Board approves Service Tax Audit Manual 2011 - To govern Service Tax Audits henceforth
CHECK whether the Service Tax on the value of taxable services received during any Calendar months is credited to the Central Government account by the 25 th of the month immediately following said Calendar month .
Is there system of receiving service charges in advance and providing the services but raising the bill at a later date to have financial accommodation and defer the payment of service tax?
Check whether the TR-6 challan, which have been used for depositing service Tax, is yellow in color and that they are serially numbered for the financial year.
These are some of the (out-dated) issues the auditors need to verify during the audit as per the existing audit manual. The existing Service Tax Audit Manual has been in use since 2003. Many changes have been made to the provisions of the Service tax law since 2003 and with the experience gained while conducting audits and rapid change in service tax law over the years, growth in service tax categories, assessee base as well as revenue, a need was felt to update the manual.
In this connection, Board had set up a Working Group in 2009 to update the existing Service Tax Audit Manual. The manual prepared by the Working Group was discussed in Board meetings for considering the various amendments and proposals to be included in the manual.
Board has since approved the Service Tax Audit Manual 2011 and the same will be circulated by the Directorate General of Audit ( CBEC's website says that the new manual is available on DG Audit's website but it is accessible only to departmental officials ).
All Service Tax audits would henceforth be carried out in accordance with the principles laid down in the new Manual and the extant prevalent instructions.
Board states that any suggestions for improvement, shortcomings, corrections and feedback pertaining to the said Manual should be brought to the notice of Directorate General of Audit.
Since this Manual is for the use of departmental officers only, the feedback is also expected only from departmental officers. It would have been better had the DG Audit or the Board sought feedback from the real stake holders viz., service tax assessees.
Circular No. , Dated: April 19, 2011