A team of sleuths, headed by Commissioner of Service Tax (Mumbai), Sushil Solanki, carried out simultaneous searches in Bandra, Colaba and Juhu areas last week, an official said today.
"Searches were conducted in some well known spas like Sabi spa, Aura Wellness, Sukho Thai, Palm Spa and it was detected that most of these centres have been collecting service tax from customers but are not paying it to the Service Tax Department," he said.
Tax officials detected the evasion to tune of Rs 1.04 crore in this case.
"They (Sabi spa) paid Rs 35 lakh in cash and through post-dated cheques and have declared tax liability of Rs 80 lakh under the voluntary compliance scheme," the official said.
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He said Aura Wellness was collecting one-time non-refundable franchise fee ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, apart from 'contract charges' for providing infrastructure to the franchisees.
Out of their total service tax evasion of Rs 40 lakh, Sukho Thai has paid Rs 10 lakh in cash and submitted post-dated cheques for the balance amount.