Service Tax applicability on P.F/ESI consultation

[sunil mehta]

A labour law consultant apart from rendering legal consultancy in respect of labour & allied laws to various business organisation,also prepares, maintains records pertaining to wages,leave ,P.F.,ESI etc of his clients at his own office(manual or computerised).He charges them as 'P.F./ESI consultation charges'.No service tax is levied on P.F/ESI consultation vide circular from CBEC. Query (a)Is it correct view? Query (b):Now he professional labour consultant gets work to deploy skilled /supervisory staff at clients' own office /factory premises to maintain all labour records (as stated above)either manually or computerised.He has also to deploy his own PC/printer and other infrastructure at client's place.He has also to see that there is compliance of all labour & allied laws by client at project site or factory.The client pays him lumpsum for staff and use of PC etc on monthly basis.The skilled staff of labour consultant carries out this above assignment professionally as if they would have carried out at labour consultant's own office.Skilled staff does not work under control of client.Service tax is levied under which category for i)comliance work ii)records maintenance work?

AI Summary

Labor Law Compliance Services Not Subject to Service Tax, No Specific Provisions Apply to P.F./ESI Consultation Work. A query was raised regarding the applicability of service tax on P.F./ESI consultation services provided by a labor law consultant. The consultant maintains records and ensures compliance with labor laws, sometimes deploying staff and equipment at client sites. The question was whether such services are subject to service tax. The response indicated that there are no specific provisions in the service tax law to tax these services, and they are not liable under any residual category. Therefore, as per the current understanding, maintenance or compliance work related to P.F./ESI is not subject to service tax.