What Can You Do to Sail Through Service Tax Audit

Service tax audit once imposed cannot be avoided at any cost. However, one can make the process easier to live through by following certain guidelines on compliance.

Pinch and launder as much as you wish; hide and suppress as much as you want; but when the eyes of the sovereign authority falls on dramatic misappropriation, be assured, there is not much you can do but wish upon a falling star for pardon, because the government is sure to make you pay for good. Evasion of duties is a criminal offence that can amount from mild to severe penalties depending upon the nature of evasion, the time period involved and the amount due. When the authority suspects that a certain assessee is involved in non-payment, the concerned individual / entity is slapped with service tax audit. 

The procedure involves a team of appointed professionals to visit the premises of the entity and assess the records of the same thoroughly and completely to determine what the former has been into hiding. The penalties are awarded to the guilty after ascertaining their nature of default which includes complete evasion or, partial evasion where the non-compliant party pays only a certain small part of the due amount. From imposition of a huge amount of fine and interest to cancellation of license or both anything can be expected as an outcome of the assessment. While there is not much that can be done about the outcomes, one can always ensure that further complications are not generated as the procedure is in progress.

For this, the assessee will have to ensure that they do not cause any deliberate problems like hiding figures or, documents or even making any other attempt to thwart the duties of the professionals. If such dramatic obstacles are created by the former, the amount of penalties that can be given out as a result can be far more than what would have been due. Allowing the professionals to work their way and extending complete cooperation is the only way to sail through the process of assessment. Trying to outsmart the attending team will only amount to further difficulties. Considering the fact that trying to seek amnesty through the process is also an option, complete compliance should be embraced as the only route to some relief.