5 important things to know about Swachh Bharat Cess

The Swachh Bharat Cess has become effective from 15 November 2015 at the rate of 0.5% on all taxable services.

This effectively amounts to a 14.5% tax including service tax of 14% plus Swachh Bharat Cess of 0.5% on taxable services.

Swachh Bharat Cess is not leviable on services that are fully exempt from service tax or those covered under the negative list of services.

The Swachh Bharat Cess is collected in the Consolidated Fund of India and is proposed to be used for financing and promoting Swachh Bharat initiatives of the government.

This tax is levied, charged, collected and paid to the Government, independent of service tax and thus must be charged as a separate line item in the invoice.