The hotel industry and other enterprises involved in hospitality would soon be brought under the scanner for their billing procedures. The Central Board of Excise and Customs, dealing with Service Tax, will issue instructions, asking hotels and restaurants to refrain from using ambiguous terms. “Service” or “tax” should not be used while levying charges on customers.
Most star hotels do mention the “registration code” on invoice bills, but officials said that a thorough check would be conducted to ensure that all hotels were doing so and also mentioning the Tax payer’s Identification Number (TIN) on the invoice. Further, all the establishments levying service tax would be asked not to use abbreviated terms like “S.T”. An official said, “This would ensure that service tax collected from consumers reaches the government.”
Indignant customers are questioning charges being levied under morphed terms such as “service charges”, when their legitimacy is not clear and when they are not given prominent mention on the bill, catching them unaware. “It is like we are being forced to tip waiters at a particular percentage of our menu cost, and the charges also vary from hotel to hotel,” said Nirupama Rao, an IT professional.