Service Tax on Legal charges

[DK AGGARWAL]

Sir

We understand ST is payable on Advocate Fee( Legal lawyer who are appearing in court for Civil and criminal) as reverse charge.Please confirm if ST is applicable as reverse charge on Chartered Accountant, Sales Tax Advisors,Income Tax lawyers who are giving Bills without charging ST.

D K Aggarwal

AI Summary

Reverse Charge Mechanism Applies to Legal Services by Advocates, Not Chartered Accountants or Tax Advisors: Notification No. 30/2012-ST. A discussion on a forum addressed the applicability of service tax under the reverse charge mechanism on legal services. The initial query questioned whether service tax is applicable to Chartered Accountants and tax advisors who issue bills without charging service tax. Responses clarified that, according to Notification No. 30/2012-ST, reverse charge applies primarily to advocates providing legal services to business entities. It was emphasized that this does not extend to Chartered Accountants or other consultants not acting as advocates. The discussion also touched on the legal definition of services and the specifics of tax liability for various professionals.