He had not fixed the date for implementation of the hike, but said it would be implemented from the date to be notified. No date is, however, yet notified for imposition of the two per cent Swachh Bharat cess on select services proposed in the Union Budget.
The education cess of two per cent and another secondary and higher secondary cess of one per cent levied since 2004 ceases to have effect from June 1 since both are subsumed in the hike in the service tax as declared by Jaitley in the budget. Certain other changes in taxation have been also notified to be effective from June 1, a Finance Ministry press note said.
Since the service tax now encompasses as many as 96 kinds of services, the hike will result in all these services becoming costlier.
Be prepared to pay more in lieu of the higher service tax applicable to services like beauty parlours, restaurants, banks, authorised service stations for cars, scooters, cable TV service, clubs, commercial coaching institutes, courier service, dry-cleaning, insurance, internet telephony, internet cafe, mining, packaging, real estate agent, public relations, security agency, share transfer agents, stock brokers, tour operators and road transport operators.
