Delegation of powers: Additional Assistant Directors in GST intelligence and audit now authorised to exercise specified statutory powers.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs inserts a new table entry designating the Additional Assistant Director, Goods and Services Tax Intelligence or the Additional Assistant Director, Audit Superintendent as officers whose statutory powers under the Central Excise Act, Service Tax Rules and related provisions may be exercised by those posts; the amendment is made to Notification No. 22/2014-SERVICE TAX and comes into effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Service tax non-requirement on lighthouse light-dues: past practice of non-levy removes obligation to pay for specified prior period.
The Central Government directs that service tax on light-dues collected under the Lighthouse Act during a specified prior period, which was not levied due to a prevailing practice, shall not be required to be paid, thereby waiving the historical obligation for that period while leaving taxability outside that period unaffected.

Date amendment to Service Tax notification replaces an earlier February date with a March date.
Corrigendum to Notification No. 1/2019-Service Tax (dated 6 March 2019) directs that the words "29th day of February," in the published notification be read as "31st day of March," thereby effecting a textual date substitution in the Gazette entry.

Service tax exemption for DDUGKY training providers prevents retrospective payment obligation for specified past period.
The Central Government directed that the service tax payable under section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994, on services provided by training providers (project implementation agencies) under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana-offering skill or vocational training courses certified by the National Council for Vocational Training-shall not be required to be paid for the period commencing 1 July 2012 and ending 31 March 2016, based on a generally prevalent practice of non-levy during that period.

Service tax exemption for right of way grants by local authorities prevents retrospective recovery for specified period.
The Central Government directs that service tax payable under the charging provision on services by way of granting of right of way by local authorities, as defined for telegraph purposes, for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2017 shall not be required to be paid, and the direction applies only to actions or omissions before the commencement of the Central Goods and Services Tax regime.

Return Filing Deadline revised for quarterly service tax returns; specific submission and revision timelines prescribed.
The amendment inserts provisos into the Service Tax Rules prescribing that the return for April-June 2017 be submitted by the fifteenth day of August 2017 in Form ST-3 or ST-3C, and that any revised return for that period be submitted within forty-five days from the date of submission of the original return.

Exemption of life insurance services under Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana added to service tax notification entries.
Amendment to notification No.25/2012-Service Tax inserts a new item exempting life insurance services under Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana, thereby extending the list of services treated as exempt in the principal notification by textual insertion into the enumerated entries.

Service tax option for vessel import transport permits alternative CIF based payment to discharge service tax liability.
The amendment designates the importer as the person liable for service tax on transportation of goods by a vessel from outside India up to the customs station of clearance where both service provider and recipient are located in non taxable territory. It introduces an elective mechanism allowing that liable person to discharge service tax by paying an amount calculated on the basis of the CIF value of the imported goods, and updates related rule cross references.

Reverse charge mechanism: importer liable for service tax on foreign-to-India vessel transportation to customs station.
Amendment clarifies reverse charge liability: a business entity in the taxable territory who is a litigant, applicant or petitioner is the recipient of legal services; non-assessee online recipient is as defined in Service Tax Rules; and the importer is liable to pay service tax for vessel transportation of goods from outside India up to the customs station of clearance when both provider and recipient are located in non-taxable territory.

Point of taxation: bill of lading date fixes tax point for cross-border sea transport services between non-taxable territories.
A new rule 8B to the Point of Taxation Rules, 2011 provides that for services by a person located in non-taxable territory to a person in non-taxable territory consisting of transportation of goods by vessel from outside India to the customs station of clearance in India, the point of taxation is the date of the bill of lading of such goods in the vessel at the port of export.

Settlement application requirement: mandatory new form and disclosure rules require forwarding applications and annexures to tax commissioner.
The amendment mandates Form SC (ST)-2 for settlement applications under the Excise Act as applied to service tax and modifies cross references to allow either Form SC (ST)-1 or Form SC (ST)-2 as applicable. It substitutes the disclosure rule to require the Settlement Commission to forward the application and all annexures, statements and accompanying documents to the Commissioner of Central Excise or Commissioner of Service Tax when calling for a report, and sets out the content, verification and procedural requirements for Form SC (ST)-2 including fee payment and annexure attestation.

Definition of Authority in Service Tax Advance Rulings amended to align with Customs Act advance rulings provision.
Amendment substitutes clause (b) in rule 2 of the Service Tax (Advance Rulings) Rules, 2003 so that "Authority" means the Authority for Advance Rulings as defined in clause (e) of section 28E of the Customs Act. The Service Tax (Advance Rulings) Amendment Rules, 2017 are notified as No. 12/2017-Service Tax and commence on 1 April 2017.

Delegation of Chief Commissioner powers to Principal Commissioners with additional charge for specified service tax jurisdiction.
Delegates the powers exercisable by a Chief Commissioner to Principal Commissioners who hold additional charge of a Chief Commissioner, confined to the service tax jurisdiction specified in an earlier notification, under the enabling provisions of the Central Excise Act, Finance Act and relevant Central Excise and Service Tax rules.

Scope of service tax exemption narrowed: clause (b) limited to pre school through higher secondary education, others excluded.
Inserts a proviso in entry 9, clause (b) after sub-clause (iv) to provide that clause (b) shall not apply to educational institutions other than those providing pre-school education and education up to higher secondary school or equivalent, thereby preserving clause (b)'s applicability to pre-school through higher secondary institutions; effective from the first day of April, 2017.

Service tax exemption for museum admission grants retrospective relief from past tax collection under a government directive.
The Central Government directed that service tax otherwise payable on services by way of admission to a museum for a specified past period, during which a general practice of non levy prevailed, shall not be required to be paid, exercising its statutory administrative powers to exempt collection retrospectively.

Service tax non-requirement for CETP services: central directive relieves payment for past period due to prevailing practice.
The Central Government, satisfied that a generally prevalent practice led to non-levy of service tax on services by operators of Common Effluent Treatment Plants for effluent treatment during the period from 1 July 2012 to 31 March 2015, directs that the service tax payable on those services shall not be required to be paid for that period under the powers conferred by the Central Excise Act and the Finance Act.

Currency reporting requirement amended to require exchange rate disclosure and Krishi Kalyan Cess reference updated to point of taxation.
Corrigendum amends Notification No. 48/2016 to require that service tax documentation state both the currency in which the value of taxable service is charged and the exchange rate of that currency in rupees, and replaces earlier wording on Krishi Kalyan Cess paid in advance with wording linking the amount of cess to payments consequent to the point of taxation.

Exemption for regional air passenger transport funded by viability gap funding introduced, subject to operational and temporal limits.
The notification amends Service Tax entries: omits "residential" in entry 9B(a); inserts exempt entry 23A for passenger air transport under the Regional Connectivity Scheme when paid via Viability Gap Funding, limited to one year post-airport commencement; inserts exempt entry 26D for life insurance services by Armed Forces Group Insurance Funds to their members; substitutes entry 30 to define taxable services as processes amounting to manufacture or specified job work with listed categories and a monetary aggregate condition for certain processes; and adds clause (ya) defining "process amounting to manufacture or production of goods" by reference to excise-liable processes. Commencement and certain provisions await Finance Bill assent, otherwise effective 2 February 2017.

Online information and database access services: transitional rule requires payment of past-period service tax by a prescribed deadline.
The amendment adds a proviso to the Service Tax Rules requiring that service tax on online information and database access or retrieval services supplied from a non-taxable territory and received by a non-assessee online recipient be paid to the credit of the Central Government for the specified prior months by a prescribed deadline, operating as a transitional compliance mechanism for cross-border digital services.

Service Tax amendment: substitution of proviso to extend applicability to clause (b) as well in notification.
The Central Government, invoking powers under section 93(1) of the Finance Act, 1994, amends the proviso to entry 34 in Notification No.25/2012-Service Tax by substituting the words "clause (a)" with "clause (a) or clause (b)", thereby extending the proviso's applicability to include clause (b).