Taxation of cross-border services: inbound services taxable by place of performance or use; recipient registration and CENVAT exclusions apply.
Services provided from outside India and received in India are taxable based on place of performance or use: services related to immovable property situated in India; services performed in India (with partly performed services treated as performed in India and valued under section 67); and other listed services received by a recipient in India for business use. The recipient must register and pay under section 69, and such inbound services are not treated as output services for claiming CENVAT credit.

Recipient liability for cross-border services: Indian recipient made liable for service tax on imported taxable services.
The amendment designates the recipient in India as the person liable for service tax on taxable services provided from a country other than India and received in India under section 66A, and omits sub rules (8) and (9) of rule 6 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994; it comes into force on publication in the Official Gazette.

Recipient liable to pay service tax for taxable services provided from abroad and received in India under reverse charge.
Amendment designates the recipient of services as liable under the service tax reverse charge framework where a taxable service is provided from a country other than India and received in India, replacing the earlier text of paragraph (B) in the principal notification.

Rate of interest set under section 73B establishes statutory interest for recovery of excess service tax liabilities.
The Central Government, under Section 73B of the Finance Act, 1994, by Notification No. 8/2006-Service Tax dated 19 April 2006, fixes the statutory rate of interest at fifteen per cent per annum for recovery of excess service tax amounts; subsequent notifications have substituted the rate at different points in time.

Service tax exemption for RBI services removes service tax liability on taxable services provided by the Reserve Bank.
The Central Government issued Notification No. 07/2006 ST dated 01.03.2006 exempting taxable services provided or to be provided to any person by the Reserve Bank of India from the whole of service tax leviable under the Finance Act, on the basis of public interest, and invoking the statutory power to grant such an exemption; the notification was later superseded by a subsequent notification.

Service tax exemption for government state and district laboratories: testing and analysis of water quality relieved from service tax.
Exempts from service tax testing and analysis of water quality when provided by Government owned State or District level laboratories, the Central Government invoking powers under the Finance Act and granting a notification based exemption in the public interest that relieves the whole of service tax leviable for the specified taxable service.

Service tax registration change notification required; records retention and inspection enable cancellation following verification of dues.
Rule 4 now requires assessees to notify in writing changes or additions to information in Form ST-1 to the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner within thirty days; the Superintendent of Central Excise, on receiving the certificate, must verify payment of all monies due under the Act, rules and notifications and may cancel the registration. Rule 5 requires assessees to preserve records for at least five years after the relevant financial year and to make them available at the registered premises for inspection by an authorised Central Excise Officer; "registered premises" includes all premises or offices providing taxable services.

Service tax exemption on interest component of hire purchase installments reduces tax on interest while excluding other fees.
Exempts service tax on the portion of lease and hire purchase taxable service that represents interest in each installment - calculated as the difference between the installment paid and the principal component - while excluding non interest charges such as lease management, processing, documentation and administration fees; the exemption was later rescinded by a subsequent notification.

Service tax notification amendment removes specified items from the notified table, altering taxable services under the principal notification.
Notification No. 03/2006 ST dated 01.03.2006 amends Notification No. 3/94-Service Tax (30.06.1994) by omitting Sr. Nos. 9 and 10 and their related entries from the TABLE, thereby removing those items from the list of services notified under the principal notification.

Rescission of service tax notifications: specified prior notifications revoked, effective from the first of March, 2006.
The Central Government, invoking powers under the Finance Act, rescinds nineteen specified Service Tax notifications and their amendments, effective from the 1st day of March, 2006, while preserving the validity of actions done or omitted before that date; the rescinded instruments and their Gazette publication/amendment history are listed in an annexed table.

Service tax effective rate caps taxable value for specified services, conditioned on inclusive invoicing and credit exclusions.
The Notification exempts specified taxable services from service tax to the extent that tax in excess of the amount computed on a specified percentage of the gross amount charged is relieved. For each listed service the Table sets the percentage of gross amount to be treated as the taxable value and prescribes conditions-notably that invoices, bills or challans indicate inclusion of charges for catering, accommodation, transport or other inputs-and excludes cases where CENVAT credit has been availed or earlier specified notification benefits taken.