Tax rebate on export of services

The Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) on Tuesday notified a set of conditions for availing of service tax exemption as well as the rebate of service tax and duty/cess paid on input services for export of taxable services. As per an official release, the rebate won’t be available if Cenvat credit has already been obtained on inputs and input services. Also, the total amount of rebate of duty, service tax and cess admissible would not be less than Rs 500.

Rebate will be applicable only when taxable services are exported to countries other than Nepal and Bhutan and the payment for provision of such services has been received in convertible foreign exchange in India, the release added. Claim of rebate of the duty paid on the inputs or the service tax and cess paid on input services shall be filed with the assistant/deputy commissioner concerned, along with detailed declarations.

The official will be entitled to verify the correctness of the declaration filed prior to such export of taxable service. For availing the exemption or rebate, exporters will have to obtain the inputs for taxable services directly from a registered factory or from a dealer registered under Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004.