FinMin clears air on service tax levy on joint ventures
The Finance Ministry has made it clear that “taxable services” provided by members of a joint venture (JV) to a JV and vice-versa will attract service tax. This will be the case when the “taxable services” are provided for a consideration, the Finance Ministry said in a circular on Wednesday.
The same treatment will hold good when taxable services are provided between members of a JV for a consideration, says the circular.
India is currently adopting the concept of negative list for services taxation and except for a specified set of services in this list, all other services are subject to service tax.
As regards taxation of cash calls or capital contributions made by the members to the JV, the Ministry said that detailed and close scrutiny of the terms of JV agreement may be required in each case.
If “cash calls” are merely a transaction in money, they are excluded from the definition of service and, therefore, will not attract tax, says the circular.
Tax authorities at the field level have been advised to carefully examine the leviability of service tax with reference to the specific terms/clauses of each JV agreement.
India is currently adopting the concept of negative list for services taxation and except for a specified set of services in this list, all other services are subject to service tax.