Service Tax - Why the New Section 73 (1A)?
A new Section 73 (1A) is proposed to be inserted in the Finance Act, 1994 as:
"(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Central Excise Officer may serve, subsequent to any notice or notices served under that sub-section, a statement, containing the details of service tax not levied or paid or short levied or short paid or erroneously refunded for the subsequent period, on the person chargeable to service tax, then, service of such statement shall be deemed to be service of notice on such person, subject to the condition that the grounds relied upon for the subsequent period are same as are mentioned in the earlier notices. "
Why was this provision inserted? The JS TRU answers:
“A new sub-section (1A) is being inserted to save the botheration of retyping the same charges (and save paper) when a follow-up demand is given for a period subsequent to the previous notice(s) on same grounds.”
He may save a few sheets of paper but a few forests are going to be wiped off in printing the clarifications to this provision and the huge litigation that this is sure to generate. More details of this in our budget analysis.