2024-03-14 19:31:01
Mumbai: Lawyers only provide service to their clients. But their services do not come under the purview of service tax. However, sometimes disputes arise over some of their services and the Service Tax Department issues tax orders against the concerned lawyer. But now the Bombay High Court has made it clear that service tax cannot be imposed on the services of lawyers.
In which case the order has come
Service tax will not be levied on the services of lawyers, the Bombay High Court has made this clear while canceling the order of charging service tax of Rs 35 lakh on a lawyer. Actually, Advocate Pooja Patil had filed a petition in the High Court against an order of the Service Tax Department. In the petition, the order of CGST Deputy Commissioner issued on 26 October 2023 regarding service tax was challenged. The petition was heard before the bench of Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Kishore Sant.
The order has been issued outside the jurisdiction
It has been claimed in this petition that the Deputy Commissioner has issued orders in this matter beyond his jurisdiction. The order has several procedural deficiencies and also violates the principles of natural justice. Therefore, court intervention is necessary in this matter. According to the petition, the notifications issued by the Central Government on June 20, 2012 and June 20, 2022 exempted lawyers from service tax. In this context, the Deputy Commissioner should not have issued orders regarding collection of service tax, because lawyers do not come under the purview of service tax. This notification of the Central Government is binding on the officer issuing the order for tax payment.