Tuesday 18 February 2014

Notice by Excise Officials Directing BJP to Pay Service-Tax on Modi Rallies Withdrawn

New Delhi: Barely a week after issuing notice to the Bharatiya Janata Party to pay service tax on rallies addressed by its prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi as tickets were sold by the party for the events, the notice was hastily withdrawn on Tuesday.

After an angry reaction from the BJP which had even question the motive behind the same, an embarrassed Central Excise Department withdrew notices sent to four BJP offices demanding service tax on Narendra Modi’s rallies.

The Director General of Central Excise Intelligence officials said that the notices sent to Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab units of BJP by its Ludhiana regional unit stand withdrawn.

Earlier in the notice issued to the BJP, the DGCI had argued that the BJP has to pay tax on the tickets as political rallies don’t fall under the category of “amusement and entertainment”, which get tax rebates.

“Recently it was in news that Bhartiya Janta Party has collected amount by way of tickets for entry to the rally at different places in India where Mr. Narendra Modi had addressed the public at large,” reads the notice.

“As the entry tickets to the event were not for any admission to any entertainment event or access to amusement facilities (which are in the negative list) the same is taxable in the hands of the person collecting the amount of tickets. It appears that the BJP/Shri Narendra Modi has neither got registered under the Service tax nor paid tax on collection from tickets,” the notice stated.

The notice, dated February 12, had sought a response from the BJP within ten days of receiving it. The BJP should intimate the details of amounts collected and service tax paid, if any, the notice reads.

Lambasting the move. BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “ The government of India is so very worried that it has become mentally bankrupt in its hatred for Narendra Modi,” adding that it is beyond comprehension why the Ludhiana unit of the excise department sent a notice to the Chandigarh office of the BJP when no rally was held there.

Source: IndiLeak.com

No comments:

Post a Comment