Maintenance and repair services provided to railways, Service Tax

[Praveen Kumar]

Dear readers, does providing repair and maintenance services in respect of railway wagons to railways / RITES etc., fall under 'MMRS' and liable to service tax? Can exemption be claimed under Notification No.24/2009-ST as amended by 54/2010-ST or under Mega notification no.25/2012-ST? Or any other exemption notification...please advise.

Posts / Replies

[Padmanaban M]

Hi Mr. Praveen Kumar,

Repair and Maintenance work for railways are not exempted from the Service Tax.  As per the mega exemption notification (25/2012) only the original work is exempted for Railways, roads etc.,  The original work meaning is given below:

Explanation 1.- For the purposes of this rule,-

(a)  "original works" means-

(i)  all new constructions;

(ii)  all types of additions and alterations to abandoned or damaged structures on land that are required to make them workable;

(iii)  erection, commissioning or installation of plant, machinery or equipment or structures, whether pre-fabricated or otherwise;

As refer by you the principal notification of 24/2009 was rescinded vide notification no 34/2012 - Dt. 20.06.12, hence the said notification is not valid now.

So, the Railways are not exempted for Repair and Maintenance work.

M.Padmanaban

[Praveen Kumar]

Hi Shri M.Padmanaban,

Wish you a Happy New Year and thank you for the prompt reply. Would I be right in assuming that the said service was exempted prior to the rescinding of the Notification No.24/2009-ST?

The Notification No.24/2009-ST as amended by 54/2010-ST exempts MMRS services in respect of roads, railways etc. Now, does the word 'railways' include all railway property (Indian Railways as a whole) or only the railway lines and related paraphernalia like signals, electric lines etc. (excluding rolling stock)?

Thank you once again.

Praveen Kumar