Lawyers can levy service charges

I am a lawyer practising in my individual name. I wanted to know whether I am liable to charge service tax and if so, can you guide me on what basis should I collect service tax? —Mody
With effect from 01-05-2011, Taxable service as per clause 65 (105) means:
Any service provided or to be provided to:
To any person, by a business entity, in relation to advice, consultancy or assistance in any branch of law, in any manner; to any business entity, by any person, in relation to representational services before any court, tribunal or authority; to any business entity, by an arbitral tribunal, in respect of arbitration.

Explanation: - For the purpose of this item, the expression ‘arbitration’ and ‘arbitral tribunal’ shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.

Based on the above definition the following services shall be covered:-
Services of advice, consultancy or assistance provided by a business entity to individuals as well; representational services provided by any person to a business entity and services provided by arbitrators to business entities. Services provided by individual to other individuals will remain outside the levy of service tax.

In your case if you provide representational services by way of appearance before any court, Tribunal or any authority to business entities which include association of persons, body of individuals, company or firms, then you will have to charge service tax to them. In case you provide these services to an individual then you need not charge service tax to them.

The writer is with M Sheth& Co,
a  chartered accountancy firm in Mumbai and can be reached at mshethco@yahoo.co.in