Nasscom welcomes move on tax refunds for SEZ units

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has welcomed the government’s new notification on service tax refunds under the SEZ rules. The body,which had earlier shared its concerns on the refund formula,said in a release: “We are appreciative of the fact that the government has considered the needs of the industry and addressed them through this notification.”

The new notification is expected to enable ease of doing business for SEZs through steps including upfront exemptions across all services exclusively used by SEZ units,consolidated filing for multiple SEZ units with a common service tax registration,availing of CENVAT credit for services where exemption or refund has not been claimed,and calculation of refund based on the concept of input service distribution.

Nasscom president Som Mittal said,“We believe that the new rules would ensure a transparent,fair and timely exemption and refund process for the industry operating in SEZs. We will work with the government and the field officers to ensure this is implemented in letter and spirit. We are confident that the CBEC will adopt a similar approach to address the long pending service tax refund claims.”