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2. Definitions

(1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, -

(a)"Act" means the Finance Act, 1994 (32 of 1994);

(aa)"aggregator" means a person, who owns and manages a web based software application, and by means of the application and a communication device, enables a potential customer to connect with persons providing service of a particular kind under the brand name or trade name of the aggregator

"Provided that aggregator shall not include such person who enables a potential customer to connect with persons providing services by way of renting of hotels, inns, guest houses, clubs, campsites or other commercial places meant for residential or lodging purposes subject to following conditions, namely:-

(a) the person providing services by way of renting of hotels, inns, guest houses, clubs, campsites or other commercial places meant for residential or lodging purposes has a service tax registration under provision of these rules; and

(b) whole of the consideration for services provided by such service provider is received directly by such service provider and no amount, which forms part of the consideration of services of such service provider, is received by the aggregator directly from either recipient of the service or his representative.

Inserted vide Notification 2/2017-Service Tax .

(b)"assessment" includes self-assessment of service tax by the assessee, reassessment, provisional assessment, best judgment assessment and any order of assessment in which the tax assessed is nil; determination of the interest on the tax assessed or reassessed;

(bb)"banking company" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (a) of section 45A of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934);

(bc) "body corporate" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (7) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956);

(bca) "brand name or trade name" means, a brand name or a trade name, whether registered or not, that is to say, a name or a mark, such as an invented word or writing, or a symbol, monogram, logo, label, signature, which is used for the purpose of indicating, or so as to indicate a connection, in the course of trade, between a service and some person using the name or mark with or without any indication of the identity of that person;

(bd) "financial institution" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (c) of section 45-I of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934);

(c)"Form" means a Form appended to these rules;

(cla) "goods carriage" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (14) of section 2 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (59 of 1988);

(cba) "Half year" means the period between 1st April to 30th September or 1st October to 31st March of a financial year;

(cb) "input service distributor" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (m) of rule (2) of the CENVAT Credit Rules,2004.

(cba)"insurance agent" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (10) of section 2 of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938);

(cc) "large taxpayer" shall have the meaning assigned to it in the Central Excise Rules, 2002.

(cca) "legal service" means any service provided in relation to advice, consultancy or assistance in any branch of law, in any manner and includes representational services before any court, tribunal or authority;

(ccb) "life insurance business" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (11) of section 2 of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938);

(ccba) "non-assesse online recipient" means Government, a local authority, a governmental authority or an individual receiving online information and database access or retrieval services in relation to any purpose other than commerce, industry or any other business or profession, located in taxable territory;

Explanation.- For the purposes of this clause, "governmental authority" means an authority or a board or any other body :

(i) set up by an Act of Parliament or a State legislature; or (ii) established by Government,

with 90% or more participation by way of equity or control, to carry out any function entrusted to a municipality under article 243Wof the Constituion;(Inserted vide Notification 48/2016-Service Tax).

(ccc) "non banking financial company" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (f) of section 45-I of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934);]

‘(ccd) "online information and database access or retrieval services" means services whose delivery is mediated by information technology over the internet or an electronic network and the nature of which renders their supply essentially automated and involving minimal human

intervention, and impossible to ensure in the absence of information technology and includes electronic services such as,-

(i) advertising on the internet;

(ii) providing cloud services;

(iii) provision of e-books, movie, music, software and other intangibles via telecommunication networks or internet;

(iv) providing data or information, retrievable or otherwise, to any person, in electronic form through a computer network;

(v) online supplies of digital content (movies, television shows, music, etc.);

(vi) digital data storage; and

(vii) online gaming;?;(Substituted vide Notification 48/2016-Service Tax)

(cd) "partnership firm" includes a limited liability partnership;

(d) "person liable for paying service tax", -

(i) in respect of the taxable services notified under sub-section (2) of section 68 of the Act, means,-

(A) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by an insurance agent to any person carrying on the insurance business, the recipient of the service.

(AA) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by a recovery agent to a banking company or a financial institution or a non-banking financial company, the recipient of the service;

(AAA) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by a person involving an aggregator in any manner, the aggregator of the service:

Provided that if the aggregator does not have a physical presence in the taxable territory, any person representing the aggregator for any purpose in the taxable territory shall be liable for paying service tax;

Provided further that if the aggregator does not have a physical presence or does not have a representative for any purpose in the taxable territory, the aggregator shall appoint a person in the taxable territory for the purpose of paying service tax and such person shall be liable for paying service tax.

(B) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by a goods transport agency in respect of transportation of goods by road, where the person liable to pay freight is,-

(I) any factory registered under or governed by the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948);

(II) any society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or under any other law for the time being in force in any part of India;

(III) any co-operative society established by or under any law;

(IV) any dealer of excisable goods, who is registered under the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) or the rules made thereunder;

(V) any body corporate established, by or under any law; or

(VI) any partnership firm whether registered or not under any law including association of persons;

any person who pays or is liable to pay freight either himself or through his agent for the transportation of such goods by road in a goods carriage:

Provided that when such person is located in a non-taxable territory, the provider of such service shall be liable to pay service tax.

(C) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by way of sponsorship to anybody corporate or partnership firm located in the taxable territory, the recipient of such service;

(D) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by,-

(I) an arbitral tribunal, or

(II) an individual advocate or a firm of advocates by way of legal services other than

representational services by senior advocates;; inserted vide Notification 33/2016-Service Tax.

"(DD) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by a senior advocate by way of representational services before any court, tribunal or authority, directly or indirectly, to any business entity located in the taxable territory, including where contract for provision of such service has been entered through another advocate or a firm of advocates, and the senior advocate is providing such services, the recipient of such services, which is the business entity who is litigant, applicant, or petitioner, as the case may be"inserted vide Notification 33/2016-Service Tax.

(E) in relation to [***] services provided or agreed to be provided by Government or local authority except,-

(a) renting of immovable property, and

(b) services specified sub-clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) of clause (a) of section 66D of the Finance Act,1994,

to any business entity located in the taxable territory, the recipient of such service;

(EE) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by a director of a company or a body corporate to the said company or the body corporate, the recipient of such service;

(EEA)Omitted (vide Notification 19/2016-Service Tax)

(EEB) in relation to service provided or agreed to be provided by a selling or marketing agent of lottery tickets to a lottery distributor or selling agent, the recipient of the service;

"(EEC) in relation to services provided or agreed to be provided by a person located in non-taxable territory to a person located in non-taxable territory by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from a place outside India up to the customs station of clearance in India, the person in India who complies with sections 29, 30 or 38 read with section 148 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962) with respect to such goods;

Inserted vide Notification 2/2017-Service Tax.

(F) in relation to services provided or agreed to be provided by way of:-

(a) renting of a motor vehicle designed to carry passengers, to any person who is not engaged in a similar business; or

(b) supply of manpower for any purpose or security services; or

by any individual, Hindu Undivided Family or partnership firm, whether registered or not, including association of persons, located in the taxable territory to a business entity registered as a body corporate, located in the taxable territory, both the service provider and the service recipient to the extent notified under sub-section (2) of section 68 of the Act, for each respectively.

(G) in relation to any taxable serviceother than online information and database access orretrieval services(Inserted vide Notification 48/2016-Service Tax) provided or agreed to be provided by any person which is located in a non-taxable territory and received by any person located in the taxable territory, the recipient of such service;

(H) in relation to services provided or agreed to be provided by way of online information and database access or retrieval services, by any person located in a non-taxable territory and received by any person in the taxable territory other than non-assesse online recipient, recipient of such service(Inserted vide Notification 48/2016-Service Tax)

(ii) in a case other than sub-clause (i), means the provider of service.

Provided that in case of online information and database access or retrieval services provided or agreed to be provided by any person located in a non-taxable territory and received by non-assesse online recipient, provider of service located in a non-taxable territory shall be the person liable for paying service tax:

Provided further that in case of online information and database access or retrieval services provided or agreed to be provided by any person located in a non-taxable territory and received by non-assesse online recipient, an intermediary located in the non-taxable territory including an electronic platform, a broker, an agent or any other person, by whatever name called, who arranges or facilitates provision of such service but does not provides the main service on his account shall be deemed to be receiving such services from the service provider in non-taxableterritory and providing such services to the non-assesse online recipient except when such intermediary satisfies all the following conditions, namely :-

(a) the invoice or customer’s bill or receipt issued or made available by such intermediary taking part in the supply clearly identifies the service in question, its supplier in non-taxable territory and the service tax registration number of the supplier in taxable territory;

(b) the intermediary involved in the supply does not authorise the charge to the customer or take part in its charge i.e. intermediary neither collects or processes payment in any

manner nor is responsible for the payment between the non-assesse online recipient and the supplier of such services;

(d) the general terms and conditions of the supply are not set by the intermediary involved in the supply but by the service provider:

Provided also that in case of online information and database access or retrieval services provided or agreed to be provided by any person located in a non-taxable territory and received by non-assesse online recipient, any person located in taxable territory representing such service provider for any purpose in the taxable territory shall be the person liable for paying service tax:

Provided also that in case of online information and database access or retrieval services provided or agreed to be provided by any person located in a non-taxable territory and received by non-assesse online recipient, if the service provider does not have a physical presence or does not have a representative for any purpose in the taxable territory, the service provider may appoint a person in the taxable territory for the purpose of paying service tax and such person shall be liable for paying service tax:

Provided also that in case of online information and database access or retrieval services provided or agreed to be provided by any person located in a non-taxable territory and received by any person located in the taxable territory, person receiving such services shall be deemed to be located in the taxable territory if any two of the following non contradictory conditions are satisfied, namely :-

(a) the location of address presented by the service recipient via internet is in taxable territory;

(b) the credit card or debit card or store value card or charge card or smart card or any other card by which the service recipient settles payment has been issued in the taxable territory;

(d) the internet protocol address of the device used by the service recipient is in the taxable territory; (e) the service recipient?s bank in which the account used for payment is maintained is in the taxable territory;

(f) the country code of the subscriber identity module (SIM) card used by the service recipient is of taxable territory;

(g) the location of the service recipient’s fixed land line through which the service is received by the person, is in taxable territory:

Provided also that in case of online information and database access or retrieval services provided or agreed to be provided by any person located in a non-taxable territory and received by non-assesse online recipient, a person receiving such services shall be deemed to be a non-assesse online recipient, if such person does not have service tax registration under these rules.;(Inserted vide Notification 48/2016-Service Tax)

(dd) "place of provision" shall be the place as determined by Place of Provision of Services Rules 2012;

(e) "quarter" means the period between 1st January to 31st March or 1st April to 30th June or 1st July to 30th September or 1st October to 31st December of a financial year;

(f) "renting of immovable property" means any service provided or agreed to be provided by renting of immovable property or any other service in relation to such renting.

(fa) "security services" means services relating to the security of any property, whether movable or immovable, or of any person, in any manner and includes the services of investigation, detection or verification, of any fact or activity;

(g) "supply of manpower" means supply of manpower, temporarily or otherwise, to another person to work under his superintendence or control.

(2) All words and expressions used but not defined in these rules but defined in the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) 13[and the rules made thereunder shall have the meanings assigned to them in that Act and rules.]