Arrest in Service Tax?
SERVICE Tax officers all over the country have a feeling that there is lot of evasion because the officers do not have the power to arrest alleged evaders and prosecute them. It is heard that the officers have suggested to the Board to make Service Tax offences liable for imprisonment like in Central Excise and Customs. They say 17 years is a long honeymoon and it is time to get tough. The FM is too sagacious to fall for such arguments, especially at a time when he wants GST, and more importantly when his government is not in the best of health, but unfortunately, if he buys the theory, there will not be any increase in revenue to the government. Corruption will go up with every assessee threatened with arrest. The Department should first try to bring in clarity in the Law relating to Service Tax and they should understand the laws and also the field officers should be taught to obey Board’s instructions, before they want to have powers to arrest.