Annual return requirement expands: revised filing, revision window and per day late fee provisions imposed for service taxpayers.
Revises Service Tax Rules, 1994 to (i) redefine legal services classification and omit a listed item; (ii) extend simplified threshold provisions to include one person companies and Hindu Undivided Families and update a cross reference to the Central Excise Rules, 2002; (iii) prescribe a taxable percentage for certain single premium annuity policies; and (iv) introduce a mandatory annual return with specified due date, exemption by notification, a one month revision window for timely filers, and a per day late filing charge subject to a maximum where returns are filed late.

Service tax liability allocation clarified: who must pay service tax for lottery agents and non-senior advocates defined.
Amendment prescribes the extent of service tax payable by the service provider and any other person liable for service tax, omits sub-clause (ib), replaces sub-clause (ic) to specify services by selling or marketing agents of lottery tickets to lottery distributors or selling agents of the State Government, expressly covers legal services by a firm of advocates or individual advocates other than senior advocates, omits Sl. No. 1B, substitutes table entries for Sl. No. 1C and Sl. No. 5, and removes the words "by way of support services" for Sl. No. 6; effective from the first day of April, 2016.

Commencement of service tax provision: specified sub clause of Notification No.05/2015 to come into force from appointed date.
The Central Government, under section 94(1) read with section 94(2) of the Finance Act, 1994, appoints 1st April, 2016 as the date on which sub clause (II) of clause (iii) of sub paragraph (a) of paragraph 2 of Notification No. 05/2015 Service Tax (dated 1st March, 2015) shall come into force.

Commencement of notification provision: clause (b) of paragraph one of the 2015 service tax notification appointed to commence.
The Central Government, exercising the power under sub section (2) of section 68 of the Finance Act, 1994, appoints 1st April 2016 as the date on which clause (b) of sub paragraph (i) of paragraph 1 of Notification No. 07/2015 Service Tax (dated 1 March 2015; G.S.R. 161(E)) shall come into force.

Commencement of clause (h) of the Finance Act 2015 effective from April, initiating service tax provision enforcement.
The Central Government, exercising the power under clause (h) of section 107 of the Finance Act, 2015, notifies 1st April, 2016 as the date on which that clause shall come into force, effectuating the operative commencement of the provision; issued as Notification No. 15/2016-Service Tax by the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue).

Interest rate under section 73B reduced, replacing the prior rate; change effective upon assent to the Finance Bill.
Prescribes a reduction in the rate of interest under section 73B of the Finance Act, 1994 by substituting "eighteen per cent." with "fifteen per cent." in the principal service tax notification, with the amendment to come into force on the day the Finance Bill, 2016 receives Presidential assent.

Interest under section 75: higher rate for tax collected but unpaid, lower rate for other delayed payments.
Prescribes rates of simple interest for delayed payment of service tax under section 75 of the Finance Act, 1994, superseding the 2014 notification. It distinguishes between amounts collected as service tax but not paid by the due date and other delayed payments, fixing a higher simple interest rate for the collected-but-unpaid situation and a lower rate for other delays. The notification becomes effective upon assent to the Finance Bill, 2016, and applies prospectively except as to past actions.

Service tax exemption extended to bio-incubators recognized by BIRAC, broadening eligible incubators under existing notification.
Amends Notification No.32/2012-Service Tax to include bio-incubators recognized by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council under the Department of Biotechnology within the scope of the service tax exemption by inserting references to "bio-incubator" in the opening paragraph, conditions 1 and 2, Format-I (heading and item (a)) and Format-II (heading and serial 4); the amendment shall come into force on the 1st of April, 2016.

Exemption for IT software services on retail-priced media subject to duty-paid and invoice declaration conditions apply.
Exempts service in relation to Information Technology Software recorded on media bearing the retail sale price from service tax where the package value has been determined for excise/customs valuation, appropriate excise duties or customs duties have been paid by the domestic manufacturer or importer respectively, and the service provider declares on the invoice that no amount beyond the declared retail sale price has been recovered from the customer.

Point of Taxation rules clarify new levy applicability, making the new service tax levy payable except where specifically excluded.
Amendments to the Point of Taxation Rules, 2011 add a reference to sub section (2) of section 67A to extend the rules' scope to the Finance Act, 2016 and insert two explanations in rule 5: that the rule applies mutatis mutandis to a new levy on services, and that the new levy or tax is payable in all cases other than those specifically excluded.

Service tax exemption expanded to include specified educational, skill training, public authority and time limited infrastructure works.
Amendment modifies the service tax exemption schedule by substituting and inserting entries that redefine exemptions for legal services, educational programmes at designated management institutes, skill development assessment and training services, and specified construction and infrastructure works (subject to prior-contract and stamp-duty conditions with a sunset provision). It also adds exemptions for services provided by several public regulatory and social-security bodies, adjusts monetary eligibility thresholds, and alters transport-related exemption items, with specified effective dates.

Service tax exemption conditions amended to revise taxable portions and CENVAT credit denial rules for specified services.
The notification amends the TABLE to revise taxable portions and exemption conditions for specified services, including separate entries for transport of goods by rail and in containers by persons other than Indian Railways, differentiated goods transport agency services including used household goods, tour operator services split by accommodation-only and other tours with invoicing conditions, construction-for-sale exemptions conditioned on non-availability of CENVAT credit and inclusion of land value, insertion of a foreman of chit fund entry, and an Explanation treating amount charged as inclusive of fair market value of goods and services supplied by the recipient.

Corrigendum updates service tax notification to replace 'Principal Director General' with 'Principal Director General/ Director General'.
The corrigendum directs that the phrase "Principal Director General" in the cited service tax notification be read as "Principal Director General/ Director General", formally substituting the designation in the published notification and recording the administrative file reference.

Service tax exemption for small businesses: government and local authority services to entities below turnover threshold exempted.
A new exemption entry is inserted in Notification No. 25/2012 exempting services provided by the Government or a local authority to a business entity with turnover up to the small business threshold in the preceding financial year. The amendment, made by Notification No. 07/2016 under the Finance Act, 1994, inserts the new entry after entry No. 47 and takes effect from 1 April 2016.

Taxability of government services: government and local authority supplies to businesses are made taxable, subject to exemptions.
Government and local authority services supplied to business entities are made taxable under service tax law from the appointed commencement, except for services specifically exempted or covered by the negative list; the notification fixes the statutory commencement date for the provision that brings such services within the service tax net.

Scope of notification broadened to include notifications or special orders issued under the specified subsections, altering application.
The amendment substitutes in the first proviso the phrase "notification issued under sub-section (1)" with "notification or special order issued under sub-section (1) or as the case may be under sub-section (2)", thereby broadening the instruments that determine applicability under the principal service tax notification.

Annual information return requirement mandates electronic filing of Form AIRF with specified annexures and administrative safeguards.
Annual information return requirement mandates specified persons to file Form AIRF annually reporting transactions of defined nature and value, using Annexure AIRA-I for foreign remittances and Annexure AIRA-II for electricity consumption, with data fields and verification specified. Returns must be filed electronically to the designated data management authority by the due date following the relevant financial year, subject to Board extensions and appointment of an Annual Information Return-Administrator; interim submission on computer readable media is permitted until electronic formats and secure transmission protocols are finalised.

Rebate of Swachh Bharat Cess extended to services used in providing exported services under rule 6A, enabling rebate eligibility.
Amendment adds Swachh Bharat Cess to Explanation 1 of Notification No. 39/2012-Service Tax, making the cess eligible for rebate when paid on services used in providing services exported under rule 6A of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, thereby aligning the cess with the rebate mechanism of the principal notification.

Swachh Bharat Cess refund: SEZ units and developers may claim cess repayments and calculated apportioned refunds.
SEZ Units and Developers are entitled to refund of the Swachh Bharat Cess paid on specified services where ab initio exemption was admissible but not claimed, and to a refund determined by multiplying total service tax distributed under clause (a) by the effective rate of the Swachh Bharat Cess and dividing the product by the rate of service tax specified in section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994.

Service tax refund expanded to cover services used beyond production premises for exported excisable goods, with increased refund rates.
Amendment broadens the refund of service tax for exported excisable goods by substituting a clause to cover taxable services used beyond the factory or place of production for export, omits clause (B) from the Explanation, and increases specified numeric rate entries in the Schedule of rates by substituting higher figures in column (4) to adjust refund amounts.