26 January 2013
An individual assessee got registered with the Service Tax department in the year 2002 and filed ST-3 return till the F. Y. 2005-2006, from F.Y. 2006-2007 gross income was substantially low from the threshold limit so neither the assessee charged Service Tax from its client nor he paid any Service tax to the department.
During F.Y. 2007-2008 the assessee submitted a letter stating the reasons for non filing of ST-3 return thereafter on Feb 2012 the assessee filed an application for Surrender of ST-2, therefore in this regard I want to know whether the Superintendent can charge penalty for non filing of previous years return.
If an assessee can get relief from such penalty then is there any caselaw or notification regarding this matter.
As per Circular No.97/08/2007-ST dated 23-08-2007 in case you are availing the exemption benefit then you are not required to file the returns hence no penalty leviable. The reference is given below : 6.1 The service tax return is required to be filed under section 70 of the Act read with rule 7 of the Rules, by ‘any person liable to pay the service tax’. This return is required to be filed on a half yearly basis, in Form ST-3. For the periods from April to September and October to March, it must be filed by the 25th October and the 25th April respectively. Further, ‘Input Service Distributor’ is also required to file this return. Persons who are not liable to pay service tax (because of an exemption including turnover based exemption), are not required to file ST-3 return.
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