Service tax on digging, levelling, filling, fixing etc. (construction of road)

[sunil mehta]

A small contractor gets the foll: work from municipal corporation: 1)Digging out existing materials (cement,kapchi. etc.) from existing pavement(footpath) 2)Levelling of earth work, 3)Filling of sand ,kapchi, ets to flatten the suraface, 4)Fixing the ready made purchased pavement blocks on footpath , (note:contractor buys pavement blocks from the market ) As per the work order rate for pre-fixing ready block is based on square mtr. basis (digging out old earth work,surfacing etc) , & rate for ready made fixing charges are quoted separetely (pavement block + fixing chgs.) Query :a) It is not construction of roads (road is exempted) b)will it fall under ' construction of civil structures' ? (as per definition ) c)Pl. suggest suitable service under which it falls? d)when rates quoted by mun. corporation for pre-fitting and actual pavemnt block price are different ,how to claim abatement for actual pavement block purchased from the market?

[Guest]

Pavement or footpath is used by pedestrians where as the main body of the road is used by the motorists or cyclists, so what difference does it make and why it does not fall within the definition of 'road' and gets excluded from the definition of civil structure as provided there in ?

[Anish Jain]

In my opinion it is also covered under Constructino of Road and is exempted.

AI Summary

Classification of pedestrian footpath works: argued as construction of road and therefore exempt from service tax implications. Classification of service tax liability for pedestrian footpath works involving excavation, levelling, filling and laying ready-made pavement blocks: whether these activities constitute construction of road (exempt) or construction of civil structures (taxable), and the treatment of separately procured pavement blocks for abatement where municipal rates separate pre-fixing and block supply; forum contributors argued the footpath work falls under construction of road exemption, but the abatement mechanism for purchased blocks remained unresolved.