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Sleuths make first arrest of service tax defaulter Courtesy : The Pioneer

The first arrest of a service tax defaulter in the country has been made after government got the powers recently to crack the whip on evaders.

A courier company owner was arrested for allegedly evading service tax of about Rs 70 lakh in the first such case after Finance Minister P Chidambaram made applicable provisions of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to arrest such offenders.

Sudip Das, proprietor of a courier company in Kolkata, was arrested by service tax officials last week, official sources said on Monday. Das, who runs a courier agency M/s Blue Bird, collected service tax from various companies to the tune of about Rs 67 lakh but allegedly did not deposit the collected tax to the exchequer, a statement issued by Commissioner of Service Tax Kolkata said.

As evasion of service tax of Rs 50 lakh and above has now been made a cognizable offence, 48-year-old Das was arrested on Friday last and produced before a court in Kolkata. “The court has ordered 14 days judicial remand,” it said.

Phone calls made by PTI to the company did not yield any response.The Finance Minister has proposed provisions for arrest of service tax defaulters in Section 91 of Finance Bill 2013.

The Section provides power to arrest a person for non-payment of collected service tax, by an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Central Excise. The officials got the power to arrest a defaulter after the passage of the Finance Bill on May 10.

This is for the first time that service tax rules have been amended to attract the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in line with customs and central excise. Earlier, the officials did not have any power to arrest a person for service tax evasion. An offender is punishable with imprisonment of upto seven years in case of amount of service tax evasion is Rs 50 lakh and more.

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During my 37-year-old career with Income Tax department, I moved from place to place, post to post. For me, every posting was a challenge, and at the same time an opportunity to deliver.

After my retirement as Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes, I was invited by various institutions and NGOs to deliver talks on tax matters. While advising taxpayers across sectors, I noticed, our vast salaried class including armed and paramilitary forces, pensioners or senior citizens, NRIs, professionals and small business establishments need the right guidance. Most taxpayers do comply with their tax obligations fully. Yet, they are not somehow relaxed and are burdened with anxieties. A large number of taxpayers are not even aware that getting tax refund on time is a basic right.

In one such meeting, a middle-aged man quizzed me why could not I give tax advice 24X7. For a moment, I had no answer. He then added that I should give tax solutions online so that he does not need to come from a remote place to attend my lecture. I thanked him for his suggestion.

For a while I was restless. Already I had got myself enrolled as a Member of the Bar Council of Delhi and as an Advocate of Delhi High Court Bar Association, thanks to my law degree from the University of Allahabad. Yet, I was not sure how I could help the vast majority of taxpayers who somehow maintain a safe distance from the taxmen. I then tossed the idea of creating a tax think-tank with some of my former colleagues and highly spirited individuals. All of us immediately agreed on one count: millions of Indian taxpayers expect to access tailor-made tax research materials and seek guidance from those who have been parts of the tax machinery for decades.

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