Place of Provision of Services Rules, 2012

Notification No. 28/2012 - Service Tax dated 20/06/12

1st day of July, 2012

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 66C and clause (hhh) of sub-section (2) of section 94 of the Finance Act, 1994 ... the Central Government hereby makes the following rules for the purpose of determination of the place of provision of services, namely:-

R.1 Short title, extent and commencement

(1) These rules may be called the Place of Provision of Services Rules, 2012.

(2) They shall come into force on 1st day of July, 2012.

R.2 Definitions

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-

• (a) "Act" means the Finance Act, 1994 (32 of 1994);
• (b) "account" means an account bearing interest to the depositor, and includes a non-resident external account and a non-resident ordinary account;
• (c) "banking company" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (a) of section 45A of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934);
• (d) "continuous journey" means a journey for which a single or more than one ticket or invoice is issued at the same time, either by one service provider or through one agent acting on behalf of more than one service provider, and which involves no stopover between any of the legs of the journey for which one or more separate tickets or invoices are issued;
• (e) "financial institution" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (c) of section 45-I of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (2 of 1934);
• (f) "intermediary" means a broker, an agent or a
  

R.3 Place of provision generally

The place of provision of a service shall be the location of the recipient of service:

Provided that in case “of services other than online information and database access or retrieval services” (Inserted vide Notification 46/2012- Service Tax) where the location of the service receiver is not available in the ordinary course of business, the place of provision shall be the location of the provider of service.

R.4 Place of provision of performance based services

The place of provision of following services shall be the location where the services are actually performed, namely:

• (a) services provided in respect of goods that are required to be made physically available by the recipient of service to the provider of service, or to a person acting on behalf of the provider of service, in order to provide the service:

Provided that when such services are provided from a remote location by way of electronic means the place of provision shall be the location where goods are situated at the time of provision of service:

Provided further that this clause shall not apply in the case of a service provided in respect of goods that are temporarily imported into India for repairs and are exported after the repairs without being put to any use in the taxable territory, other than that which is required for such repair.

• (b) services provided to an individual, represented either as the recipient of service or
  

R.5 Place of provision of services relating to immovable property

The place of provision of services provided directly in relation to an immovable property, including services provided in this regard by experts and estate agents, provision of hotel accommodation by a hotel, inn, guest house, club or campsite, by whatever, name called, grant of rights to use immovable property, services for carrying out or co-ordination of construction work, including architects or interior decorators, shall be the place where the immovable property is located or intended to be located.

R.6 Place of provision of services relating to events

The place of provision of services provided by way of admission to, or organization of, a cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, or entertainment event, or a celebration, conference, fair, exhibition, or similar events, and of services ancillary to such admission, shall be the place where the event is actually held.

R.7 Place of provision of services provided at more than one location

Where any service referred to in rules 4, 5, or 6 is provided at more than one location, including a location in the taxable territory, its place of provision shall be the location in the taxable territory where the greatest proportion of the service is provided.

R.8 Place of provision of services where provider and recipient are located in taxable territory

Place of provision of a service, where the location of the provider of service as well as that of the recipient of service is in the taxable territory, shall be the location of the recipient of service.

R.9 Place of provision of specified services

The place of provision of following services shall be the location of the service provider:-

• (a) Services provided by a banking company, or a financial institution, or a non-banking financial company, to account holders;
• (b) “***”; omitted vide Notification 46/2016-Service Tax
• (c) Intermediary services;
• (d) Service consisting of hiring of means of transport other than, -
• (i) aircrafts, and
• (ii) vessels except yachts upto a period of one months.

R.10 Place of provision of goods transportation services

The place of provision of services of transportation of goods, other than by way of mail or courier, shall be the place of destination of the goods:

Provided that the place of provision of services of goods transportation agency shall be the location of the person liable to pay tax.

R.11 Place of provision of passenger transportation service

The place of provision in respect of a passenger transportation service shall be the place where the passenger embarks on the conveyance for a continuous journey.

R.12 Place of provision of services provided on board a conveyance

Place of provision of services provided on board a conveyance during the course of a passenger transport operation, including services intended to be wholly or substantially consumed while on board, shall be the first scheduled point of departure of that conveyance for the journey.

R.13 Powers to notify description of services or circumstances for certain purposes

In order to prevent double taxation or non-taxation of the provision of a service, or for the uniform application of rules, the Central Government shall have the power to notify any description of service or circumstances in which the place of provision shall be the place of effective use and enjoyment of a service.

R.14 Order of application of rules

Notwithstanding anything stated in any rule, where the provision of a service is, prima facie, determinable in terms of more than one rule, it shall be determined in accordance with the rule that occurs among the rules that merit equal consideration.