Rescission of prior service tax notification ends its prospective effect while preserving past actions.
Rescinds prior service tax notification No. 32/2007, subject to a saving for things done or omitted before rescission, under powers conferred by the Finance Act, 1994. The rescission takes effect on the first day of July, 2012, and is published with administrative particulars for record.

Rescission of notifications terminates specified service tax notifications, subject to prior actions, and takes effect imminently.
The Central Government, invoking sub-section (1) of section 93 of the Finance Act, 1994, rescinds the Service Tax notifications specified in the accompanying table, while preserving validity of things done or omitted to be done before such rescission; the notification sets an effective date on which the rescission comes into force.

Small service provider exemption restricts CENVAT credit and excludes branded and reverse charge services when claimed.
Exemption relieves providers whose aggregate value of taxable services in a financial year is below the notified threshold from service tax, excluding services provided under another person's brand or trade name and services subject to reverse charge; providers may opt out for the year. CENVAT credit cannot be availed on input services or capital goods during exemption, credit may be taken only after starting to pay service tax, providers must pay an amount equivalent to credit on inputs in stock when availing exemption, and any unutilised balance credit shall lapse; values from all premises are aggregated for the threshold test.

Service tax exemption for technology incubators requires recognition and annual submission of specified formats to claim and retain benefit.
Exemption from service tax is provided for taxable services rendered by Technology Business Incubators, Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Parks, and recognized bio incubators, conditional on recognition by national bodies and compliance with prescribed reporting. Claimants must submit Format I with incubator details and annex Format II containing each incubatee's particulars and taxable service details before availing the exemption and must repeat the filing annually by 30th June.

Exemption to goods transport agency services: exporters may claim service tax relief subject to prescribed documentation and procedural compliance.
Exemption is granted for service tax on specified goods transport agency services used by an exporter for export of goods, conditional upon production of the consignment note, prior intimation to the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner in Form EXP1, registration with an export promotion council, possession of Import Export Code, registration under the Act, liability to pay service tax for the specified service, issuance of invoices in the exporter's name, and filing half yearly returns in Form EXP2 with certified supporting documents and exporter's certification referencing shipping bill numbers.

Reverse charge: recipient bears service tax on specified notified services, with provider often relieved and recipient allocated payment.
This notification prescribes specified taxable services subject to the reverse charge, shifting service tax payment obligation from provider to recipient for listed services (insurance and recovery agents, goods transport agencies for road freight paid by specified recipients, sponsorships, legal services including senior advocates' representational services to business litigants, director-to-company services, renting of passenger vehicles to non-similar-business persons, manpower and security services, works contract service portion by unincorporated persons, services involving aggregators, and certain cross-border vessel transportation). The Table allocates percentages of tax payable by provider and recipient and contains clarifying explanations on recipient identification and valuation choices.

Property tax deduction reduces taxable value of rent for service tax purposes, excluding interest or penalty payments.
Exemption reduces the taxable value of renting immovable property by permitting deduction of property tax levied and collected by local bodies from gross rent, excluding amounts paid as interest or penalty, and requiring pro rata apportionment of property tax where tax and service periods differ for the purpose of computing service tax.

Place of provision of services: recipient location rule with specified exceptions determining tax jurisdiction for services.
The place of provision of services is generally the location of the recipient, defaulting to the provider's location if the recipient's location cannot be ascertained. Definitions supply rules for identifying provider and recipient locations. Specific rules displace the general rule: performance-based services are where performed; immovable-property and event services are where the property or event is located; goods transport is at destination; passenger transport at embarkation; on-board services at first scheduled departure; and specified services (banking/financial to account holders, online data services, intermediary services, short-term vehicle hire) are located at the provider. A notification power exists to prevent double taxation, and where multiple rules apply, the later rule governs.

Diplomatic mission service tax exemption requires Protocol certification, ID verification and supplier recordkeeping for tax-free services.
Exempts taxable services for official use of foreign diplomatic missions and for personal use of diplomatic agents, career consular officers and family members from service tax, contingent on a Protocol Division certificate based on reciprocity, issuance of unique identification cards for individuals, provision by the head of mission of an authenticated certificate and an original undertaking stating the purpose, supplier retention of these documents, maintenance by the mission of a serial account of undertakings, invoice disclosure of undertaking serial or unique ID, and loss of exemption upon withdrawal of the certificate or ID.

Service tax exemption on specified services limited to part of value, subject to CENVAT credit conditions.
The notification exempts specified taxable services from service tax to the extent the tax exceeds the amount computed on a prescribed percentage of the amount charged, subject to conditions set for each service-predominantly the non-availment of CENVAT credit on inputs, capital goods or input services-and defines how "amount charged" must be computed for categories such as leasing interest, bundled supplies, motorcab renting and construction services.

Service tax exemption: broad categories of public interest, health, education, infrastructure and essential transport services exempted.
Notification No.25/2012 exempts a detailed list of specified services from service tax under section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994, effective 1 July 2012. Exemptions cover services to the UN and specified international organisations; health-care and allied services including clinical establishments, ambulance transport, cord blood banks and biomedical waste treatment; charitable activities by section 12AA entities; educational and skill-development services; construction and infrastructure works for governmental use; transport of essential goods and specified passenger services; and various public-purpose and small-turnover service categories, subject to definitions, thresholds, exclusions and transitional provisos contained in the notification.

Service tax amendment substitutes a section reference to align taxable service provisions, effective from the commencement date.
The Order, issued under the removal-of-difficulty power, comes into force on the first day of July, 2012, and directs that in sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 68 of the Finance Act the figure "66" be substituted by "66B", effectuating a consequential amendment to align cross-references with the newly inserted taxable-services provision.

Determination of Service Value prescribes valuation rules for works contracts and catering services, fixing apportionment and exclusions.
The value of the service portion in execution of a works contract is the gross amount charged for the works contract less the value of property in goods transferred, excluding VAT or sales tax on such goods; includible service components are labour, sub-contractor payments, design fees, hired machinery, consumables, contractor establishment and attributable profit. Where VAT/sales tax has been paid on the actual value of goods, that value is to be used; where value cannot be determined, prescribed presumptive apportionments apply. CENVAT credit restrictions and related definitions are specified.

Cessation of section 66A: provisions cease from 1 July 2012, subject to a saving for prior acts.
The Central Government appoints the 1st day of July, 2012 as the date from which section 66A of the Finance Act, 1994 shall not apply, effected by notification under sub-section (3) of the Act, subject to a saving for acts or omissions occurring before that date.

Applicability of Section 66 suspended by government appointment, ceasing prospectively while preserving prior actions.
The Central Government appoints an effective date on which a specified provision of the finance statute shall cease to apply, declaring that the provision will not apply prospectively from that date while expressly preserving things done or omitted to be done before the provision ceases to apply.

Section 65A applicability suspended; provisions cease to apply while preserving actions and omissions occurring before cessation.
The Central Government, under sub section (3) of the Finance Act, 1994, appoints an effective date on which section 65A of the Finance Act, 1994 shall not apply, while expressly providing that the cessation does not affect things done or omitted to be done before that date.

Proviso to section 65 ceases to apply, effective 1 July 2012, changing temporal scope of service tax applicability.
The Proviso to section 65 of the Finance Act, 1994 ceases to apply with effect from 1 July 2012; the notification appoints that date as the commencement of non-application while preserving a savings provision for actions or omissions occurring before that date.

Effective date for specified Finance Act provisions set; named clauses of the Act commence on the appointed date.
The Central Government, under clauses (C), (F), (G) and (I) of section 143 of the Finance Act, 2012, appoints the 1st day of July, 2012 as the date from which those specified clauses shall come into force, thereby commencing the Finance Act, 2012 amendments concerning the negative list in service tax.

Power to withdraw the positive list under service tax now effective, enabling administrative withdrawal of listed services.
The Finance Act, 2012 amendments create statutory power to withdraw entries from the service tax positive list; the government has appointed 1 June 2012 as the commencement date for the enabling clauses by official notification so that the authority to remove listed services is operational from that date.

Compounding of service tax offences enables settlement with fixed or percentage compounding amounts and conditional immunity.
The rules permit eligible applicants to apply in a prescribed form to the designated compounding authority to compound specified service tax offences; the authority may request a report from the reporting authority, fix and order payment of a compounding amount based on prescribed scales, and grant conditional immunity from prosecution upon full disclosure and cooperation. Applications may be rejected after hearing; payment and proof are required within specified timeframes, compounding amounts are generally non refundable except where a court denies immunity, and immunity may be withdrawn for non payment, non compliance, concealment or false evidence.