Govt Mulls Raising Service Tax Up To 16 percent
NEW DELHI. The government is mulling to increase service tax, which is levied on service providers on certain service transactions, from the existing 15 per cent to up to 16 per cent. The final decision in this regard will be announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, when he presents his fourth Union Budget on February 1.
Given that the service tax and excise duty will possibly feature in the budget for the last time, the government is planning to mop up some more revenue from people by increasing the service tax from 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent. However, the increased service tax will be applicable for the first three months (first quarter) of the financial year 2017-18 as from July onwards the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be implemented across the country.Financial Express