The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (Hqrs.), New Delhi has booked a case of Service Tax evasion against M/s Tops Security Limited, Mumbai. The search operations at 41 offices of the Tops Security Group revealed that the group was raising invoices including Service Tax payable on its customers but were not depositing the same in the Govt. exchequer. The amount of Service Tax evasion and interest thereon is expected to be around Rs. 90 Crore.
The branch offices of M/s Tops Security Limited spread across the country, having separate Service Tax registrations, were also adopting the same modus operandi of raising invoices for security services including Service Tax payable on its customers but not depositing the same to the Govt. exchequer. The service provider has admitted the company™s default in deposition of appropriate Service Tax for the year 2007-08 onwards. Further investigations are in progress.
The above case highlights the recent trend in evasion of Service Tax in which Service Tax is billed and collected from the customers by the company but is not paid to the Government.
