Krishi Kalyan Cess - Just a Week away - Why is CBEC so silent?
THE Krishi Kalyan Cess (KKC) on all or any of the services will come into effect exactly a week from today. The CBEC has not yet announced whether it will be on all or any of the services. The Trade is in confusion whether to include KKC in their invoices or not. If I issue an invoice today, I cannot obviously include it as the levy is yet to come into force, but if I get the payment after 1st June, I am supposed to pay KKC, which my client will not pay. There would be unnecessary litigation. The Board should come out with guidelines and instructions as soon as possible to avoid confusion. After all, they are talking a lot about ‘ease of doing business'.
Under the 'Ease of doing business' scheme, can't they do away with all these cumbersome cesses and levy a flat rate of 15% Service Tax? Now the Service Tax invoice should contain separate entries for Swachh Bharat Cess and Krishi Kalyan Cess; these two have to be paid separately and accounted for separately. The Government can collect 15% and allocate whatever they want for their different schemes without troubling the assessees. They do have computers in North Block!
But what they mean by ‘Ease of doing business', may not exactly match with your perception of the concept.