21 November 2009
(1)Yes you have to pay GTA Service tax. (2)service tax applicable if service provide in india.When the services are provided outside India, provisions of service tax is not applicable.
22 November 2009
2) Service Tax is applicable on foreign agency commission if provided outside India but used for business in India.
In both cases, you have to pay service tax and claim refund. For the GTA service you may be allowed full refund to the extent of service tax paid. For the commission agency you are allowed refund of only the amount you paid as service tax or service tax calculated on 2% of FOB value realised, whichever lower.
23 November 2009
Recently I have read the notification for obtaining the waiver of payment for service tax. Basically it states that if you are registered with an EPC you can apply to the central excise for waiver provided your service tax does not exceed 1% of FOB Value. It is not clear whether service tax on 1% of value or service tax amount of 1%. If it is the latter then the rate would be 10%.
People were having problems while applying for waiver as they were being shunted between excise and service tax departments. I have not yet come across any waiver being granted but you can try.