A business enterprise in India is subject to various types of taxation, both direct and indirect, depending on the type of business it is in. A few taxes that are common across the board, whether small or large business, are Income Tax, Service Tax, TDS, Sales Tax/ VAT.

In our continuous endeavour to help you succeed in your business venture, we at Intuit Small Business India, have introduced a new section that will make taxation matters easier to deal with. Introducing the FREE Tax Guidance, an exclusive service where you can ask all taxation related queries to our expert Chartered Accountants.

You can ask Questions via Facebook also.

In case you find Facebook easier to navigate, you can find the forum easily on the Intuit Small Business India page on FB. Click on the Free Tax Guidance tab and type in your question.

The salient features of this forum are

• It covers taxes such as Income Tax, Service Tax, Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) and Sales Tax/VAT.

• Our panel of CAs answer the queries, provide guidance within one working day.

• No Fees charged. This service is FREE.

• Questions can be kept confidential by simply sending it to the dedicated email
taxadvice@intuit.com

Peek into the tax related queries answered so far:

• Q – What tax is applicable to music producers/music director?

o A – Music director/producer would certainly be subject to the Income tax, additionally, the activity is covered u/s.section 65(105) (zzzzt) of the Finance Act, 1994 for levy of service tax a copyrighted activity, hence, would also attract the service tax. Music producer Company, manufacturing CDs and DVDs or other media recorded with music would.

• Q – Are CST @ 2% and excise duty a part of production cost or can be treated as input VAT credit??

o A – CST paid on purchase of goods is not available as Input Tax Credit, hence, should be treated as a part of production cost, whereas, Excise Duty paid on purchase of raw materials can be claimed as CENVAT credit while paying Excise Duty on final product, hence, should not be considered as a part of production cost, if the final product manufactured by the unit is subject to Excise Duty.

• Q – Service Tax – Transportation Service – I am transport service provider, whether service-tax is applicable to it? If yes, at what rate?

o I presume, it is Transport of Goods by Road Service. Yes, it is subject to Service Tax u/s.65(105)(zzp) of the Finance Act, 1994. An abatement @75% is available, hence, the service tax would be charged on 25% of the Gross amount charged from customer. Presently, the Service Tax rate is 10% plus 2% education cess and 1% SAH education cess, making it 10.30%, hence, effective service tax on the said service comes to 2.575% (25% of 10.30%) upto Mar 31, 2012. As the Service Tax rate has increased to 12% wef April 1, 2012, the effective rate would be 3.09% (25% of 12.36%) from 2012-13.

Intuit Small Business India’s Tax Guidance forum is user-friendly, business-centric and has been made for the benefit of small and medium businesses in India. Go ahead and ask as many questions that you may have.
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