The Centre has extended the last date for filing service tax return by five days to April 30, in a relief to lakhs of service providers. Every registered service tax assessee has to file service tax return in form ST-3 on a half-yearly basis before the due date to avoid penalty. For filing returns for the period April-September, the due date is October 25, while for October-March it is April 25. While return is filed half-yearly, the service tax collected by the assessee has to be deposited with the government on a monthly or quarterly basis. The government is asking existing excise, service tax and VAT assessees to shift to the GST Network (GSTN) portal for payment of tax and filing returns.

Source: Hindustan Times April 27, 2017 08:15 UTC