Service Tax - Transport of Goods by Rail – Several Items exempted
Several Items are exempted from Service Tax while transported by Rail. Some of them are:-
Defence/ military equipments; Railway equipments/ materials; Postal mail bags ; Relief materials meant for victims of natural or manmade disasters, calamities, accidents and mishap; Luggage of train passengers, Household effects; Parcels [including newspaper/magazines registered with Registrar of Newspapers] booked in the luggage vans; Food grains, flours and pulses, Chemical Manure, Gunnies, Oil cakes and seeds, Soap, Starch, Salt for industrial use, Sugar, Salt ,De-oiled cakes, Machinery and machine tools, Hides and Skins, Leather, Rubber and plastic, Electrical appliances and fittings, Empty drums, Jaggry , Jute, Milk and Milk products, Organic Manure, Paints and polishes
The mighty Indian Railways are in for a battle with the Indian Revenue. We spoke to several Railway officers who were either ignorant or arrogant about the new levy. Many officers told us that the Excise Department cannot levy any tax on Rail freight and the Rail Ministry is not going to agree to any such proposal.
We tried to argue with them that it is not a proposal, but THE LAW – many of them were not convinced.
Now there will be Summons issued to senior Railway officials.
DDT has come to know about an interesting incident. An Additional Commissioner level officer of the Railways called up a Commissioner of Central Excise when he was summoned by the Service Tax Assistant Commissioner. The Commissioner wanted to know from which batch the Indian Railways officer was. When he came to know that the Railway officer was junior to him, the Commissioner of Central Excise asked the Railway officer to call up the Additional Commissioner of Central Excise!
Instead of collecting Service Tax from every collecting point of the Railways, can the CBEC collect one consolidated amount from the Railway Board at the end of the year?
Notification No. : Dated 31st August, 2009