Narendra Modi Power: Centre takes U-turn, withdraws tax notice

New Delhi, Feb 19: Days after issuing a notice to

and Bhratiya Janata Party (

), centre took an U-turn while withdrawing the same notice saying that service tax is not levied on political rallies.

After realising that the notice was not valid, directorate general of central excise intelligence (DGCEI) took the latest move. Meanwhile, the administrative authority of the DGCEI -- Central Board of Excise and Customs official said that all sorts of income and donations received by political parties are exempt from taxes.

The centre, in the previous notice, had claimed that money collected at several rallies of Narendra Modi across the country will be taxable. BJP was asked to provide complete details of collection since July, 1, 2012. Modi, BJP's PM nominee, has been addressing several rallies across the rally for the upcoming Lok Sabha election which is due by May 2014.

Notice was withdrawn as service tax is not levied on political rallies

Earlier senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley slammed the centre and Congress for issuing such notice to the party. Writing blogs, Jaitley said, "Narendra Modi is indeed a problem for the Congress Party. It is precisely for this reason that the Congress/UPA has used every method, fair or foul to counter him. They are still at sea how to deal with him."

The notice mentions "as the entry tickets to the event were not for any admission to any entertainment event or access to amusement facilities (which are in the negative list) the same is taxable in the hands of the person collecting the amount of tickets. It appears that the BJP/Shri Narendra Modi has (sic.) neither got registered under the Service Tax nor paid tax on collection from tickets," Jaitley said.

OneIndia News