Industry body Ficci's National Committee on Infrastructure has taken the matter of service tax collection for consultants right up to the Prime Minister's Office, calling for a review and suggesting that the onus should be on the client to deposit the same.
“The Ficci Infra Committee on various occasions has written to Union Minister of Finance, but to no avail. Our request to the Prime Minister is the service tax payable by the employer of a consultant should be collected by the Government directly from the employer,” the panel said. Under the current set-up, the consulting community pays service tax on behalf of the employer even before it receives its remuneration.
“In case there is any difficulty in accepting our request for direct payment of service tax by the service receiver, Ficci urges the Prime Minister to restore provision of paying service tax within 30 days of receipt of payment,” said KK Kapila, Co-Chairperson, Ficci Infra Committee.