10 February 2016
Dear Sir, As we are Private limited company we are registered under RNI (Register of newspapers for India) . As we are service provider we want to know whether our services will come under negative list. We want to magazines we sell to the subscribers are eligible under service tax or it is in the negative list. If not service tax will VAT applicable on the same We want to know that we print advertisement in the monthly magazine and we receive subscription charges from the subscribers whether we are applicable to pay the service tax? If yes, kindly tell us under which head we need to pay the service tax.
12 February 2016
If you sell publications that qualify as newspapers or periodicals for sales tax purposes, you don't need to charge sales tax because they're exempt. The exemption also applies to charges for electronic versions of newspapers or periodicals if you sell a hard-copy version, and both versions contain the exact same information (except for advertising). Therefore there is no sales tax / VAT on sale of newspapers & magazines.
Clause (g) of Section 66(D) of Finance Act, 1994 stipulates that "Selling of Space or Time Slots for Advertisements other than Advertisements Broadcast by Radio or Television" shall be in the Negative List and as such, no Service Tax will be levied.
Therefore the activities you have enumerated above are exempt from VAT / CST and in the Negative List under Finance Act, 1994.
Thus there is no liability to either VAT / CST or Service Tax.