Telecom services bunched under one head for service tax

NEW DELHI: The Government has amended a 2004 notification to merge all services related to telecommunications under the title ‘telecommunication service’ in view of the merger of various telecommunication related taxable services.

According to a press release issued by the Finance Ministry, the notification of December 2004 relating to Service Tax and Rule 2(1)(d)(i) of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, have been amended accordingly.

The new notification substitutes the reference to various telecommunication related taxable services like telephone connection, pager, leased circuit, communication through telegraph, communication through telex and facsimile communication through two notifications.

These were among the ten notifications issued to give effect to some of the provisions of the Finance Act, 2007, relating to service tax. Seven services which are added in the category of taxable services shall come into force from June 2007.