Habitual evasion: prosecution permitted where repeated confirmed demands and substantial cumulative tax evasion or credit misuse.
Prosecution may be initiated against a company or assessee classified as a habitual evader where multiple confirmed demands (at first appellate level or above) for Central Excise duty or Service Tax, or findings of Cenvat credit misuse arising from fraud or suppression, occur within a prior period and the cumulative duty or tax evaded or credit misused meets a substantial monetary threshold; the Offence Register (335J) may be used to identify such assessees.

Prosecution threshold: prosecution requires evasion exceeding the prescribed monetary limit before proceeding for excise or service tax offences.
Prosecution for evasion of Central Excise duty or Service Tax, or misuse of Cenvat credit in relation to offences specified under sub section (1) of Section 9 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 or sub section (1) of Section 89 of the Finance Act, 1994 should normally not be launched unless the evasion meets or exceeds the prescribed monetary threshold set out in the departmental guideline.

Corporate criminal liability: officers and partners can be prosecuted for company service tax or excise evasion.
Persons in charge of and responsible for a company's business are prosecutable alongside the company for service tax or central excise evasion; where an offence by a company is shown to involve the consent, connivance or neglect of a director, manager, secretary or other officer, that individual is deemed guilty. The statutory definition of company includes firms and associations and treats a partner as a director, extending corporate liability principles to service tax prosecutions.

Swachh Bharat Cess applicability: applies to all taxable services except services fully exempt or not leviable to service tax.
Swachh Bharat Cess applies to all taxable services except those that are fully exempt under a statutory notification or are otherwise not leviable to service tax; the cess was imposed by government authority to cover the taxable service base while preserving existing exemptions and non leviability rules.

Cenvat credit reversal does not require separate reversal of Swachh Bharat Cess under the applicable rule per FAQ.
The circular states that Swachh Bharat Cess is not integrated into the Cenvat credit chain; the reversal under Rule 6 requires payment based on the value of exempted services, and therefore a separate reversal of Swachh Bharat Cess is not required when reversing credit under Rule 6 of the Cenvat Credit Rules.

Point of taxation determines Swachh Bharat Cess liability; payment date triggers reverse charge cess on taxable service.
Point of taxation governs SBC liability for reverse-charge services: the date of payment is the point of taxation and SBC is payable on the value of the taxable service at the prescribed rate when consideration is paid to the service provider.

Swachh Bharat Cess option for services under specified service-tax rule; SBC computed by prescribed formula and fixed for financial year.
Persons liable to pay service tax under the sub rules of rule 6 may elect to discharge Swachh Bharat Cess by applying a prescribed computation to their Service Tax liability; once exercised the election must be applied uniformly to such services and cannot be changed during the financial year.

Swachh Bharat Cess on restaurant services is calculated on the value determined under Service Tax valuation rules, creating a combined levy.
Swachh Bharat Cess on restaurant services is payable on the taxable value determined under the Service Tax (Determination of Value) Rules, 2006; for restaurants, eating joints or messes with any air-conditioning or central heating, the cess and service tax are each applied to the portion of the total charge treated as taxable under those rules, and the combined levy is the sum of the service tax rate and the cess rate applied to that taxable portion.

Service tax calculation for services under Rule 2A/2B/2C: apply combined service tax and SBC to the rule determined value.
Service tax and Swachh Bharat Cess on services governed by Rule 2A, 2B or 2C are computed by multiplying the combined service tax plus SBC rate by the value determined under the relevant rule. For works contract services, applying the combined rate to the rule specified taxable fraction of the contract value produces the operative tax liability; the same approach applies to restaurant and outdoor catering services.

Point of taxation for Swachh Bharat Cess: levy applies where service, invoice and payment occur on or after commencement date.
Because SBC is a new levy on taxable services not in the Negative List or wholly exempt, the Point of Taxation Rules determine liability. SBC does not arise where payment and invoice are issued before the levy's commencement or where payment precedes commencement but invoice is issued within the short prescribed period. SBC is chargeable where service provision, invoice issuance and payment occur on or after the commencement date; it also applies if service is provided on or after commencement but payment was received earlier and invoice is not issued within the short post-commencement period.

Cenvat credit of Swachh Bharat Cess disallowed; SBC not in Cenvat credit chain and not payable using credits.
Cenvat credit for the Swachh Bharat Cess (SBC) is not available because SBC is not integrated into the Cenvat credit chain; consequently SBC cannot be claimed as input credit nor paid using credits of any other duty or tax.

Swachh Bharat Cess calculation: SBC applies same abatement percentage as service tax, on combined taxable rate.
Swachh Bharat Cess is to be levied on the same abatement percentage that applies to service tax; the notification prescribing abatement for service tax applies equally to SBC, so the combined rate (service tax plus SBC) is applied to the abated value to determine the effective levy.

Swachh Bharat Cess reverse charge shifts liability to the service recipient, applying existing reverse charge notifications mutatis mutandis.
Swachh Bharat Cess for services under reverse charge is payable by the service recipient: Chapter V provisions apply to SBC, and government notification makes the existing service tax reverse charge notification applicable to SBC mutatis mutandis, so recipients compute and discharge SBC under the same reverse charge rules.

Swachh Bharat Cess: not levied on service tax but imposed on the value of taxable services.
The Swachh Bharat Cess is not a cess on service tax but is imposed as a separate charge measured on the value of taxable services, rather than being calculated on the amount of service tax as was done for Education Cess and SHE Cess.

Service tax plus Swachh Bharat Cess yields a combined rate after SBC introduction, affecting taxable services.
The operative tax burden on taxable services equals the prevailing service tax rate plus the Swachh Bharat Cess, expressed in the FAQ as an additive formula (for example, service tax rate plus 0.5% SBC) to determine the overall effective rate after SBC's introduction.

Separate accounting code for Swachh Bharat Cess to be notified, creating distinct heads for collection, receipts, penalties and refunds.
Separate accounting codes for the Swachh Bharat Cess will be notified in consultation with the Principal Chief Controller of Accounts, establishing distinct minor head classifications to record cess Tax Collection, Other Receipts, Penalties and Deduct Refunds with corresponding numeric codes for government accounting.

Swachh Bharat Cess must be shown separately on invoices and accounted for independently from service tax.
Swachh Bharat Cess (SBC) is levied independently of service tax and must be charged, collected and paid separately; it should appear as a distinct line item on invoices (may be shown after service tax), be accounted for separately in books of account, and remitted under a separate accounting code, with treatment similar to education cesses.

Swachh Bharat Cess calculation mirrors service tax and is levied on the identical taxable value.
The Swachh Bharat Cess is computed using the same methodology as service tax and is levied on the identical taxable value applied for service tax, with no separate valuation base or distinct computation formula for the Cess.

Proceeds of Swachh Bharat Cess credited to Consolidated Fund of India, usable after parliamentary appropriation for sanitation initiatives.
Proceeds of the Swachh Bharat Cess are to be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India, and after parliamentary appropriation the Central Government may utilise such sums for financing and promoting Swachh Bharat initiatives or for related purposes.

Swachh Bharat cess imposed to finance and promote sanitation initiatives, obliging service providers to collect and remit the levy.
Imposition of Swachh Bharat Cess is a statutory levy on taxable services to generate revenue expressly for financing and promoting Swachh Bharat initiatives and related purposes, creating an obligation on service providers to collect and remit the cess so funds are available for the designated sanitation objectives.