Amendments in the Service Tax Rules, 1994 - 035/04 - Service Tax

Amendments in the Service Tax Rules, 1994

Notification No. 35/2004-ST

Dated 03/12/2004

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1), read with sub-section (2) of section 94 of the Finance Act, 1994 (32 of 1994), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Service Tax Rules, 1994, namely :-

1. (1) These rules may be called the Service Tax (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2004.

(2) They shall come into force on the first day of January, 2005.

2. In the Service Tax Rules, 1994,-

(I) in rule 2, in sub-rule (1), in clause (d), after sub-clause (iv), the following sub-clause shall be inserted, namely:-

"(v) in relation to taxable service provided by a goods transport agency, where the consignor or consignee of goods is,-

(a) any factory registered under or governed by the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948)

(b) any company established by or under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956);

(c) any corporation established by or under any law;

(d) any society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any law corresponding to that Act in force in any part of India;

(e) any co-operative society established by or under any law;

(f) any dealer of excisable goods, who is registered under the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) or the rules made thereunder; or

(g) any body corporate established, or a partnership firm registered, by or under any law,

any person who pays or is liable to pay freight either himself or through his agent for the transportation of such goods by road in a goods carriage;" ;

(II) in rule 4A, in sub-rule (1), after the first proviso, the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-

"Provided further that in case the provider of taxable service is a goods transport agency, providing service to a customer, in relation to transport of goods by road in a goods carriage, an invoice, a bill or, as the case may be, a challan shall include any document, by whatever name called, which shall contain the details of the consignment note number and date, gross weight of the consignment and also contain other information as required under this sub-rule.";

(III) after rule 4A, the following rule shall be inserted, namely:-

'4B. Issue of consignment note.- Any goods transport agency which provides service in relation to transport of goods by road in a goods carriage shall issue a consignment note to the customer:

Provided that where any taxable service in relation to transport of goods by road in a goods carriage is wholly exempted under section 93 of the Act, the goods transport agency shall not be required to issue the consignment note.

Explanation.- For the purposes of this rule and the second proviso to rule 4A, "consignment note" means a document, issued by a goods transport agency against the receipt of goods for the purpose of transport of goods by road in a goods carriage, which is serially numbered, and contains the name of the consignor and consignee, registration number of the goods carriage in which the goods are transported, details of the goods transported, details of the place of origin and destination, person liable for paying service tax whether consignor, consignee or the goods transport agency.'.