The Goods and Services Tax Intelligence unit has issued a notice to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation for allegedly defaulting on payment of service tax, The Hindu reported on Wednesday. The GST Intelligence unit wants to examine the provident fund department’s tax records till the 2016-17 financial year.

However, the EPFO wrote to the GST Intelligence unit on September 14 stating that it had been exempted from service tax. “[The] EPFO has been granted exemption from the levy of service tax from April 1, 2016,” the missive said. “Therefore, requisition of records up to March 31, 2017 may not be justified.”

The EPFO added that the exemption had continued under the GST Act as the organisation had been placed in the “negative list” – a list of services exempted under the new tax regime. In its letter, the EPFO also said it was not liable to pay service tax on statutory administration charges and the interest it charged, citing an order from the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal on April 13.