Service Tax on Builders and Developers
1 Real Estate & Service Tax(Service Tax on Builders and Developers)
1.1 Definition of term Service – Section 65B(44)
Section 65B (44) defines service as – “service” means any activity carried out by a person for another for consideration, and includes a declared service, but shall not include—
(a) an activity which constitutes merely,––
(i) a transfer of title in goods or immovable property, by way of sale, gift or in any other manner; or
(ii) a transaction in money or actionable claim;
(b) a provision of service by an employee to the employer in the course of or in relation to his employment;
(c) fees taken in any Court or tribunal established under any law for the time being in force.
1.2 Declared Service – Section 66E
Declared Services – Service has been defined to include declared services. Declared Services are defined under Section 65B (22) of the Finance Act, 1994 to mean any activity carried out by a person for another person for consideration and declared as such under Section 66E of the Finance Act, 1994. It means for a service to come under the category of declared services, it has to satisfy two basic conditions conjunctively
It must be an activity by one person to another for consideration
It must be specified(i.e. declared) under section 66E
Need for Declared Service
The definition of service in the first instant is very wide to cover any transaction done for a consideration. However, there exist few activities which would overlap with the other levies of state with a marginal difference, thereby questioning the constitutional validity of the levy under service tax.
In some cases there may be a doubt whether that activity could possibly called a service at all. To rest the doubt about the validity of a transaction to be considered as service, the authority has intended to declare such activities to be a service. To give an instance, the first declared service “renting of immovable property service
