Service tax is an indirect tax levied on a wide array of services specified by the Central Government under the Finance Act, 1994. The service provider (a restaurant or tour operator, for example) pays the tax and recovers the amount from its customers.
The service provider must be registered with the Central Government if the preceding fiscal year’s turnover is over Rs. 9 lakh. However, collection must start, at the rate of 15%, only when the turnover of the business exceeds Rs. 10 lakh. Once service tax is collected, if even for only a month, the service provider must continue to collect service tax, regardless of whether revenues fall below Rs. 10 lakh per annum. Service Tax is to be paid to the central government via designated branches or online once every quarter by LLPs, partnerships and sole proprietors and once every month by all other entities. Service tax returns must also be filed twice a year. The due dates are October 25 for the period April 1 to September 30 and April 25 for the period October 1 to March 31.
Service tax, applicable at 15%, is to be paid by the recepient of the service. Therefore, it’s the consumer who pays this indirect tax. The tax is collected by the service provider and then pays the amount to the government. Only those service providers offering any of the services on the negative list or with a turnover of less than Rs. 10 lakh are exempt from collecting service tax.
A service tax registration can be obtained within 10 to 20 days. At first, ST-1 is granted, within seven working days. If it is not granted within this time period, it is deemed to have been granted. The ST-2 will take another 10 to 15 working days, depending on whether you have all the relevant documents.
Service tax payments can be made online or offline. In case you are making payment online, you would need to do so via the NSDL website. For offline payments, a simple payment can be made via the GAR-7 challan, which is available at designated branches of most public sector banks.
No, you don’t. Even a freelancer operating out of his residence can have a service tax registration and file returns with government. When filling out the form, remember to put the registration in the name of the entity operating the business. In the absence of an entity (proprietorship or company or LLP), it can be your own name.
Even though registration is needed on reaching Rs. 9 lakh in turnover, service tax need only be collected when your revenues are Rs. 10 lakh or over. But once this you cross this mark, you must always collect the tax even if your turnover is less than this in subsequent years.
Service tax returns are filed twice a year. By October 25, you must file returns on payments made between April and September. By April 25, you must file returns on payments made between October and March. Proprietors, partnerships and individuals must make payment quarterly, while companies and LLPs must make payment monthly.
Basically, a trademark is a “brand” or “logo” that you can use to distinguish your product from those of your competitors. Through trademark registration, you can protect your brand or logo by restricting other people from using the same. For e.g. the logo of NIKE and their tagline JUST DO IT is a registered trademark. It provides them protection as it is illegal to use the same logo or tagline.
A registered trademark is an intangible asset for a business and is used to protect the company’s investment in the brand or symbol. TM number is assigned within a period of three days by Trademark department but it takes almost two years for it to be registered so that you can use to use ® symbol with your brand name. It is always advised to get trademark registration because getting your company registered will not protect your brand against those who might initiate using identical or similar marks.
Copyright registration in India is enrolled under Copyright Act, 1957. It provides a kind of safety so that the work carried out by the creator of work cannot be copied by anyone and to restore the uniqueness of the product. There are bundles of rights under Copyright like communication to the public, the rights of reproduction, adaptation, and translation of the work.
Copyright is basically a legal right which has been provided to the creators of literature, dramatics, musical and artistic work and even the producer’s films and sound recordings. Sometimes even businesses and startups get copyright registration related to instruction manuals, product literature and user guides. Usually, copyright is possessed by a creator of the work, but sometimes even the employer of its creator or the person who has authorised the work can own the copyright.
A patent registration helps in getting an intellectual property right to an invention carried out by an individual or firm. IP department has been initiated by Indian government to grant you the full right to register your invention under patent (but only if it is unique). In return the inventor must produce all the proofs related to the invention as asked by the government. It also ensures that owner gets more preference over other person for your particular invention. In India, Patent is being governed by the Patent Act 1970 & Patent Rules 1972.
Patent does not long for a lifetime. After a period of 20 years it falls under the public domain. The invention can be anything such as process, art, method to manufacture, particular apparatus, machine, computer software, technical application, chemicals or drugs. Patent registration can be done through Corporate Creators LLP in Bhiwadi (Rajasthan) or NCR.