Monetary limits and powers of adjudication of officers of central excise in relation to S T Rules - Service Tax - 11/05/96

Monetary limits and powers of adjudication of officers of central excise in relation to service tax rules, 1994-Reg... SERVICE TAX CIRCULAR NO 11/5/96 DATED - 22-04-1996 The issue of laying down monetary limits for powers of adjudication of Central Excise Officers of different ranks has been under consideration of the Board. Since the amount of penalty to be imposed is related to the amount of Service Tax involved, Board has felt it desirable to link the powers of adjudication to the amount of Service Tax involved. It has now, therefore, been decided to lay down the following monetary limits based on the amount of service tax involved for adjudication of Service Tax cases arising in the following situations: Situations Designation of Officer Amount of Service Tax involved (i) If a person responsible for collecting service tax fails to collect or having collected the service tax fails to pay service tax in accordance with Sec. 68(1) or Sec. 68(2), he is liable to penalty under Section 76. Commissioner without limit (ii) If a person with intent to evade payment of service tax, suppresses or conceals or furnishes inaccurate value of taxable service, he is liable to penalty under Section 78 Additional Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner Upto Rs. Ten lakhs (iii) If a person fails to comply with the notice issued under the Section 7 1(1), he is liable to penalty under Section 79 Assistant Commissioner Upto Rs. fifty thousands Note: (i) Jurisdiction to decide a case will be based on the amount of service tax involved. Once that is decided, the powers to adjudge penalty will be limited only by the statutory limit. (ii) Where simultaneously different cases involving the same issue are due to be adjudicated in a Commissionerate all such cases may be adjudicated by the Officer competent to decide the case where the Service Tax involved of the highest amount. (iii) Where there is no alleged failure to pay or evasion/avoidance of service tax, but the assessee only fails to furnish return under Section 70(1) or in situations of Section 70(2). The Assistant Commissioner may adjudicate the case irrespective of the amount of penalty imposed as provided under Section 77 (2) Suitable executive instructions may be issued in this regard to all Additional commissioner/Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners in your jurisdiction. Field formations may be suitable informed.