Jammu and Kashmir government has imposed a tax of 12.5 per cent on sale of tickets for commercial helicopters services in the state.
"We have decided to impose 12.5 per cent tax on commercial helicopter services in the state," state's Finance Minister Haseeb Ahmad Drabu told PTI today.
The minister did not divulge further details of the order.
However, officials said the tax was proposed by the Commercial Taxes Department on grounds that commercial helicopter sorties were being levied service tax across the country.
"Since Jammu and Kashmir is the only state which has the powers to levy its own Service tax, a proposal was sent to the Finance Ministry to this effect," an official said.
As per the Chapter V of the Finance Act, Sub section (1) of section 64 pertaining to Service Tax is not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir.
The official said the state government by definition has put services under the category of 'sale of goods', allowing extension of this levy on commercial helicopter services.
Although commercial helicopter services are very common in the state, the move is expected to fetch substantial revenue to the state as these services are very popular among the high end pilgrims visiting Vaishno Devi and Amarnath shrines.
