Service tax exemption for services against VKGUY duty credit scrips, subject to scrip registration and specified procedural conditions.
Exemption of service tax is granted for taxable services provided against a Vishesh Krishi and Gram Udyog Yojana duty credit scrip issued under the Foreign Trade Policy, subject to specified excluded export categories and conditions. Conditions include registration of the scrip with the Customs Authority, presentation of the scrip with an invoice issued under rule 4A, Customs debit recording the service tax that would have been leviable, written advice to the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer, treatment of the debit date as date of payment, obligations to pay any short-paid tax and interest, verification and validation by the Officer, retention of debited/validated scrip copies by the service provider, and entitlement to drawback or CENVAT credit against the debited service tax.

Service tax exemption for services against Focus Product Scheme scrips, subject to registration, debiting and validation procedures.
Exemption from service tax is provided for taxable services supplied against a Focus Product Scheme duty credit scrip, subject to conditions: scrip issuance for listed products, exclusion of specified export categories, registration of the scrip with the Customs Authority, presentation with invoice or challan identifying the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer, Customs debiting of the notional service tax on the scrip (treated as payment date), presentation of the debited scrip to the Officer within thirty days with an undertaking for any short debit, Officer validation and recordal, and entitlement to drawback or CENVAT credit against the debited and validated service tax.

Service tax exemption for Focus Market Scheme scrips: allowed subject to scrip registration, Customs debiting and officer validation.
Service tax exemption is provided for taxable services against Focus Market Scheme duty credit scrips issued for exports to notified countries, subject to exclusions. The scrip must be registered with Customs; Customs will debit the service tax on the scrip, notify the Central Excise Officer and the debit date is treated as date of payment. Short payments or tax timing differentials attract interest and must be remedied by the scrip holder. The debited and validated service tax may be used for drawback or CENVAT credit, and any amounts due are recoverable under the Finance Act.

Amendment to Service Tax Rules substitutes Forms ST-5, ST-6 and ST-7, updating appeal filing requirements.
The Service Tax (Second Amendment) Rules, 2013 substitute the existing Forms S.T.-5, S.T.-6 and S.T.-7 appended to the Service Tax Rules with new Forms ST-5, ST-6 and ST-7, and set a commencement date for the substituted forms.

Resident public limited company specified as a class of persons for service tax notification, with statutory company and residency definitions.
The Central Government specifies resident public limited company as a class of persons under sub-clause (iii) of clause (b) of section 96A of the Finance Act, 1994 for service tax purposes. "Public limited company" adopts the Companies Act meaning and includes a private company becoming public by conversion; "resident" adopts the residency meaning applicable to companies under the Income-tax Act, thereby defining the scope of the notified class.

Service Tax amendments narrow specified exemptions and redefine covered services, altering copyright, restaurant and transport scopes.
The notification amends Notification No.25/2012-Service Tax by substituting wording in entry 9, replacing entries 15, 19 and 21 with narrowed exemption scopes (copyright transfers limited to certain works; restaurant exemptions for non air conditioned premises; specified goods transport agency exemptions including agricultural produce, small consignments, foodstuffs, fertilizers, registered newspapers, relief materials and defence equipment), omitting items in entry 20 and entry 24, limiting entry 25(b) to "a vessel", and altering clause (k) of the definitions by deleting an "or" and omitting a sub clause; the amendments commence 1st April, 2013.

Service tax on construction for sale imposes differential tax rates depending on residential unit size or transaction value.
Amendment substitutes entry 12 in Notification No.26/2012 to treat construction of a complex, building, civil structure or part thereof intended for sale as a taxable service where CENVAT credit on inputs has not been taken and the value of land is included in the amount charged; it prescribes differential tax rates for residential units meeting carpet-area or lower-amount criteria and for other cases, effective 1 March 2013.

Service Tax Amendment: extended ST-3 filing deadline and mandated a comprehensive revised ST-3 return format for reporting and CENVAT details.
Amendment to the Service Tax Rules, 1994 extends the submission date for Form ST-3 for the quarter after 1 July 2012 and substitutes Form ST-3 with a comprehensive revised return requiring identification particulars, classification of liability as provider or recipient, declaration of exemptions and abatements, detailed quarterly/monthly service-wise value reporting, separate provider/receiver schedules, tax payments and adjustments (including CENVAT credit utilization), arrears/interest/penalties with source documents, and dedicated schedules for Input Service Distributors and cess accounting, together with extensive completion instructions and an annexure listing taxable services.

Service tax exemption for specified life insurance schemes: Janashree Bima Yojana and Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana now included.
The notification inserts entry 26A to the service tax exemption schedule, expressly exempting services of life insurance business provided under Janashree Bima Yojana (JBY) and Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) from service tax, thereby amending the principal Service Tax notification to include these two schemes.

Service tax registration accounting codes added - ST 1 form amended to require service descriptions and payment codes.
Amendment by the Service Tax (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2012 substitutes the table at serial no.7 of Form ST 1 and inserts an Annexure listing descriptions of taxable services with corresponding accounting codes for Tax Collection, Other Receipts (interest), Penalties and Deduct Refunds; registrants must choose the taxable service description from the Annexure and field formations shall use the prescribed accounting codes for consistent classification and remittance.

Extension of time to file returns: quarterly Form ST3 deadline extended due to anticipated ACES system congestion and filing rush.
Central Board of Excise & Customs extends the filing deadline for the quarterly Form ST3 return for April-June 2012 by one month, invoking powers under the Service Tax Rules, 1994. The extension responds to an ACES system rollout of quarterly-format returns shortly before the original due date, a circumstance likely to cause concentrated filing, network congestion, delays, and taxpayer inconvenience, and is communicated as an administrative order to relevant tax commissioners and systems officials.

Form ST-3 filing requirement limited to return period April to June 2012 for the October submission.
The amendment inserts a proviso to rule 7(2) specifying that the Form 'ST-3' required to be submitted by the 25th day of October, 2012 shall cover the period between 1st April to 30th June, 2012 only.

Director-provided services: company designated as recipient; security services added and defined under service tax rules.
The amendment designates the company as the recipient of services provided or agreed to be provided by a director, clarifying who is chargeable, and adds security services to the scope of services alongside manpower. It further inserts a definition of security services to include security of property or persons and services of investigation, detection or verification.

Reverse charge: inclusion of director-provided services and security services under service tax notification alters chargeable service scope.
Amendment expands reverse-charge coverage by expressly including services provided or agreed to be provided by a director of a company to that company and by adding security services to the description of manpower for any purpose; corresponding entries in the reverse-charge table are inserted and amended to reflect this treatment.

Service tax exemption amended by removing 'bovine' from specified entry, narrowing applicability of the exemption.
The Central Government amended the Mega Exemption Notification No.25/2012 by omitting the word "bovine" from entry 33, under powers conferred by the Finance Act, thereby altering the literal scope of that exemption; the change is effected by Notification No.44/2012 and references the original Gazette publication of the principal notification.

Service tax corrigendum removes the phrase 'in excess of the service tax' from the notification's paragraph one.
Corrigendum amends Notification No. 42/2012 Service Tax by directing the omission of the phrase "in excess of the service tax" from paragraph one of that notification, as published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.

Service Tax corrigendum updates rule reference by substituting 'Explanation two' with 'Explanation three' in the notification.
Corrigendum to Notification No. 36/2012-Service Tax dated 2 July 2012 amends rule 6A(1)(f) by substituting the phrase "Explanation 2" with "Explanation 3" in the specified clause of the original Gazette notification (G.S.R. 478(E), dated 20 June 2012).

Service Tax Exemption for specified Indian Railways passenger and goods transport services temporarily relieves levy under service tax provisions.
An exemption under section 93 of the Finance Act, 1994 relieves specified taxable services provided by the Indian Railways from service tax under section 66B for a limited period from the date of notification. The exempt services are: (a) passenger transportation by rail, with or without accompanied belongings, when provided in first class or in an air conditioned coach; and (b) transportation of goods by railways.

Service Tax correction: amends notification to change a proviso's column reference from one column to another.
Corrigendum to notification No. 31/2012-Service Tax substitutes the proviso to clause (d) reading "column (4)" with "column (3)", correcting the published column cross-reference in the Gazette entry without altering other substantive provisions.

Terminology amendment: substitution of 'support' with 'legal' in a service tax notification provision clarifies scope.
Corrigendum to a service tax notification directs that in para I, clause (A), sub-clause (iv), item (B) the word "support" shall be read as "legal", effecting a precise textual substitution in the earlier published notification.