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F.No.354/106/2005-TRU
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
(Tax Research Unit)
New Delhi the 8th August, 2005
To,
The Director General (Service Tax)
9th Floor, Piramal Chambers
Jijibhoy Lane, Laibaug,
Parel
Mumbai-400012

Sir,

Subject: Service Tax - Centralized Registration of assessees

Please refer to your letter F.No. V/DGST/(21)/CR/1/2005 dated 9/6/2005 regarding centralized registration by service providers wherein details to be furnished by persons seeking such centralized registration have been prescribed. Representations have been received by the Board stating that difficulties are being faced by service providers in submitting the information and documents required to be submitted as per the above letter and that this has resulted in delay in granting registration and consequently service tax providers could not deposit the tax on time. They have requested simplification of the process for obtaining centralized registration.
The matter has been examined by the Board. The information called for from the service provider at the time of applying for registration has been reviewed. It is felt that the information to be furnished at the time of registration may be limited to the essential information and during verification more details can be obtained from the service providers. In the light of the above, information to be sought at the time of seeking centralized registration has been revised and the revised list of information to be furnished is enclosed.

The following procedure is laid down for granting of centralized registration:

1. The service provider seeking centralized registration shall submit the application in ST-1 from, complete in all respects, along with information as per Annexure A, to the jurisdictional Deputy Commission / Assistant Commissioner in whose charge, the premises / office to be centrally registered, falls;
2. The Jurisdictional Central Excise / service Tax Deputy Commissioner / Assistant Commissioner shall verify the information so furnished in the ST-1 form and record his observation. He should mention specification about details of information that could not be verified at his end.
3. After verification, AC / DC will forwarded the ST-1 form along with annexure and his report, to the Director General (Service Tax') through the jurisdictional Commissioner. Commissioner of Central Excise / Service Tax shall forwarded the said application along with his specific recommendation and comments to the Director General (Service Tax), under intimation to the zonal Chief Commissioner. The process of verification and forwarding of applications should in all cases be completed within 7 days from the date of receipt of application for registration.
4. The DG (Service Tax) on receipt of such verification report, will examine and grant centralized registration if these is no prima facie objection, subject to verification of the details furnished. The same would be intimated to the jurisdiction Commissioners as well as the Zonal Chief Commissioners. In case of any intimate the same to the applicant immediate.
5. In case DG (Service Tax) desires to verify any further details provided in ST-1 / Annexure A before grant of registration, he may address the field formations who will cause such verification and sent the report within 7 days of receipt of such communication from DG (Service Tax) .
6. DG (Service Tax) may cause verification of any of the details furnished.
This issues with the approval of member (Service Tax).

Your faithfully,
(R. Sekar)
Joint Sec. (TRU)

Annexure A

1. Residential address of the proprietor / partners.
2. Name & Address of the :Authorized signatory".
3. Address and Telephone Nos. of the premises / office sought to be centrally registered.
5. PAN / TAN No.of the assessee
6. Whether the application is on the basis of Centralized Billing or Centralized Accounting system?
7. List of taxable service/services to be rendered.
8. List od branches office or premises of the assessee along with postal addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone Nos.
9. Whether recoveries are effected through credit/debit notes ? Yes / No
10. Previous year's audited balance sheet, if any.
11. Specify the reasons for seeking single centralization registration instead of seeking registration with jurisdictional Commissioner / Chief Commissioner

CIRCULAR NO
80/1/2005- ST, Dated: August 10, 2005

Subject: Power of Adjudication of Central Excise Officer in cases related to service tax.

Attention is invited to Board’s Circular No. 75/5/2004-ST dated 03.03.2004 which specifies that only Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise is empowered to issue a demand notice and adjudicate such notice under section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the said Act).
2.1 With the objective of enabling expeditious adjudication of service tax cases, section 73 of the said Act was amended vide Finance Act, 2005, whereby the words “Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise” were substituted by the words “Central Excise Officer”. Section 83A was also inserted in the said Act for the purpose of conferring powers on the Central Excise Officer for adjudging a penalty under the provisions of the said Act or the rules made thereunder. The above provisions came into force with the enactment of Finance Bill, 2005 on 13th May, 2005. Board has specified monetary limits for adjudication of cases under section 83A of the said Act vide notification No. 30/2005- Service Tax dated 10th August, 2005. The monetary limits are as follows:

Table I

S.No Central Excise Officer Amount of service tax or CENVAT credit specified in a notice for the purpose of adjudication under section 83A
(1) (2) (3)
1 Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise Not exceeding Rs. 5 lakhs
2 Joint Commissioner of Central Excise Above Rs. 5 lakhs but not exceeding Rs. 20 lakhs
3 Additional Commissioner of Central Excise Above Rs. 20 lakhs but not exceeding Rs. 50 lakhs
4 Commissioner of Central Excise Without limit.
2.2 It has also been decided by the Board to have uniform monetary limits for the purposes of adjudication under section 73 and section 83A of the said Act. The
monetary limits for the purpose of adjudication under section 73 are as specified in the Table below:
Table II
S.No Central Excise Officer Amount of service tax or CENVAT credit specified in a notice for the purpose of adjudication
(1) (2) (3)
1 Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise Not exceeding Rs. 5 lakh
2 Joint Commissioner of Central Excise Above Rs. 5 lakhs but not exceeding Rs. 20 lakhs
3 Additional Commissioner of Central Excise Above Rs. 20 lakhs but not exceeding Rs. 50 lakhs
4 Commissioner of Central Excise Without limit
2.3 In addition to the above, the Board has decided that-
(i) the monetary limits specified in the above Tables for adjudication of service tax cases shall be irrespective of whether or not such cases involve fraud, collusion, willful mis-statement, suppression of facts or contravention of any of the provisions of the said Act or the rules made thereunder with an intent to evade payment of service tax and whether or not extended period has been invoked.
(ii) those cases where there is no alleged failure to pay or evasion/avoidance of service tax or utilization of CENVAT credit shall be adjudicated by the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise or Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise.
(iii) Henceforth, a notice to show cause under the provisions of the said Act or the rules made thereunder shall be approved in writing and signed by the Central Excise Officer who is competent to adjudicate the said notice.
(iv) Where simultaneously different cases involving the same issue are due to be adjudicated in a Commissionerate, all such cases may be adjudicated by the Central Excise Officer competent to decide the case where the service tax or CENVAT credit involved is of the highest amount.
(v) For cases where the appellate authority remands the case for de-novo adjudication specifically mentioning the authority that has to adjudicate the case, then such authority specified in the said appellate order should adjudicate suchcases. Where the appellate authority does not specifically mention the authority who has to adjudicate the case, then it should be decided by the authority who passed the said remanded order. The above specified monetary limits will not be applicable in such cases.
(vi) All pending notices to show cause shall be disposed of in terms of this Circular. However, in those cases where the personal hearing has been completed, orders will be passed by the adjudicating authority before whom the hearing has been held. Such orders should normally be issued within a month of the date of completion of the personal hearing.
3 With the issuance of this circular, Circular No. 75/5/2004-ST dated 03.03.2004 is hereby rescinded.
4 Field formations may be suitably informed
5 A suitable trade notice may be issued.
6 Hindi version will follow.

F.No 341/31/2005-TRU
(Arvind Madhavan)
Technical Officer (TRU)

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