Inspection of prosecution work: ensure compliance with prosecution guidelines and address pendency and non-compliance in tax enforcement.
Inspection of prosecution work requires the Director General, Directorate of Performance Management and Chief Commissioners to inspect Commissionerates to verify scrupulous compliance with the Circular's guidelines for launching prosecution. Inspections must examine reasons for pendency and non-compliance in prosecution cases and ensure recording of statistical data during field visits to support oversight of prosecution performance.

Compounding of offences: administrative authorities may permit settlement by payment and written offer when prosecution is initiated.
Compounding of offences for evasion under central excise and service tax allows the Principal Chief/Chief Commissioner to compound offences on payment of the compounding amount; Section 9A(2) of the Central Excise Act as applied to service tax via section 83 of the Finance Act authorises this, and circulars require that persons against whom prosecution is initiated or contemplated be informed in writing of the offer to compound.

Prosecution guidelines: sanctions granted after the circular govern cases regardless of offence date, with sanctioned cases reviewed.
Prosecution guidelines apply to all cases where sanction for prosecution is accorded after the circular's issue date, and such cases must be prosecuted according to the circular regardless of the offence date. Sanctioning authorities must review cases in which prosecution has been sanctioned but no complaint filed, reassessing them against the circular's provisions before any complaint is presented.

Withdrawal of prosecution permitted after final exoneration in parallel quasi judicial proceedings; formal application required to seek withdrawal.
Withdrawal of prosecution is permitted where identical allegations led to the noticee's exoneration in quasi judicial proceedings and that order is final; the senior tax or investigative leadership shall direct the commissionerate to file an application through the public prosecutor requesting judicial permission to withdraw the complaint in accordance with law and prosecution guidelines.

Publication of convicted persons' names may be sought by the department through courts under central excise and service tax law.
Power exists under the Central Excise statutory framework, as applied to service tax by the Finance Act, to publish the name and place of business of persons convicted under the relevant enactments; courts have exercised this power sparingly, and the department is directed to request courts to invoke this publication power in deserving cases for all convicted persons.

Prosecution monitoring: Principal Commissioners must track and review cases monthly to ensure satisfactory progress.
The Principal Commissioner/Commissioner must monitor prosecution files monthly, take corrective action where necessary, and inspect the prosecution register in the Prosecution Cell at least once every quarter. Designated supervisors in zonal investigative units must oversee prosecution work. Prosecution registers in prescribed formats are to be maintained, regularly updated and kept in the Commissionerate Prosecution Cell and in zonal units to enable systematic tracking of prosecution cases.

Prosecution Sanction: mens rea and evidentiary sufficiency determine whether tax evasion prosecution proceeds.
Prosecution proposals for service tax or excise evasion must be examined and forwarded by the adjudicating authority to the sanctioning Principal Chief/Chief Commissioner or Principal/Director General; prosecution requires evidence of mens rea and should not be launched in purely technical or interpretation disputes. Criminal standards (beyond reasonable doubt) must be weighed separately from adjudication findings; prosecution may be initiated before adjudication in serious cases. Investigation reports must be prepared within one month and sanction obtained prior to filing; authorised officers must secure exhibits and coordinate with public prosecutors, with reporting obligations for delays and monthly updates to the sanctioning authority.

Sanction for prosecution: designated senior authorities must authorize and formalize prosecution before filing criminal complaints.
Sanction for prosecution is required before initiating criminal complaints in service tax and central excise matters. The Principal Chief/Chief Commissioner must sanction routine cases, while the Principal Director General/Director General, CEI must sanction cases investigated by the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence. The sanctioning authority issues a written order and forwards it to the Commissionerate for expeditious filing of the complaint.

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.