter VI-A deduction conditions, e-TDS filing requirements, and penalties, interest and prosecution for non-compliance are prescribed.

Modvat credit admissibility recognized for capital goods received prior to the rule change, even if not yet brought into production.
For capital goods procured and received into a factory prior to the rule change, specified-duty Modvat credit availed and utilised immediately upon receipt is admissible even if those goods were not actually installed or brought into production on the date of availment; the earlier circular limiting credit to installation applied only to initial factory setup and a subsequent notification introduced the installation requirement going forward.

Modvat credit eligibility: components, spares and accessories qualify regardless of their tariff classification when used with specified capital goods.
Credit on components, spares and accessories used with specified capital goods is allowed irrespective of the tariff classification of those parts. The separate descriptive entry for components, spares and accessories creates an eligibility category distinct from the chapter-based classification of capital goods, so any parts intended for use with the specified capital goods qualify for Modvat credit even if classifiable under different chapters.

Duty-free airconditioners permitted where necessary for manufacture under EOU, EPZ, EHTP and STP schemes - clarified.
Airconditioners required and necessary for the manufacture or production of goods under the EOU, EPZ, EHTP and STP schemes are to be treated as capital goods and allowed duty-free clearance; field formations must be informed and the trade suitably notified.

Recovery of duty from custodians on pilfered imported goods - custodians liable; demand notices required before remission or refund.
Amendment to section 45 makes custodians liable for customs duty on goods pilfered or lost after unloading but before clearance; recovery requires issuance of demand notices to custodians across three identification scenarios (after Bill of Entry, at IGM closure without Bill of Entry, or when custodians report shortages). Demand notices must be issued before remission or refund is allowed, with AC(MCD) and AC(Group) responsible for verification, issuance, and ensuring recovery of duty.

Service tax valuation rules on advertising and courier services clarify taxable inclusions and remittance obligations.
Advertising agencies must include gross amounts charged to clients-commissions, market research, travel, production expenses and other related expenditures-in the taxable value, excluding media space/time paid directly. Agencies remain legally liable for tax even if not collected. Courier operators must include co-loader charges, door to door and integrated logistics charges and exports in taxable value, while inbound deliveries are not taxable. Paging is taxable on gross subscriber charges. Collected tax must be deposited to the Central Government by the 15th of the following month and interest and penalties apply for late or non remittance.

Crediting date for service tax governs interest and penalty; first book transfer in SSA cash section determines liability.
For telecommunication service tax paid by book transfer, the operative date of crediting for calculating interest and penalty is the first date on which a book transfer is made in the cash section of the Secondary Switching Area. Revised proformas ST 3 and ST 3A under Rule 7 are prescribed and must be used by Secondary Switching Areas filing returns.

Modvat input credit timing clarified: procedural conditions for recredit and documentation specified including job work and imported inputs
Clarifies Modvat documentation and procedural rules: consignment agents need not issue the prescribed certificate when invoicing for the manufacturer; PLA account credit is allowed only via TR 6 challan or specific officer order, while recredit on return from job work must be made to RG 23A Part II. Partially processed inputs cleared for job work require debiting the prescribed proportion of their total value even if some components had no credit taken. Six month timing for imported inputs is computed from duty payment, with exceptions where permission or certification extends the period; head office bill of entry procedures apply to transfers to associated units.

Personal Ledger Account format revised: standardised PLA proforma prescribes corrected column headings and detailed credit/debit entry requirements.
Revision of the Personal Ledger Account proforma standardises PLA maintenance by prescribing corrected column headings and required fields for factory identification, credit/debit document details, Central Excise Tariff Sub Heading numbers, buyer EC codes, and segregated columns for duties and cess to record excise credits and debits.

Self-assessment procedure: revised RT-12 and PLA filing mandated; temporary stationery relaxation allowed; October defaults non penal.
Notification No. 36/96-CE (NT) implements the self-assessment procedure, mandating revised RT-12, PLA and RG-23 return formats per Board Circular No. 249/83/96-CX. Triplicate copies are reallocated to the assessee and a temporary relaxation permits stamping existing triplicate/quadruplicate stationery as "Triplicate for Assessee" until 31.3.97. Departments assessing October returns filed late should assess them and may request triplicate invoice copies; no penal action where October returns were not filed in the revised proforma.

Declaration requirement for excise marketing and discount disclosures mandates annual filing and immediate updates to protect assessable value.
A statutory requirement compels registered assessees to file an annual quadruplicate declaration of marketing pattern, discount structure and related details to the Range Superintendent in a prescribed proforma, with immediate refiling on any change. The Range Superintendent must acknowledge receipt, verify and forward copies with a report to the Divisional Assistant Commissioner, who endorses and distributes copies to the Range Superintendent and Valuation Cell while retaining the original. Where declarations appear incorrect or declared assessable values seem nonconforming, inquiries, provisional assessment with supervisory concurrence, selection for detailed scrutiny, or reassessment proceedings may be initiated to protect revenue.

Rectification visits under Section 74 require prior commissioner approval; annual targeted audits apply to telecom, insurance, stock brokers.
Visits for rectification of mistake under Section 74 of Finance Act, 1994 may be conducted by the Service Tax Cell with prior approval of the Commissioner (Central Excise) once in every two years; audits of accounts/records for telephones, insurance and stock brokers shall be conducted annually, and stock broker audits must follow prescribed tiered selection and selective document-check norms according to their scale of service tax payments.

Pass out system for liquid gases allows removal without immediate duty, subject to PLA debit and strict recording safeguards.
Manufacturers may remove liquid oxygen, nitrogen and other cryogenic gases without immediate payment of Central Excise under Rule 173G(1)(iv), subject to prior Board permission, a written application and undertaking, maintenance of sufficient PLA/RG balances, use of pre authenticated quadruplicate Pass Out Documents, customer wise recording of deliveries, maintenance of a special register for deliveries/returns/losses, subsequent invoicing and debit of duty entries dated to dispatch, payment of duty on transit or storage losses at the highest effective rate, and compliance with Commissioner imposed safeguards.

Authority to resolve disputes: Committee on Disputes controls appeal strategy; Commissioners cannot modify adjudications without Board sanction
The Committee on Disputes exclusively determines whether to pursue departmental decisions or appeals; Commissioners and Chief Commissioners have no authority to modify orders of competent adjudicating or appellate authorities. Mutual discussions ordered by the Committee must take place at the Board level, and any change to an existing adjudicatory order can occur only through appellate or judicial fora after the Committee grants permission to pursue the matter.

Requirement to specify grounds for extended period in show cause notices, and accountability for delays in issuance.
Show Cause Notices for extended periods must expressly state the grounds for extension, including specific ingredients such as suppression of fact or willful misstatement where relied upon, and Commissioners issuing such SCNs must ensure these grounds are clearly recorded. If there is delay in issuing an SCN, officers must not cover the delay by invoking an extended period without proper grounds; responsibility for delay must be fixed, action initiated, and a detailed report sent to the Chief Commissioner and the Board.

Attachment and sale for recovery of government dues under Section 142(1) enables Customs to attach and sell defaulter property.
Amended Section 142(1) and the 1995 Rules permit Customs to attach, distrain and sell a defaulter's movable and immovable property to recover government dues; the authorised procedure requires issuance of a certificate stating the amount due, service of a notice demanding payment within seven days, and, if unpaid, attachment and sale following prescribed annexures, while avoiding simultaneous action with District Collectors and allowing Commissioners to designate proper officers and create special cells to implement the rules.