Service Tax deposited against wrong assessee code - No Remedy?
RECENTLY the Mumbai Service Tax-I Commissionerate issued a Trade Notice regarding the unpardonable offence of paying Service Tax under a wrong head.
The Commissioner elucidates…
This Commissionerate has been receiving a large number of requests for rectification of mistakes occurred on account of deposit of Service Tax in wrong accounts. Two types of mistakes are reported:-
The first mistake is where the Service Tax has been paid in the wrong accounting code which may occur due to wrong data entry of accounting codes. To illustrate, Service Tax payable for "Business Auxiliary Service" (accounting code No. 00440225) might have been paid under service, "Business Support Services (accounting code No. 00440366) or basic Service Tax might have been paid under accounting code for Education Cess [accounting code No. 00440298). For such mistakes, it is mentioned that as long as these mistakes have happened under the same Service Tax Code [also known as Registration Number or Assessee Code), the assessee should inform Deputy Commissioner (Technical], in writing along with copy of Service Tax payment Challan and by giving information in a prescribed format:-
Another type of mistake noticed is payment of Service Tax under the Service Tax Code of another assessee. The said mistake might happen because of the following reasons:-
a. The assessee holds multiple Service Tax Codes on same PAN for different branches within or across Commissionerates and pays the Service Tax liability against wrong service code, belonging to the same assessee. This also includes the cases where some of the registrations have become defunct because, either the assesse has stopped operating the business from the said premises or the assessee might have taken Centralized Registration, but by mistake Service Tax payment is made in the incorrect Service Tax Code.
b. The Chartered Accountant/Consultant might commit a mistake of payment of Service Tax in the Service Tax Code of other client.
Requests are made by many assessees to transfer the amount of Service Tax from one Service Tax Code to another Service Tax Code.
The issue has been examined and it is clarified that, presently there is no system available whereby Service Tax paid into a wrong Service Tax Code can be transferred to correct Service Tax Code. It is reiterated that even in case of same legal entities having different Service Tax Code with same PAN, the transfer of amount from one Service Tax Code to another Service Tax Code is not possible.
However, the following legal Remedies are available to the assessees to rectify their mistakes.
a) As per Rule6(4A) of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, Service Tax amount paid wrongly, can be adjusted against liability for succeeding month or quarter, as the case may be...
b) In case facility at (a)cannot be availed, the assessee may file a refund application under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 for the amount wrongly paid within the time limit prescribed under law.
It is further clarified that, notwithstanding availing the above mentioned remedy, the assesse is also required to make Service Tax payment under correct Service Tax code. Any delay in making the Service Tax payment may attract interest as per provisions of the Service Tax Law.
The Commissioner reiterates that in case of payment under wrong Service Tax Code, there is no remedy available under the present system to transfer the money from one Service Tax Code to another Service Tax Code.
Please also see - 09.07.2013 & 18.07.2013
This is the kind of highhanded GOVERNMENT which Narendra Modi wants to replace with good governance.