There shall be levied a tax (hereinafter referred to as the service tax) at the rate of twelve percent on the value of all services, other than those services specified in the negative list, provided or agreed to be provided in the taxable territory by one person to another and collected in such manner as may be prescribed. Laws governing service tax are the Finance Act 1994(As amended by Finance Act 2012), Service Tax Rules 1994, various notifications, circulars issued by the department from time to time and judgments of various court proceedings. Service Tax extends to whole India except the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Form ST-1 is required as an application form for registration and after the completion of registration procedures, the authority of the department issues form ST-2 which is the certificate of registration. Form ST-3 is required to file a return under service tax.
Basic Exemption Limit for Service Tax Registration is Rs. 10 Lakh. Registration becomes compulsory exceeding the turnover of Rs. 9 Lakh.