No Service Tax to be Levied on Tickets Issued Prior to 1st October 2012

Levy of Service Tax on Railway Passengers Travelling in AC Classes/First Class from tomorrow i.e. 1st October 2012

In Case of Cancellation of Tickets Issued on or after 1st October 2012, the Applicable Amount Including Service Tax to be Refunded by Railways

In compliance of the provisions contained in Finance Bill 2012 and subsequent notifications issued by Ministry of Finance, the Service Tax in case of railway travel will be levied on the fare of passenger services in the following classes from tomorrow i.e. 1st October 2012:-

(i) AC First Class, (ii) Executive Class, (iii) AC-2 tier Class, (iv) AC-3 tier class, (v) AC Chair Car class, (vi) AC Economy class and (vii) First Class.

Since an abatement of 70%  has been permitted on passenger services by Ministry of Finance,  the Service Tax will be charged on 30% of total fare including reservation charge, development charge, superfast surcharge which would be calculated as follows:-

1.   Service Tax of 12% will be charged on 30% of fare (equivalent to 3.6% on the total fare)

2.  Education Cess of 2% on Service Tax will be added (equivalent to 0.072% on total fare) and

3.  Higher Education Cess of 1% on Service Tax will also be added (equivalent to 0.036% on total fare)

4.  Total Service Tax implication will be (i)+(ii)+(iii)=3.708% on the total fare.

   On Concessional value tickets, service charge will be levied @ 3.708% of the total fare actually being paid by the passengers.

          Through a subsequent corrigendum issued by M/o Railways,  it has been clarified that the Service Tax would be collected on the tickets issued/bookings made on or after 01.10.2012.  Service Tax is not livable on tickets issued prior to 01.10.2012 and hence will not be collected on board the trains.

In case of cancellation of tickets booked by the passengers on or after 01.10.2012, the applicable amount including refundable Service Tax amount will be refunded by Railways as per Railway refund rules and Finance Ministry guidelines.

The amount of Service Tax collected from passengers will be deposited with the Ministry of Finance as per prescribed procedure.  Finance Departments of Zonal Railways have been instructed for proper accountal and remittance of Service Tax amount to the Government.