Circular No. 38/1/2002 (Service tax) dated 07.02.2002

S.T.Circular No.38/1/2002-CX
7^th February, 2002.

F.No.137/29/2001-CX.4
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs

Sub. : Audit of Service Tax assesses/records

Attention is invited to Board’s Circular No.19/13/96 dt.21.11.1996 wherein instructions were issued for auditing of assesses providing services relating to telephones, insurance and stock broking. The following instructions are issued in partial modification of the said instructions.

2. Since service tax has been in operation for over 7 years now, departmental officers as well as the service providers have by now become familiar with the rules and procedures relating to service tax administration. It has therefore been decided by the Board to extend the coverage of service tax audit to other services also on a selective basis.

3. An Expert Group (EV-07) has already been constituted under the CIDA Project to go into this aspect in details and suggest audit procedures for every service, keeping in mind the specific nature and peculiarity of each service. Once this study is completed it is proposed to bring out a comprehensive Service Tax Audit Manual on the lines of the manual issued for Central Excise Audit Till then, the following guidelines are prescribed for immediately initiating audit of selected service tax assessees .

4. Only those assesses will be taken up for audit who are registered in the Metropolitan cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata and whose names are given in Annexure – I.

5. In respect of Stock broking, Telephones and non-life Insurance, audit will continue to be done as per norms indicated in Board’s Circular of 21.11.96 and selection of assessees by the Commissioners. In respect of these three services the Audit will, obviously, not be confined to metropolitan cities only.

6. The Audit of assesses listed in Annexure-I should be confined to the accounts for the years 1999-2000 onwards only. In respect of services which have been brought under the tax net in July, 2001, the Audit period will be July 2001 till the date of Audit. The Audit of each selected assessee should be completed in not more than 10 working days.

7. The audit would be conducted as per proforma Annexure- II (enclosed). This proforma is based on the EA-2000 Audit being carried out on the Central Excise side.

8. Efforts should be made to have the Audit done by teams of officers who are already familiar with EA-2000 Audit. Before proceeding with the Audit the teams should familiarize themselves properly with the law and procedures relating to Service Tax. The teams should ensure that during the course of Audit there is minimum hindrance in the normal working of the assessee.

9. Attempt should be made to conduct as many such audits during the remaining months of the current financial year so that short levies detected, if any, can be realized during this year itself.

10. Receipt of this Circular may be acknowledged.

11. Hindi version will follow.

ANNEXURE – I

NAMES OF ASSESSEES FOR SERVICE TAX AUDIT DURING 2001-2002

ANNEXURE – II

AUDIT NOTE NO. – ———

TAX PAYER – M/S ABC

AUDITORS:

S/ SHRI X,Y AND Z

CUSTOMS & CENTRAL EXCISE COMMISSIONERATE, ———-

—————————————————————————————–

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS & CENTRAL EXCISE, INTERNAL AUDIT BRANCH,

—————-

F.No. —————- Dated — February, 2002

To,

Assistant Commissioner,

Customs & Central Excise, ——–

Sub: – Audit Report drawn in respect of Taxpayer – M/s ABC for the period: ———————-.

Enclosed please find Audit Report drawn in respect of Taxpayer – M/s ABC for the period: ———-. In this connection, you are requested to please take immediate suitable action to safeguard government revenue under intimation to the audit.

Enclosure – ———

Copy to –

1. The Deputy Commissioner (Prev), Central Excise Hqrs, ——–for information.
2. The Superintendent, Central Excise Range —-
3. The Audit Report Master file

Index

PART-1

SUMMARY OF AUDIT REPORTS

PART – 2

SUMMARY OF AUDIT RESULTS

[Provide an outline of important and material non-compliance issues identified during the Audit. Indicate if the TAXPAYER has agreed to improve]

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The important and material non-compliance issues identified and reaction of the assessee is indicated in the table given below: –

PART- 3

WORKING PAPER

1. PRELIMINARY REVIEW:

1.1 audit file review:

[Review audit file to determine nature of the organisation, its operations, service provided, results of last audit and the reasons it was selected for audit this time.]

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1.2 Review information in Range Office:

[Review information available in the Range office, i.e. Returns filed, Tax paid & List of records/returns filed. Check if any anti evasion action is in progress]

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1.3 Review Amendment in Laws:

[Review amendment in laws after the last audit and its compliance]

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1.4 Develop tentative plan for audit, identifying potential area for audit:

[Where necessary, discuss tentative plan with the AC/DC or JC/ADC]

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1.5 Contact tax payer & set up an appointment:

[Keep a log where taxpayer appears to be stalling.]

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2. Gathering and Documenting Systems Information:

2.1 Interview & organisational information:

A). Person (s) Interviewed and Title:

[Name of the persons who have been interviewed and their statements in brief]

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B). Organisational Information:

[Identify the head Office/ registered office or regional/ branch offices of the taxpayer, location of its operations and location of its accounting records. Also the offices who are billing services]

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C). Organisational Type and Ownership:

[Confirm organisation, whether proprietorship, partnership or a Pvt Ltd or Ltd company]

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D).Organisation Chart:

[Obtain the organisation chart or describe the organisation structure if chart is unavailable. Note responsibilities of key personnel and any recent changes, particularly in personnel involved in tax accounting.]

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2.2 Financial and Tax Accounting Information:

A). Business Records:

[Obtain audited financial statements, trial balance and chart of accounts. In case of audited statements, note name of the chartered accountants and review any notes to the financial statements.]

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B). Consolidated Internal Financial Statements:

[If unit is a division of a company, check if internal financial statements are prepared for the unit being audited before consolidation with other related units. Obtain a copy of last two reports.]

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C). Business Activities:

[Identify all business activities – commercial and non-commercial. For each activity & services indicate annual volume in Rupees. Attach additional working paper if necessary.]

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D). Tax Accounting:

[Describe how the taxpayer accounts for service taxes, indicating registers/ledgers used]

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E).Tax Accounting – special situations:

[Clarify how service tax is accounted for in special situations such as service provided to related units, bills cancelled/revised, excess/ short payment of taxes.

Identify special registers or accounts maintained for such transactions.]

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2.3 Service Information:

A). Pattern:

[List major clients, services provided and indicate annual volume in Rupees. Attach additional working paper, if necessary.]

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B). Service – special situations:

[Identify any special situations such as service to related unit.]

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C). OTHER REVENUE [ not connected with any notified service];

[Identify other revenues as reported in the financial statements.]

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D). Miscellaneous:

[Identify any other issue that becomes known during the interview stage. Note other items, such as in-house magazines.]

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3.Tour of the Premises:

[Tour the premises accompanied with appropriate personnel. Observe operations to confirm information received to date and to note areas that may be vulnerable to non-compliance. Ask about the number of workers in the organisation and if any shift work is done. This may not be needed in case of majority of services generally]

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4. Evaluation of the Internal Controls:

4.1 General/ Tax Accounting:

A). System Review:

[Review and describe Service (Revenue) and tax Accounting and any other service tax related systems. Summarise the flow of information, procedures used for recording transactions and indicate person responsible for various functions.]

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B). Controls that impact TAXES:

[Identify and describe any internal controls within these systems that have an impact on accounting for service tax. Check if there have been any system or personnel changes in key areas. If yes, review the changeover period with care.]

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C). Walkthrough – Service System:

[Perform a walkthrough of the Service/ Revenue System. Trace a sample of transactions (all types). Amend systems descriptions to match findings in the walkthrough.]

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D). Walkthrough – Other System(s):

[Perform a walkthrough of any other system (e.g. Journal Entries & other adjustments etc.). Trace a sample of transactions, of all types from source documents through to the service tax account. Amend systems descriptions to match findings in the walkthrough.]

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E). Walkthrough – service Tax Return:

[Perform a walkthrough of the process of compiling a tax return for one quarter/ six months, tracing from tax return amounts through to their sources. Amend systems descriptions to match findings in the walkthrough.]

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F). Postings to the General Ledger:

[Test postings from the books of original entry, i.e. Service and other journals, to the General Ledger. Verify that taxes are correctly recorded.]

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G). TAXES in GL:

[Verify mathematical accuracy of taxes by performing test adds on the GL and Journals. Note that even if the records are computerised, the test add should be done to detect programming “bugs”.]

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I). High Value Transactions in GL and in Journals:

[Review GL, General Journal and journals for high value transactions related to Taxes. Consider tracing these to the source documents.]

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4.2 Service / Revenue System:

A). providing Services:

[Review key controls that prevent or detect the providing of services that are not invoiced. (Can service be provided without recording them?)]

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B). Recording of invoices:

[Review key controls that prevent or detect supply of services that are invoiced but not recorded. (Can services be invoiced but the invoice not recorded in the system?).These may include pre-numbered invoices, authorisation to cancel an invoice etc. etc.).]

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C). Recording of Cash transactions:

[Review key controls that ensure that all cash revenues are recorded. (How does a unit make sure all cash transactions are recorded and deposited in the bank?) The controls may include pre-numbered cash transaction invoices, daily reconciliation of cash invoices, separation of taxes etc. etc.]

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D). types of services:

[Review key controls that prevent or detect the mis -classification of services for exemption.]

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E). Credits for returns:

[Review key controls that ensure adjustments are made to taxes payable for all credits issues for amendment of invoices.]

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F). Other:

[Review any other key internal controls within the Service/ Revenue system on which you can rely.]

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G). Other internal controls:

[Review other key controls that prevent or detect under-valuation of service tax.]

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H). Conclusions:

TABLE -14

5. ANALYSIS, AUDIT PLAN & ASSESSMENTS

1. Risk Loss Analysis (Reasonableness Tests):

A). service tax:

[Prepare the risk loss analysis, covering a period of one year or a minimum of one return, for service tax and provide your conclusions as to the significance of the potential revenue loss. Indicate possible problems and therefore the audit steps that might be indicated.]

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[NB – A SAMPLE RISK LOSS ANALYSIS FORMAT IS GIVEN AS PER ANNEXURE -‘A’]

6. Trend Analysis

[Perform appropriate trend analysis to check the overall reasonableness and consistency of data provided by a taxpayer. Identify potential problem areas and audit steps required verifications of tax implications.]

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Auditors should verify the invoices/Bills issued for audit period and the same should be compared with present invoices being issued to ascertain the rates being charged for past and present. Similarly, expenses incurred (including Capital Investment) as compared to Income should also be examined

7. Audit Plan:

[The audit plan must be based on information gathered so far before starting the audit and must be specific.]

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8. Verification:

[Carry out verification as planned. Note W/P Ref. in the last column of audit plan above. Where audit plan had to be altered, provide suitable comments ]

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9. Summary of Audit findings and assessment

[Once the verification, as per the audit plan, is complete, all of the assessments must be rolled up for presentation to and discussions with the supervisor and the assessee.](The results must be presented in a logical manner and should be cross- indexed so that it would be easy to follow both by the assessee and Departmental officers).

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10. Assessee agreement/ disagreement with the reassessment:

[Make a note of the date and name of person (s) present when the results of the audit were discussed with the assessee. Indicate their agreement or disagreement, with all or part of the assessment. Where extra time is requested to review the assessment, set up a log for follow-up.]

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11. Collections of Audit Assessment:

[Where the taxpayer agreed and made a payment, in full or in part, note details of the payment received. In case where substantial amount remains outstanding, provide your comments on taxpayer’s ability to pay, considering his present financial situation. Obtain information to assist in future collection, e.g. Bank(s), assignment of equipment and receivables, major creditors etc., attach additional working paper as necessary.]

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12. Future Compliance:

[Indicate information provided and specific actions suggested to the taxpayer to improve compliance. Where the taxpayer is in agreement with the suggestions, request a commitment in writing and include it in the audit report. If the taxpayer is unwilling to give a written undertaking, obtain a verbal commitment and note it down.]

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13. PROCEDURAL PARAS:

[DIFICULTY FACED IN AUDITING & SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS]

AUDITORS –

ANNEXURE-‘A’

RISK LOSS ANALYSIS

[SAMPLE RECONCILIATIONS]

A. RECONCILIATION OF TAX BASE AS SHOWN IN RETURN WITH INCOME STATEMENT

1. TOTAL REVENUE FOR THE PERIOD PER INCOME STAEMENT =A
2. DEDUCT REVENUE ITEMS NOT SUBJECT TO SERVICE TAX
   • Sales revenue= B
   • Non taxable service= C
   • Misc. Income= D
3. TAXABLE SERVICE REVENUE BASE = S = A – (B – C -D)
4. ESTIMATED TAX @ 5% =T= S*0.05
5. DEDUCT: TAX REPORTED ON RETURN = t
6. VARIANCE AMOUNT OR POTENTIAL RISK = V = T-t
7. VARIANCE PERCENTAGE ON TAXES PAYABLE = V*100/T
8. RESPONSE / CONCLUSION –

B. RECONCILIATION OF SERVICE TAX PAID AS PER RETURN WITH THAT SHOWN IN FINANCIAL ACCOUNT

Tax reported in Return i.e. ” t ” should invariably be first reconciled with the amount of tax paid in the financial accounts. For this purpose, the relevant account heads where service tax transactions are recorded should first be identified and then a reconciliation be first made between Service Tax paid as per Return vis a vis Service Tax paid as shown in financial accounts. Depending upon the accounting policy being followed, whether service tax collected from customers and service tax paid to the Government are accounted separately or combined, the auditor must fires ascertain the accounting system. If both the above accounts are clubbed then, a detailed extract of the combined account must be scrutinized and then tabulated so as to make meaningful comparison. If the two transactions are accounted for separately, then the two accounts should first be reconciled and then compared with the tax return.

C. Auditor should also look towards the Income vs Expenses incurred (including capital investment) , whether there is any possibility of suppressing the income liable for service tax. Auditor should also weigh the changes in the current charges for billing service (with the charges for billing service during audit period as per record). Any large variation in such charges without any reasonable basis is an indicator for suppression of income and therefore service tax.