All Services Except 17 to be Taxed From July 1

The Finance Ministry said that all services except 17 in the negative list of services will be taxed from July 1. The services included in negative list will remain out of tax net. In Budget 2012, Finance Minister proposed the negative list of services.

At present, there are 119 services that come under positive list which contains the services tax levied on. The list of services that come under negative list are auto rickshaws, metered taxis, betting, gambling, lottery, transport of goods or passengers, entry to amusement parks and electricity transmission. The other important services that come under negative list are funeral, burial, mutate services and transport of deceased.

Budget 2012 has also hiked the service tax rate by 2% to 12%. The services rendered by coaching classes, training institutions will come under tax net while the services rendered by schools, university education, vocational courses will remain out of tax net. Travel in AC rail coaches along with the first class will attract service-tax.

The service sector alone accounts 60% of country’s GDP (Gross domestic Product). For the financial year 2012-13, the government aims to get Rs.1.24 lakh crore from the service-tax.