Service tax on supply of news to newspaper

[Kunal Pawar]

A firm receives literary news from the sources through e-mail and then the firm edits the said news and after making some changes supply the said news to newspaper through e-mail. Whether Service tax is applicable on the income received by the firm from the supply of said service.

[Rajagopalan Ranganathan]

Sir,

In my opinion it is taxable under "Online information and database access or retrieval [OIDAR] services."

[YAGAY and SUN]

In our view such services would not come in the taxable service as mentioned by Raja Sir as online accessing means accessing through websites like TMI, Shadi.com etc. Editing News in our view will come in the purview taxable service "Services Other than 119 Services". However this matter need further discussions between the experts for the sake of clarification.

[KASTURI SETHI]

Sh.Kunal Pawar Ji,

I endorse the views of M/s.YAGAY AND SUN. This very service is classified under the category of, "Development And Supply Of Content Services," defined under erstwhile Section 65(105)(zzzzb). Supply of contents contains the words print media, news etc. Since there is no question of the benefits of abatement and RCM, it is better to classify your service under the category of ,"Other Than Negative List" as advised by M/s.YAGAY AND SUN, Sirs.

This is my view.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Nice discussion. It enriched my knowledge. Thanks.

[Kunal Pawar]

Sir,

Thanks for guidance.

However, whether above discussed service fall under point No. 17 of Mega-exmeption Notification No. 25/2012-ST "Services by way of collecting or providing news by an independent journalist, Press Trust of India or United News of India;".

[KASTURI SETHI]

Exemption is available subject to fulfillment of conditions laid down in the notification. Note the condition of being 'Independent journalist', PTI or UNI. Examine the eligibility critically.

AI Summary

Service tax applicability on news editing and supply hinges on classification as OIDAR or content supply, with possible exemption.
Whether service tax applies to a firm that edits news received by e-mail and supplies it to newspapers was contested: one view treats it as OIDAR services; another treats it as taxable Development and Supply of Content Services or ordinary taxable service. A possible exemption under the mega-exemption notification for services by independent journalists or specified news agencies may apply but depends on satisfying the notification's conditions.