Rs 35 cr service tax evasions found in Bihar

Service tax evasion of Rs 35 crore from 80 defaulters mostly builders, restaurant owners and those running coaching institutes have been detected till the middle of the current financial year in Bihar, a senior officer of Central Excise and Service Tax said today.
The department has issued notices to the tax evaders to pay service tax by December this year failing which they would be liable for prosecution including imprisonment of up to seven years, Commissioner, Central Excise and Service Tax Shashank Priya told reporters here.
Bihar has witnessed a boom in real estate and opening of professional coaching centres in the past seven years with improvement of law and order and growth-oriented environment.

Priya said except for some services like agriculture, hospital and educational institutions which are in the negative list, all professional groups rendering services of above Rs 10 lakh are mandated to pay service tax at a rate of 12 per cent.
The Commissioner said that after December when Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme, 2013 ends, the department would initiate penal action against defaulters which includes a penalty of 100 per cent (fine equal to the amount of tax arrears) and also jail term of up to seven years.
Priya said the department has set a target to mop up Rs 4,676 crore central excise in the state in 2013-14 out of which a sum of Rs 2,088 crore has been realised so far.

Likewise, in the case of service tax the target is of Rs 406 crore for present fiscal and the actual collection till September this year was Rs 168.47 crore, he said.
He said Lipika Majumdar Roy Chaudhary, member (service tax) was visiting Patna for two days starting tomorrow for review of service tax and central excise issues. She would interact with industries bodies at a function hosted by Bihar Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.
Priya said that among the service payers in Bihar this year, BSNL topped the list with Rs 10 crore tax followed by telecom giant IDEA Cellular at Rs 8 crore.