New Delhi, Apr 27 (KNN) In a relief to lakhs of service providers, the government has extended the last date for filing service tax return by five days to April 30, 2017.

"The CBEC hereby extends the date for submission of form ST-3 for the period from October 1 to March 31, 2017, from April 25 to April 30, 2017," CBEC said in an office order.

Every registered service tax assessee has to file service tax return in form ST-3 on a half-yearly basis before the due date to avoid penalty.

For filing returns for the period April-September, the due date is October 25, while for October-March it is April 25.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said that the due date is being extended as the assessees faced "intermittent difficulties" in accessing the ACES (Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax) website on April 25.

This, CBEC said, is "circumstances of a special nature" for which the last date for filing is being extended.