� Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  5 major changes in the last 6 months every taxpayer should know!  Good news for taxpayers: ITR forms updated to allow 87A tax rebate claims, but there's a catch  Top 10 income tax changes from 2024 to look out for while filing ITR in 2025  15 income tax rule changes in 2024 that will impact your ITR filing in 2025 �  Budget may seek fresh excise, service tax rates... I-T returns to help you work from home... » Govt may bring excise duty, service tax closer October, 27th 2006 A Convergence of service tax rate of 12 % and a median excise duty of 16% may be on the cards. This is a part of the government�s plans to restructure levies to reduce distinctions between the manufacturing and service sectors and remove multi-level duties. �We should be bringing excise and service tax rates closer,� a senior finance ministry official said. The idea, which is still at the conceptual stage, could be taken forward in the forthcoming Budget. Pointing at the need for having convergence in the rates, the official said that there was some inversion in the duty structure with regard to availing of Cenvat credit. This was mainly due to differences in the rate of excise duty and service tax. Cenvat credit is available both for excise duty and service tax. An overhaul of excise duty structure is also on the government�s radar, the official said. Excise collections have not shown the buoyancy which other taxes have due to various exemptions. However, for any reduction in the excise median rate of 16%, the tax base will have to be broadened. The government has already overhauled the administration of income tax and customs substantially. New measures like annual information return have been introduced to track evasion in income tax. In fact, even a new income tax act prepared by an expert group in the ministry is being examined. In customs, the government has introduced electronic data interchange to bring in transparency in functioning. The government had collected Rs 41,836 crore in excise duty up to August �06, against Rs 39,380 crore in the previous year, witnessing a growth of 6.6%. While this may look reasonable when compared with the 6.5% growth target set in the Budget, it is way below the growth rates recorded in collections of other indirect taxes like customs and service tax at 33.5% and 63.5%, respectively. It may be noted that excise forms the largest chunk in the government�s tax kitty.