The Finance Ministry has made it clear that 'taxable services' provided by members of a joint venture to a JV and vice-versa will attract service tax.

This will be the case when the 'taxable services' are provided for consideration, the Finance Ministry had said in a circular on Wednesday.

The same treatment will hold good when taxable services are provided between the members of a JV for consideration, according to the circular.

As regards taxation of cash calls or capital contributions made by the members to the joint venture, detailed and close scrutiny of the terms of joint venture agreement may be required in each case, the Finance Ministry has said.

If 'cash calls' are merely a transaction in money, they are then excluded from the definition of service and therefore will not attract tax, according to the circular.

Tax authorities at the field level have been advised to carefully examine the leviability of service tax with reference to the specific terms/clauses of each joint venture agreement. (The Hindu)