Exports – Service Tax – Exempted?
Every Newspaper and everyone in the other media in the country screamed that Service Tax has been abolished/waived/exempted on exports in the Foreign Trade Policy announced by the Commerce Minister. Nobody has reported that it is not the Commerce minister who decides about exemption of Service Tax. In 2004, the Hon’ble Commerce Minister announced that EOUs are exempted from paying Service Tax. But the Revenue Ministry was not impressed. And they did not issue any notification to that effect. The hype about this new benefit should be subject to the Notification from the CBEC! And most probably it will not come. A lady Development Commissioner of an SEZ once told me that for the exporters, the Commerce Ministry is like a pampering mother while the Revenue is like a disciplinarian father and in this case the father has the last word.
Please see our Breaking News story FTP exempts exports from service tax but wait till EoU story is not repeated !