The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has directed its offices to not send show-cause notices (SCNs) for service tax defaults, merely on the basis of discrepancies between income tax returns and service tax amount.

Various tax-related associations have complained to the Union finance ministry that SCNs were wrongly sent for the financial year 2015-16.

The GST department has also issued notices to many entities and professionals who are exempted from service tax, like doctors, they had complained.