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.

Service tax valuation: works contracts for repair, maintenance and finishing taxed on a fixed portion of total contract value.
The amendment specifies that for works contracts not excluded elsewhere, including maintenance, repair, reconditioning, restoration or servicing of goods and maintenance, repair, completion and finishing services of immovable property (such as glazing, plastering, tiling or installation of electrical fittings), service tax shall be payable on seventy per cent of the total amount charged for the works contract, effective from 1 October 2014 under the Finance Act empowered amendment to the 2006 valuation rules.

Reverse charge: recovery agent services taxed to recipient; director services and split liability updated effective October.
The notification expands the reverse charge scope by inserting recovery agent services to banks, financial institutions or NBFCs as taxable entirely on the service recipient (provider Nil; recipient 100%), substitutes the entry describing director-to-company services, and amends the TABLE to show separate percentage columns. It also revises the liability split for a specified item to 50% provider / 50% recipient effective from October, with the notification operative from the date of issue except as provided.

Electronic payment requirement: service tax must be paid via internet banking, with limited written exemption by the commissioner.
The amendment clarifies that recovery agent services to banking and financial institutions and director services to their company are attributed to the recipient, and requires that every assessee electronically pay service tax through internet banking, subject to written discretionary exemption by the relevant Assistant or Deputy Commissioner.

CENVAT credit conditions updated: Abatement rates altered and motorcab, contract carriage credit rules clarified.
Amendments to Notification No.26/2012 revise abatement entries and prescribe that CENVAT credit on inputs, capital goods and input services used for providing the taxable service has not been taken under the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004; they redefine certain transport service descriptions (substituting "motorcab" and inserting contract carriage/radio taxi), detail permissible CENVAT credit treatment for renting of motorcab input services depending on supplier taxation, and fix specified effective dates for several changes.

Authorisation validity for SEZ services tied to Form A-1 verification; providers may supply on Form A-1 pending authorisation.
Authorisation for provision of specified services to SEZ Units or Developers is valid from verification of Form A-1 by the Specified Officer; if Form A-1 is not submitted to the Assistant or Deputy Commissioner within fifteen days of such verification, validity commences from the date of submission. Providers may supply services on Form A-1 pending formal authorisation, but the SEZ Unit or Developer must provide the authorisation copy immediately; failure to provide it within three months from the date services were deemed supplied shifts service tax liability to the provider.

Service tax exemption amendments expand and recast exempt services, redefining educational, hotel, waste treatment and commodity exemptions.
The amendment revises the Mega Exemption Notification by inserting an exemption for Common Bio medical Waste Treatment Facility services to clinical establishments, substituting and omitting multiple exemption entries to redefine coverage for educational institutions (including student transport, catering, security, cleaning and examination services), hotels with declared tariffs below a specified threshold, specified agricultural inputs and commodities, non airconditioned contract carriage exclusions, municipal services, and loading/unloading/warehousing of rice and cotton; it also adds exemptions for certain services received from abroad and introduces a defined life micro insurance product, while updating key definitions including "educational institution", "life micro insurance product", "radio taxi" and "recognised sports body".

Service tax notification amendment deletes a specified entry from condition (a) second proviso, altering the notified conditions.
Removes serial (xix) and the entries relating thereto from condition (a) of the second proviso in paragraph 3 of Notification No. 6/2013-Service Tax, thereby deleting that specified item from the notified conditions under the service tax notification.