Manufacturing, production or development of software - Exemption scheme under service tax modified - exemption under central excise and customs withdrawn

Central Government has modified the exemption scheme to software to prevent the overlapping between central levies as under:

Customs:

Notification no. 31/2010-Cus - Customs has been rescinded - now import of packaged or canned software shall not be exempted from levy of customs duty. [Notification no. 126/2010-Cus]

Central Excise:

Notification no. 35/2010-CE, has been rescinded - now manufacturing, production or development of software shall not be exemption from levy of duty of excise [Notification no. 35/2010-CE]

Moreover, manufacturing, production or development of software shall be subject to MRP under section 4A [Notification no. 30/2010-CE(NT)]

Service Tax:

A consolidated notification no. 53/2010-ST has been issued with new conditions to prevent overlapping between excise versus service tax and customs versus service tax

Previous notification no. 02/2010-ST and 17/2010-ST has been withdrawn vide notification no. 51/2010-ST and 52/2010-ST respectively.