Every service provider in India is aware of service tax and many have at some point dealt with a penalty for late filing of service tax return. For those who are not aware, service tax is an indirect tax that is levied on the services provided by any service provider. Consumers are responsible for paying this service tax which is included in the invoice, and service providers are responsible for collecting it and paying it through the service tax return.

When is Service Tax Due?

The service tax is to be filed once every six months in the financial year. A penalty for late filing of service tax return is applicable and the amounts vary based on the amount of delay. Even though service tax return is to be filed once in six months, the service tax payment to the government should be done monthly/quarterly based on the type and number of service(s) provided.

Payment Frequency	Applicable To	Payment Modes	Due Dates
Quarterly payments	Individial service providers Proprietor service providers Partnership service providers	Online	6th July 6th October 6th January 31st March
		Offline	5th July 5th October 5th January 31st March
Month payments	Private Limited Company service providers Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) service providers One Person Company service providers	Online	6th of every month And 31st of March
		Offline	5th of every month And 31st of March

 

Penalty For Late Filing of Service Tax Return

If the service tax return is not filed as per the mentioned due dates above, penalties are levied on the basis of duration for which service tax filing is delayed. The service tax late filing fees are as under:

Late by duration (number of days)	Service Tax Late Filing Fees (Penalty)
Up to 15 days from due date	Rs 500
Over 15 days but under 30 days from due date	Rs 1000
Over 30 days from due date	Rs 1000 + Rs 100 per day (from 31st day)
Maximum late fee	Rs 20,000

The maximum penalty for late filing of service tax return is Rs 20,000. No taxpayer will be penalized for an amount greater than that.

In the case of any errors to be corrected or any ommissions that have to be made in the service tax return form already filed, the taxpayer must submit a new Service Tax Revised Return form within 90 days from the date of submission of the original service tax return form.

The penalty for late filing of service tax return is usually levied on the assessee when there is an intentional violation of the provision of the Act. This is charged in addition to the Interest and Service Tax due.

If the assessee can prove that there was a reasonable cause for delay or failure in payment, Section 80 of the Finance Act 1994 provides that no penalty should be levied in this case.

Penalty For Late Payment Of Service Tax

What we discussed above is the penalty for late filing of service tax return. This is assuming you have paid the service tax return on time but did not file is on time. Below is the penalty for late payment of service tax:

Late by duration (number of days)	Penalty
Payment delayed up to 6 months from due date	18%
Payment delayed over 6 months but within 1 year from due date	24%
Payment delayed over 1 year from due date	30%

A point to note here is that if the total value of taxable services provided by the service provider in the financial year is less than Rs 60,00,000 (sixty lakhs), the penalty interest rate is reduced by 3%.

Penalty For Late Filing of Excise Tax

Like service tax, all businesses that have to pay and file excise tax to the government also pay penalties is excise payment or excise return is not filed on time. The penalty for late payment of excise tax is capped at a maximum of Rs 5,000.

The penalty for late filing of excise tax is Rs 100 per day up to a maximum of Rs 20,000 as per Rule 12(6) of Central Excise Rules.