In continuation to Shri Ashok Kumar Bayanwala’s article Lapses in Speed Post Tariff 2012, I did some research on the Speed Post charges levied for Local and One India One Rate Speed Post articles and have found interesting information on the Service Tax charged at various post offices.
Here are some interesting examples from various post offices, before change in Service Tax rate and after changes in Service Tax rate.
Local Speed Post
1. Ahmedadbad RMS (10.04.2012) & Lashkar H.O. (12.05.2012), Speed Post rate charged Rs. 12.00
Ahmedabad RMS: Service Tax Charged Rs. 1.11 (@ 10.30%) thus basic postage rate charged Rs. 10.89.
Lashkar HPO: Service Tax Charged Rs. 1.15 (@ 10.30%) thus basic postage rate charged Rs. 10.85.
Here there is difference in the Service Tax charged which make anomaly in basic rate of local Speed Post Tariff.
2. Ahmedabad RMS (18.04.2012), Speed Post rated Charged Rs. 13.00.
3. After Rollback:
Service Tax Charged Rs. 2.15. Basic postage rate Rs. 10.88, If Service Tax charged at 12.36% it should be Rs. 1.34. Thus the total becomes Rs. 12.22. That means Rs. 0.78 Charged extra as rounding off. How the Service Tax mentioned as Rs. 2.15 is a question.
3. After Rollback:
- Ahmedabad RMS (16.05.2012), Charged Rs. 12.00
As per roll back to Rs. 12 from Rs. 13 for Local Speed Post tariff Rs. 12 have been charged. Service Tax charged is Rs. 1.32, thus the basic postage rate becomes Rs. 10.68.
- Racecourse P.O. (21.05.2012), Charged Rs. 13.00
As per roll back to Rs. 12 from Rs. 13 for Local Speed Post tariff of Rs. 12 was supposed to be charged (as per first example) but here Rs. 13 has been charged. Service Tax charged is Rs. 2.15One India One Rate Speed Post
1. Ahmedadbad RMS (10.04.2012), Charged Rs. 25.00
Service Tax Charged Rs. 2.33 (@ 10.30%) thus basic postage rate charged Rs. 22.67.
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2. Ahmedabad RMS (18.04.2012)/ Ahmedabad RMS (25.04.2012) / Kanpur HPO (11.05.2012) / Nadiad (21.05.2012), Charged Rs. 26.00
Ahmedabad 18.04.2012
Ahmedbad RMS 25.04.2012
Kanpur HPO (11.05.2012)
Nadiad (21.05.2012)
Service Tax Charged Rs. 3.36. Basic postage rate Rs. 22.67, If Service Tax charged at 12.36% it should be Rs. 2.80. Thus the total becomes Rs. 25.47. That means Rs. 0.53 Charged extra as rounding off. How the Service Tax is mentioned as Rs. 3.36 is a question.
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3. After Rollback:
- Ahmedabad RMS (16.05.2012), Charged Rs. 25.00
- Racecourse P.O. (21.05.2012), Charged Rs. 26.00
As per roll back to Rs. 25 from Rs. 26 for One India One Rate Speed Post tariff Rs. 25 have been charged. Service Tax charged is Rs. 2.75, thus the basic postage rate becomes Rs. 22.25
As per roll back to Rs. 25 from Rs. 26 for One India One Rate tariff of Rs. 25 was supposed to be charged (as per above example) but here Rs. 26 has been charged. Service Tax charged is Rs. 3.36.It is to be noted that the Local Speed Post rate of Rs. 12/- and One India One Rate of Rs. 25/- are inclusive of Service tax. Official website of India Post has clearly mentioned this information which is as follows:
Local Speed Post @ INR 12
‘One India One Rate’ Speed Post @ INR 25
‘One India One Rate’ Speed Post @ INR 25
After increase in Service Tax rate w.e.f. 1st April 2012, the Business Development & Marketing Directorate of Department of Posts, vide their letter no. 57-10/2011-BD&MD dated 04.04.2012 issued instructions to implement the revised Service Tax rates wherever it is applicable in respect of Premium Products of India Post and to take immediate action for change of the rate of Service Tax in the software.
As per this guideline most of the post offices updated their software resulting increase in Local Speed Post rate from Rs. 12/- to Rs. 13/- and One India One Rate from Rs. 25/- to Rs. 26/- without keeping in mind that local and ‘One India One Rate’ tariff declared by India Post are flat rates which are inclusive of Service Tax.
Later as per another letter no. 57-10/2011-BD&MD dated 10.05.2012 issued by Business Development & Marketing Directorate of Department of Posts, a clarification was issued that the Tariff for local and One India One Rate are notified rates which are inclusive of Service Tax. This implies that the tariff in respect of local and one India one rate articles would remain unchanged and would be charged at Rs. 12 & Rs. 25 respectively. The Speed Post rates and service tax would be apportioned in these rates afresh as mentioned below:
Weight upto 50 grams
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Local
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Upto 200 kms.
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201 to 1000 kms
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1001 to 2000 kms
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Above 2000 kms
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| Postage | 10.68 | 22.25 | 22.25 | 22.25 | 22.25 |
| Service Tax | 1.32 | 2.75 | 2.75 | 2.75 | 2.75 |
| Total | 12.00 | 25.00 | 25.00 | 25.00 | 25.00 |
While checking on website of Postal Training Center, Mysore, it was revealed that a special guideline was issued on 9th May 2012 for charging Service Tax for Local & One India One Rate Speed Post articles.
The guideline on the website mentions that in order to keep the Local Speed Post rate for the weight slab of 1-50 Grams as Rs.12/- the speed post rate should be fixed as Rs.10.67 as basic postage plus 12.36% Service Tax which is comes to Rs. 1.32 (Rs. 0.01 would be rounding off value) which makes total of Rs. 12 as Local Speed Post rate. Similarly to keep One India One Rate for the weight slab of 1-50 Grams as Rs. 25/- the basic postage rate should be fixed as Rs. 22.24 plus 12.36% Service Tax which comes to Rs. 2.75 @ 12.36% (Rs. 0.01 would be rounding off value) which makes total of Rs. 25 as One India One rate.
Earlier when the Service Tax was 10.30% the basic postage rate for Local Speed Post was Rs. 10.88 and the Service Tax @ 10.30% was Rs. 1.12. Similarly for One India One Rate the basic postage rate was Rs. 22.67 and the Service Tax @ 10.30% was Rs. 2.33. Thus to keep the existing tariff of Local and One India One Rate for Speed Post articles after the increase of Service Tax, India Post has reduced the basic postage rate of these two classes.
Even after notifications and guidelines issued by India Post and Postal Training Center, Mysore many post offices continued to charge Rs. 13/- and Rs. 26/- for Local Speed Post and One India One Rate Speed Post articles. Examples of Racecourse P.O. dated 21.05.2012 are live examples. And opposite to that many post offices did not updated their software with new service tax rate and kept on charging 10.30% Service Tax. Here is the example of Tajnapeth Post office in Akola who charged 10.30% Service Tax.
Tajnapeth (08.05.2012), Stamps Affixed Rs. 35.00 (More than 50 gms.) Service Tax Charged Rs. 3.09 (@ 10.30%). Basic postage rate is Rs. 30.00 and as per 12.36% Service Tax it should be 3.70
Other two recent examples are from Shamshi P.O. (Himachal Pradesh) dated 21.05.2012 and 05.06.2012. Total Postage is charged as Rs. 25 but in both cases Service Tax is charged as 2.33 i.e. 10.30% Service Tax is charged on the basic postage rate of Rs. 22.67. That means till 05.06.2012 Shamshi P. O. was charging 10.30% Service Tax.
Shamshi P.O. 10.30% Service Tax Charged on 21.05.2012
Shamshi P.O. 10.30% Service Tax Charged on 05.06.2012
One more interesting point noted is the rounding off pattern used by India Post. In all financial transactions rounding off to rupee is done on lower side if paisa value is below 50 paisa and rounded off to next rupee if the paisa value is above 50 paisa. e.g. if the value is Rs. 12.22 or even 12.49, normally it is rounded off to Rs. 12.00 and if the value is Rs. 12.51 or above it is rounded off to Rs. 13.00. While in case of India Post even the value is Rs. 12.22 they round it off to Rs. 13.00. Here is an example of Speed Post article booked from Vadodara to Patna on 06.06.2012. Speed Post charge for the slab of 51 to 200 gms for 1001 to 2000 km is Rs. 50. On Rs. 50 Service Tax at 12.36 % becomes Rs. 6.18 thus total rate becomes Rs. 56.18. Here the service tax is shown as Rs. 7.00 and total Rs. 57 has been charged. Another example is from Shamshi P.O. dated 03.05.2012. On the rate of Rs. 30, 10.30% Service Tax is charged which comes to Rs. 3.09 but in receipt Service Tax is mentioned as Rs. 4.00.
Rs. 50 Postage + Rs. 6.18 S. Tax = 56.18
Rs. 30 Postage + Rs. 3.09 S.Tax = Rs. 33.09
Conclusion: Mr. Ashok Kumar Bayanwala has rightly said that “Be alert and keep your eyes open”. I found above discrepancies in Speed Post rates and Service Tax charged. Dig the well and you will also find more interesting things about lapses of India Post.
2 comments:
Very informative.
Very Nice research article by Mr AK Bayanwala and Mr Prashant Pandya on different rates of Speed Post charged at different Post Offices. It has opened a new way to study several aspects of postal services in Modern Indian Philately.
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