Indian Railway! Service Tax on Railway Freight from October 1st, 2012

Taking an important decision in compliance of the provisions contained in Finance Bill 2010 and subsequent notifications issued by Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Railway has decided to levy the Service Tax in case of transportation of goods by rail. The Service Tax was exempted upto 30th September 2012, which would be levied on total freight charges with effect from 1st October 2012.

Since an abatement of 70% has been permitted on freight for the taxable commodities by the Ministry of Finance, the Service Tax will be charged on 30% of the total chargeable freight inclusive of all charges (like busy season charges, development charge etc.,) would be calculated as follows:-

(i) Service Tax of 12% will be charged on 30% of freight (equivalent to 3.6% on the total freight charges)

(ii) Education Cess of 2% on Service Tax will be added (equivalent to 0.072% on total freight) and

(iii) Higher Education Cess of 1% on Service Tax will also be added (equivalent to 0.036% on total freight)

(iv) Total Service Tax implication will be (i)+(ii)+(iii)=3.708% on the total freight charges.

The amount of Service Tax collected by Railways would be deposited with the Ministry of Finance as per prescribed procedure. Certain commodities have been exempted from payment of service tax as per Ministry of Finance notification. The list of such commodities and further details on the modalities of levy and collection of Service Tax on transportation of goods by rail, may be ascertained from Indian Railways' web site  www.indianrailways.gov.in