Reverse charge obligations expanded to mutual fund distributors, lottery agents, and services involving aggregators with recipients liable.
Amendment places specified services-those by mutual fund agents or distributors to mutual funds or asset managers, by selling or marketing agents of lottery tickets to distributors or selling agents, and any service involving an aggregator-under the reverse charge mechanism. The Table is amended so the service provider column is Nil and the recipient/other person bears the tax liability at the full specified percentage. Certain wording is omitted from an existing entry and varied effective dates are prescribed, with a general commencement date for the notification.

Service tax exemptions revised to clarify exempt services, add categories, update definitions and set commencement date.
Amendment revises the service tax exemption notification by substituting, omitting and inserting specified entries to clarify exempted services. It expressly exempts health care services by clinical establishments, authorised medical practitioners and para-medics, limits ambulance transport exemptions, adds exemptions for common effluent treatment, certain pre conditioning of fruits and vegetables, admissions to museums and protected wildlife areas, and exhibitions, and revises artist performance and food item exemptions. Definitions for national park, tiger reserve, wildlife sanctuary, zoo, recognised sporting event and trade union are incorporated. The amendments generally take effect on the first of April, 2015.

Aggregator liability: web based platforms must ensure in territory tax representation and compliance including digital authentication of records.
Amendments define an aggregator and a brand name or trade name, impose liability on aggregators or their representatives for service tax in the taxable territory, require appointing an in territory person where no presence exists, expand recipient liability for services by mutual fund and lottery agents, make registration subject to Board specified conditions, authorize digitally signed invoices and electronically preserved records authenticated by digital signature, and substitute or omit specified fee and table entries with certain changes contingent on legislative assent.

Exemption scope expanded to include land customs station, extending export-related service relief and effective from April first.
Amendment substitutes the words "port or airport" with "port, airport or land customs station" in the Table against Sl. No. 1 of Notification No. 31/2012-Service Tax, thereby extending the exemption for specified services received by exporters of goods to land customs stations; made under sub section (1) of section 93 of the Finance Act, 1994, effective from 1 April 2015.

Rescission of notification withdraws a prior service tax notification while preserving actions taken before rescission.
The Central Government rescinds Notification No. 42/2012 - Service Tax, withdrawing its operative effect under powers conferred by the Finance Act, on grounds of public interest. The rescission is promulgated by Gazette notification and includes a savings provision preserving actions done or omitted to be done before the rescission.

Jurisdictional assignment of show cause notices: Central Excise Intelligence may delegate adjudication to appropriate commissioners.
Specifies that the Principal Director General/Director General of Central Excise Intelligence is empowered under rule 3 of the Service Tax Rules to assign show cause notices issued by the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence for adjudication to Principal Commissioners of Service Tax, Principal Commissioners of Central Excise, Commissioners of Service Tax or Commissioners of Central Excise, thereby formalising the delegation and assignment mechanism for service tax-related intelligence matters.

Territorial jurisdiction revised for service tax commissioners; specified wards and districts reassigned under amended notification.
Amendment substitutes specified Sl. Nos. and corresponding column entries in Table-3 of a prior service tax notification to redefine the territorial jurisdiction of Principal Commissioners and Commissioners of Service Tax and Central Excise. The substitution lists detailed municipal wards, localities, districts, taluks, hoblis and maritime areas assigned to named Commissioners, thereby clarifying which Commissionerates will exercise administrative and enforcement functions for service tax within the enumerated areas.

Record and Audit Access: assessees must furnish statutory records and cost and income tax audit reports to authorised auditors on demand.
The amendment to rule 5A(2) requires every assessee to, on demand, make available the records maintained under rule 5(2), cost audit reports under section 148 of the Companies Act, 2013, and income tax audit reports under section 44AB of the Income tax Act, 1961, to authorised officers, audit parties, or nominated cost accountants/chartered accountants for scrutiny, within the time limit specified by the requesting party.

Extension of Form ST-3 filing deadline due to natural calamities, allowing late submission under Service Tax Rules.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs, invoking sub-rule (4) of rule 7 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, extends the submission deadline for Form ST-3 for the period 1 April to 30 September 2014, on account of "Natural calamities in certain parts of the country," by an administrative order.

Appointment of Central Excise Officers: designated officers vested with Chapter V powers under the Finance Act nationwide.
Officers in the Directorate General of Audit, Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence and Directorate General of Service Tax are appointed as Central Excise Officers and vested with all powers under Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994, exercisable throughout India, with a table mapping specified posts to corresponding Central Excise ranks and supersession of earlier notifications.

Delegation of powers allows Principal Chief Commissioner to specify and limit Commissioners' jurisdiction under Service Tax rules.
Delegation under section 37A read with section 83 delegates the Board's powers under rule 3 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 to the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner to specify the jurisdiction of Commissioners of Service Tax and Central Excise in appellate and audit roles, and provides that each such Commissioner's jurisdiction is limited to the jurisdiction so specified; the notification includes a commencement date.

Appointment of Central Excise Officers: service tax officers vested with Chapter V powers across specified jurisdictions.
The notification appoints specified Chief Commissioners, Principal Commissioners, Commissioners and their subordinates as Central Excise Officers and vests those officers listed in Tables 1-5 with all powers under Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 in respect of the territorial or officer jurisdictions identified. The Tables allocate functions across cities, Large Taxpayer Units, audit and appeals formations, and set territorial boundaries; provisos extend jurisdiction for centrally registered assessees and exempt most officers (except Large Taxpayer Unit officers) from Chapter V powers for certain cross-border online information and database services provided from non-taxable territory.

Rate of exchange determination by GAAP on the point of taxation date; administrative power to issue supplementary instructions enabled.
The amendment inserts rules providing that the rate of exchange for valuing taxable services shall be the applicable rate as per generally accepted accounting principles on the date when the point of taxation arises, and that the Board or Chief Commissioners of Central Excise may issue instructions for incidental or supplemental matters for implementation of the Act.

Commencement of statutory clauses: Government appoints a date for clauses A, B, C of section 114 to commence.
The Central Government, exercising powers under clauses (A), (B) and (C) of section 114 of the Finance (No.2) Act, 2014, hereby appoints the 1st day of October, 2014 as the date on which the provisions of those clauses shall come into force, by notification published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.

Services by specified organisations in religious pilgrimage facilitated by external affairs ministry now covered by notification amendment.
Adds entry 5A to Notification No.25/2012 to cover services by a specified organisation in respect of a religious pilgrimage facilitated by the Ministry of External Affairs under a bilateral arrangement, and defines "specified organisation" as Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Limited or the Committee/State Committee as defined in section 2 of the Haj Committee Act, 2002.

Reference substitution in service tax notifications expands 'Commissioner' references to include Principal Commissioner or Commissioner.
Notification directs a reference substitution across rules, notifications and orders under the Finance Act, 1994 and Central Excise Act, 1944 so that references to Chief Commissioner are read as "Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner, as the case may be" and references to Commissioner are read as "Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, as the case may be", subject to the proviso that context may require otherwise.

Resident private limited company specified as class for advance rulings, clarifying corporate and residency eligibility.
Specification designates resident private limited company as a class of persons eligible for Advance Ruling under the Finance Act, clarifying that "private limited company" takes its meaning from the Companies Act and "resident" from the Income tax Act for determining eligibility.

Place of Provision rules: clarified intermediary definition and temporary-import repair exclusion; narrowed short-term transport hire exclusion.
Amendments redefine intermediary as a broker, agent or any person who arranges or facilitates a service or supply between parties but excluding those who provide the main service on their own account; exclude from a territorial provision rule services related to goods temporarily imported for repair and exported without being used except for repair; and narrow the transport-hire exclusion to means of transport other than aircraft and vessels (except yachts) for periods up to one month.

Point of Taxation amendment changes timing of tax liability where invoice payment delayed, adds transitional rule for pre-effective invoices.
Amendment alters the Point of Taxation Rules so that if payment is not made within three months of the invoice date the tax point is the day after that three month period, and adds a transitional rule: for invoices issued before the amendment but unpaid on its commencement, payment made within six months of invoice fixes the tax point as the payment date, otherwise the tax point is determined as if these amendments do not apply.

Interest on delayed service tax charged at stepped simple rates escalating with length of delay; notification fixes effective date.
Fixes stepped simple interest rates for delayed payment of service tax, replacing the earlier notification. Interest is applied by reference to the duration of delay: a base rate for the first six months, a higher rate for delay beyond six months up to one year, and an additional higher rate for any delay beyond one year. The notification specifies its coming-into-force date and notes later supersession by a subsequent notification.