Manner of payment :
A. Conventional mode of payment: Where the assessee is allowed to pay service tax by GAR-7 challan (i.e., otherwise than by e-payment), following procedure would be followed:
(1) Bank to have EASIEST facility: Duty is payable in authorized bank by way of GAR-7 challan where Bank is having ‘EASIEST‘ facility (Earlier, it was a TR -6 challan).
(2) Single copy challan: GAR-7 challan is a single copy challan with tax payer‘s counterfoil at the bottom of challan. Both challan and counterfoil are to be filled in by assessee. The challan should be on white paper with black printing.
(3) Challan to be serially numbered: The challans should be serially numbered from 1st April onwards.
(4) Details required in GAR-7 challan: Details to be filled in GAR-7 challan are as follows-
(a) Full name of assessee
(b) Complete Address
(c) Telephone number
(d) PIN code
(e) Assessee‘s STC Code (15 digit)
(f) Commissionerate name
(g) Commissionerate Code
(h) Division Code
(i) Range Code
(j) Accounting Code of service tax
(k) Amount tendered in (6 columns)
(l) Total
(m) Total Rupees in words
(n) Cash/Cheque/Draft/Pay order No. and date
(o) Bank on which Cheque/Draft/Pay order No. is drawn.
(5) Relevant details to be repeated on counterfoil: Relevant among these details like assessee code, amount tendered in , accounting code of service tax etc. are repeated in the Tax payer‘s counter-foil. Details filled in the challan and Taxpayer‘s counter-foil should be identical.
(6) Receipt of payment: The counterfoil duly receipted by Bank with stamp of Bank will be given by receiving Bank to assessee.
The stamp of receiving bank will contain Challan Identification Number (CIN). This CIN will have to be quoted in the return.
(7) Evidence of payment of service tax: The Taxpayers acknowledgement is the evidence of payment. The Challan Identification Number (CIN) appearing on this acknowledgement will have to be quoted in the return. The banks will be giving the tax payer a computer generated acknowledgement/receipt with the various details including the CIN.
(8) Payment in case of multiple service provider: A multiple service provider (a service provider rendering more than one taxable service) can use single GAR-7 challan for payment of service tax on different services. However, amounts attributable to each such service along with concerned accounting codes should be mentioned clearly in the column provided for this purpose in the GAR-7 challan. Alternatively, separate GAR-7 challans may be used for payment of service tax for each service provided by the service provider.
B. E-payment of service tax [Sub-rule (2) of rule 6]: Every assessee has to electronically pay the service tax payable by him, through internet banking. However, the jurisdictional Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise may for reasons to be recorded in writing, allow the assessee to deposit service tax by any mode other than internet banking.
(1) Procedure for e-payment of service tax: E-payment of service tax facilitates anytime, anywhere payment of the service tax. Moreover, after the payment of service tax online, the receipt of the same is generated instantly. It provides the convenience of making on line payment of Central excise and service tax through bank‘s Internet banking service. Epayment of the service tax can be made through ACES.
For e-payment, assessees should open a net banking account with one of the authorized banks (currently there are 28 banks). For effecting payment, assessees can access the ACES website and click on the e-payment link that will take them to the EASIEST portal or they can directly visit the EASIEST portal.
Procedure for e-payment of excise duty/service tax can be summarized as follows:-
(i) To pay excise duty and service tax online, the assessee has to enter the 15 digit Assessee Code allotted by the Department under the application ACES. There will be an online check on the validity of the Assessee Code entered.
(ii) If the Assessee code is valid, then corresponding assessee details like name, address, Commissionerate Code etc. as present in the Assessee Code Master will be displayed.
(iii) Based on the Assessee Code, the duty / tax i.e. Central Excise duty or Service Tax to be paid will be automatically selected.
(iv) The assessee is required to select the type of duty / tax to be paid by clicking on Select Accounting Codes for Excise or Select Accounting Codes for Service Tax, depending on the type of duty / tax to be paid.
(v) At a time the assessee can select up to six Accounting Codes.
(vi) The assessee should also select the bank through which payment is to be made.
(vii) On submission of data entered, a confirmation screen will be displayed. If the taxpayer confirms the data entered in the screen, it will be directed to the net-banking site of the bank selected.
(viii) The taxpayer will login to the net-banking site with the user id/ password, provided by the bank for net-banking purpose, and will enter payment details at the bank site.
(ix) On successful payment, a challan counterfoil will be displayed containing CIN, payment details and bank name through which e-payment has been made. This counterfoil is proof of payment made.
| Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES)
(a) What is ACES? In continuation of its efforts for trade facilitation, CBEC has rolled-out a new centralized, webbased and workflow-based software application called Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES) in all 104 Commissionerates of Central excise, service tax and large tax payer units (LTUs) as on 23rd December, 2009. ACES is a Mission Mode project (MMP) of the Govt. of India under the national e-governance plan and it aims at improving tax-payer services, transparency, accountability and efficiency in the indirect tax administration in India. This application has replaced the earlier applications of SERMON, SACER, and SAPS used in Central Excise and Service Tax for capturing returns and registration details of the assessees. (b) Automation of major processes: ACES has automated the major processes of Central excise and service tax-registration, returns, accounting, refunds, dispute resolution, audit, provisional assessment, exports, claims, intimations and permissions. (c) Benefits to the assessee: The ACES offers following benefits to the assessee:- 1. Reduce physical interface with the Department 2. Save time 3. Reduce paper work 4. Online registration and amendment of registration details 5. Electronic filing of all documents such as applications for registration, returns claims, permissions and intimations; provisional assessment request, export -related documents, refund request 6. System-generated E-Acknowledgement 7. Online tracking of the status of selected documents 8. Online view facility to see selected documents 9. Internal messaging system on business-related matters (d) Registration with ACES: To transact business on ACES a user has to first register himself/herself with ACES through a process called ‘Registration with ACES‘. This registration is not a statutory registration as envisaged in Acts/Rules governing Central Excise and Service Tax but helps the application in recognizing the bonafide users. (e) E-filing of Returns: The assesses can electronically file statutory returns of Central Excise and Service Tax by choosing one of the two facilities being offered by the Department at present:- (i) they can file it online, or (ii) download the off-line return utilities which can be filled-in off-line and uploaded to the system through the internet. (f) Certified Facilitation Centres (CFCs): CBEC has set up ACES Certified Facilitation Centres (CFCs) with the help of professional bodies like Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) etc. (i) These CFCs can provide a host of services to the assessees such as digitization of paper documents like returns etc. and uploading the same to ACES. (ii) Assessees requiring the services of the CFCs may be required to pay service fees to the CFCs. (iii) CBEC has approved the maximum rates at which CFCs can charge their customers for the services rendered by them. (iv) For this purpose, assessees are required to write to the Department authorizing one of the CFCs, from the approved list, to work in ACES on their behalf. They have to furnish the name and other details of the CFCs, including the registration number issued by the ICAI/ICWAI etc. (v) At any given time, one assessee can authorize one CFC, while one CFC can provide services to more than one assessee throughout India. (vi) In case the assessee wants to withdraw the authorization, it can do so by intimating the Department. (vii) However, an assessee will be held liable for all actions of omission or commission of the CFC, during the period they are authorized by him/her to work in ACES. Electronic Accounting System in Excise and Service Tax (EASIEST) (i) What is EASIEST scheme? EASIEST has been developed to make payment of tax easy. The facility is available with 28 banks. (ii) Benefits of EASIEST to the taxpayer (a) Only one copy of the challan has to be filled instead of earlier four copies. (b) Facility of online verification of the status of tax payment using CIN. (iii) Challan Identification Number (CIN): Challan Identification Number (CIN) is a 20 digit unique identifier which will be given on the Taxpayer‘s computer generated acknowledgement /receipt. This number is a combination of the BSR code of the bank branch (first 7 digits), the date of deposit (next 8 digits) and Challan Serial Number (last 5 digits). (iv) Service Tax Code Number: Assessee code/registration number/STC code are all one and the same. It is a 15-character identification number allotted by the system to the assessee based on the PAN number or temporary number (if PAN is not submitted) when the registration details are entered in the Central Server. The 15-character assessee code will be available in the registration certificate issued to the assessee by the Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner of the Division. The first 10 digits of the STC code are 10 character PAN issued by Income tax authorities. Next two are ‘ST‘. Last three are numeric codes 001, 002, 003 etc. The concerned person has to apply in a prescribed form to obtain STC. The main objective of allocating an alphanumerical number by the Government agencies is to identify the assessees/exporters/importers. It is also used to identify in some cases the concerned office where the person would be assessed or registered. Further alphanumeric number helps in processing of the information in relation to the assessee on computers. Quoting of service tax code number on all the related documents has become compulsory from 1.7.2002. |