While Finance Minister P Chidambaram was still on to some fire fighting after admitting that the proposal on double taxation treaties were ‘clumsily worded’ and led to confusion among foreign investors has now eased as FM himself allayed investors’ fears.
But ambiguity in a Budget notification regarding whether educational institutions are exempted from service tax, by way of, auxiliary educational services or renting of immovable property or not has led to confusion.
A section of experts said the phrase in the Gazette Notification “services provided to or by an” has now been replaced by “services provided to” only, this, they said, gives false impression that auxiliary services (as defined by the gazette notification) and renting of immovable property by educational institutions attract service tax.
The experts want the Finance Minister should address their concerns and put the ambiguity to rest.