Vide Circular no. 978/2/2014-CX, dated 07-jan-2014, CBEC has clarified that EC & SHEC shall not be levied on the other cesses which are levied under acts administered by departments/ministries other than Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) but are only collected by the Department of Revenue in terms of those acts (e.g. Sugar Cess Act, Tea Act, etc.). For example Sugar cess is a duty of excise levied under Sugar Cess Act but collection is done in the Ministry of Finance. That means Education Cess & Secondary Education Cess is to be calculated by taking into account only such duties which are both levied and collected under acts administered by the Department of Revenue(Central Excise Act).

INTREPRETATION: All levy and collection are used inseparably generally. But here attention should be given to the fact that “levy” & “collection” are used separately in this circular. On the other hand education cess on cesses like Tobacco cess, iron ore cess and manganese cess may not be paid as these cesses are neither levied nor collected by the Finance Ministry though these cesses are also called duties of excise.

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