CBEC notifies Service Tax and Central Excise (Furnishing of Annual Information Return) Rules, 2016

We are pleased to release a Tax Alert on recent ST Notification No. 4/2016 dated 15 February 2016 issued by Central Board of Excise & Customs (‘CBEC’) notifying Service Tax and Central Excise (Furnishing of Annual Information Return) Rules, 2016 (‘AIR Rules’).

Key aspects of the AIR Rules are as under:
► These Rules shall come into effect from 1 April 2016.
► Information in Form AIRF is required to be submitted by:
► Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) in respect of details of foreign remittances for the receipt of specified services whose value exceeds 50 lakh rupees in a financial year.
► State Electricity Board or an electricity distribution or transmission licensee or other specified entities, in respect of electricity consumed by manufacturers, using an induction furnace or rolling mill to manufacture base metals and articles thereof and whose aggregate value of clearances exceeds 150 lakh rupees in the financial year.
► Information return is required to be filed on or before 31 December of the financial year following the financial year to which the return pertains.
► Return shall be filed electronically, in Form AIRF, along with the appropriate Annexures and should be duly signed and verified.
Comments:
► The medium of AIR which has been extensively used in case of income tax, has been recently extended to indirect taxes to detect tax evasion.
► Currently, CBEC has announced two categories of regulators who would be submitting AIR. Going forward, CBEC may require other specified authorities as well for collecting similar information.