Mobile, hotel, other services to be costlier from today

NEW DELHI Jun 1, 2015 PTI : People will have to shell out more, starting from Monday, while using mobiles, eating out and travelling as the service tax rate goes up to 14%.Finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget had proposed to raise service tax from 12.36% (including education cess) to 14%. The proposal takes effect from June 1.The tax is levied on all services, expect a small negative list.Some of the key services that will attract higher tax and hence become costlier are: railways, airlines, banking, insurance, advertising, architecture, construction, credit cards, event management and tour operators.Mobile operators and credit card companies have already started sending messages to subscribers conveying the increase in service tax rate which will have a bearing on the bills.According to railway ministry officials, fares for first class and AC classes in passenger trains, besides freight charges, will go up by 0.5% from June 1."Currently, 3.7% service tax is levied on



train fares for AC class, first class and freight. This will go up to 4.2% from June which means the rise is only 0.5%," the official said. Currently, there is abatement of 70% on passenger services.Jaitley had proposed to raise the service tax rate to 14% to facilitate a smooth transition to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which the government wants to roll out from April 2016.

Once implemented, GST will subsume service tax, excise and other local levies."To facilitate a smooth transition to levy of tax on services by both the centre and the states, it is proposed to increase the present rate of service tax plus education cesses from 12.36% to a consolidated rate of 14%," Jaitley had said in Budget speech.Education cess, which is levied on service tax, will be subsumed in the service tax rate with effect from June 1.Although the Budget also proposed a 2% Swachh Bharat cess on selected services, the government is yet to come out with a notification in this regard