IT : Where Commissioner (Appeals) considered all grounds raised by assessee in respect of applicability of provisions of section 194H in respect of recharge coupon and Tribunal affirmed such order, application seeking rectification of order of Tribunal for non-consideration of ground raised by assessee was not maintainable
Thursday 12 December 2013
Travelling cost reimbursed to NR by its Indian client shall be excluded from income taxable in India
IT/ILT: Reimbursement of expenses would not be liable to be included in income
Tribunal slams revenue authorities for enforcing recovery during continuity of stay
Excise & Customs : Revenue authorities cannot undertake recovery during continuation of stay especially when stay was not challenged and was binding on revenue authorities
Vegetable Oil Imports Up 35 Per Cent To 9.44 Lakh Tonnes In November.
India's vegetable oil imports rose 35 per cent in November to 9.44 lakh tonnes because of higher shipments of cheaper sunflower oil, says latest industry data.
Import of edible and non-edible vegetable oils stood at over 7 lakh tonnes in the same month last year.
India's vegetable oil imports rose 4.77 per cent to a record 10.68 million tonnes in the 2012-13 marketing year (November-October) against 10.19 million tonnes in the previous year due to stagnant domestic output and rising consumption.
"Import of vegetable oils during November 2013 is reported at 9,44,309 tonnes as compared to 7,00,371 tonnes in November 2012, up by 35 per cent," Solvent Extractors' Association said in a statement.
Edible oils import rose to 9,27,111 tonnes in November from 6,76,234 tonnes in the year-ago period. Imports of non-edible oils fell to 17,198 tonnes from 24,137 tonnes.
SEA attributed the surge in import to higher shipments of sunflower oil, which was cheaper by USD 30 per tonne as compared to soyabean oil.
Sunflower oil import jumped to 1,20,197 tonnes in November 2013 from 47,500 tonnes in the same month last year.
Moreover, it said that spread between RBD Palmolein and Crude Palm Oil reduced to less than USD 10 per tonne, making RBD Palmolein attractive over crude palm oil.
"In anticipation of likely increase in import duty, palm oil shipments were higher during the month," SEA said.
The current stock of edible oils as on December 1, 2013 at various ports is estimated at 590,000 tonnes and about 880,000 tonnes in pipeline.
During November 2013, the import of refined oil has gone up by 172 per cent at 2,08,076 tonnes as compared to 76,519 tonnes in November 2012.
Import of crude oil is also up by 20 per cent at 7,19,035 tonnes as compared to 5,99,715 tonnes in November 2012.
Rupee Down 30 Paise Against Dollar In Early Trade
The rupee fell by 30 paise to trade at 62.13 against the US dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on strong demand for the American currency from importers.
The domestic unit had lost 58 paise to close at 61.83 against the dollar in the previous session on weak local stocks and sustained demand from importers for the greenback.
Besides, dollar's strength against other Asian currencies overseas on speculation the US Federal Reserve may scale back its stimulus programme weighed on the rupee, dealers said.
They said negative domestic fundamentals, such as weak Industrial production data which contracted by 1.8 per cent in October this year and retail inflation climbing to a nine-month high of 11.24 per cent in November, too put pressure on the rupee.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell by 163.25 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 20,762.36 in early trade.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
The Rupee Fell And Bonds Yields Surged On Friday After Retail Inflation Spiked,
The rupee fell and bonds yields surged on Friday after retail inflation spiked, raising bets of a rate hike at the RBI's policy meeting next week.
The rupee fell to as much as 62.18 to a dollar and was last trading at 62.14/15. It had last closed at 61.81/82.
Bond yields surged as traders factored in the prospect of the third rate hike by Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan.
The 10-year bond yield was up 7 basis points at 8.92 percent.
Sharply higher food prices drove up retail inflation to 11.24 percent in November from 10.17 percent in October, data released Thursday showed.
Source : in.reuters.com
Assessee gets an opportunity of examining probable source of info causing additions in its income; c
IT : Where assessee was not provided with opportunity to cross examine person providing information that lead into addition to income, fresh adjudication was required
Commerce Ministry Seeks Change To Duty Exemption For Sez Goods
Date : 12 Dec 2013
The Commerce Ministry has sought changes to a notification that exempted duty on goods from special economic zones (SEZ) sold locally to remove ambiguities and plug revenue losses. The development follows after it was found that goods from an SEZ in Mumbai were sold in the domestic market without paying the 4 per cent special additional duty (SAD) after an exemption clause was misinterpreted, the Customs sources said.
"As the whole issue has emerged from a notification of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), there is an urgent need to amend that," a Commerce Ministry official told PTI in New Delhi. "The Commerce Ministry has already asked the Finance Ministry for its amendment," he added.
Customs sources have alleged that misinterpretation of the exemption in the Arshiya Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ), situated at Panvel in New Mumbai, which comes under the special economic zone Act, has led to losses of Rs 200 crore to the central exchequer in the last fiscal alone.
"We are an infrastructure providing company and we have got nothing to do with it. Even our clients are not at fault," Ajay Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director of Arshiya FTWZ, told PTI when sought his comments.
The FTWZ policy was announced by the Centre to create trade-related infrastructure to facilitate import and export of goods and services with freedom to carry out transactions in free currency. It is covered under the SEZ Act. Since the rules governing FTWZs have not been formalised, the vacuum has led to emergence of grey areas at these places, which are also susceptible to tax evasion, said the sources.
Some of the goods manufactured at SEZs, which have been set up to promote exports, are allowed to be sold locally or in domestic tariff areas. Such goods, including those from FTWZs, that were sold locally, had been subject to 4 per cent SAD and levies such as value added tax or sales tax. The SAD was introduced in 1998 to put certain imported items on par with locally made goods, on which local taxes were levied. Imported goods were subject to 4 per cent SAD on their value, apart from other applicable Customs duties. In 2003, the Finance Ministry exempted SEZ-produced goods sold in domestic tariff areas (DTAs) from SAD provided local taxes were applicable on them.
There was no problem until 2011, when in a Finance Ministry circular, the words 'produced or manufactured' were replaced by 'cleared from' SEZ, a Customs source explained. After this, goods were cleared from FTWZs to local areas without paying either SAD or local taxes, the source said.
This evasion came to the notice of the Customs department and other financial intelligence agencies only this year. When the clearance of goods was halted, the development commissioner of the SEEPZ Special Economic Zone in Mumbai issued a notification aimed at enforcing the exemption, a source said. "The Commerce Ministry has taken a serious view of the note giving SAD exemption and has issued a direction that SAD exemption should not be denied to DTAs and that any unjustified deviation would seriously be viewed and disciplinary action will be taken," SEEPZ SEZ development commissioner NPS Monga said in the circular issued late October.
The circular appeared to overrule directions issued by Chief Customs Commissioner CS Prasad on implementing the SAD notification by the CBEC. Prasad told PTI that he had written to the CBEC to get the clarification in place. In the absence of specific regulations, individual interpretations have taken precedence and discriminatory implementation of rules is proving detrimental to safeguard. Sources said at present goods are cleared from the Arshiya FTWZ against paying of provisional bank guarantee bond of 20 per cent of the total duty.
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Increased Smuggling Of Gold In India Due To High Import Duty On The Yellow Metal
Increased smuggling of gold in India due to high import duty on the yellow metal has had interesting fallout in the neighbourhood. Pakistan's import of gold in the past one year has gone up by 400% while that in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have almost doubled. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials say the unprecedented increase in imports to these countries without any entrenched cultural affinity to gold ornaments points to the fact that they are being brought in to be smuggled into India. Recently, DRI has even seized several consignments on Indo-Bangla and Indo-Nepal border where fake Indian currency note (FICN) networks are being used to smuggle gold.
India has been consistently increasing duty on gold to stem current account deficit for the past couple of years. From 1%, two years ago, it has gone upto 10% making smuggling of the yellow metal from neighbouring countries and South Asia, where duties range between 1% and 5%, lucrative.
According to DRI, Pakistan's import figures are a cause of worry as they correspond with high seizures within Bangladesh and on the Indo-Bangla border. Gold imports jumped by 102% in 2012-13 in Pakistan and, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 6,745 kilograms of gold were imported in 2012-13, as compared to 3,267 kilograms during 2011-12.
This has doubled this year, say DRI sources. In Bangladesh, in the past two-three months alone, 400 kg of gold has been seized by local authorities. In Sri Lanka, the last financial year saw import of three tones of gold, but this year it has jumped to six tonnes with still a quarter to go for the financial year to end. "In Nepal too, several consignments of gold from China have been intercepted in the recent past," said a DRI official.
DRI DG Najib Shah said, "We believe this increased import in the neighbourhood is headed to India illegally." Sources said the import figures in these countries also do not correspond to exports out of these countries or the established consumption patterns.
In the past few months, over 50 kg of gold worth more than Rs 15 crore has been smuggled across the Indo-Bangla border alone. Elaborating on the modus operandi, sources said gold was bought in places like Dubai and Thailand and flown to Dhaka or Kathmandu where authorities are not all that vigilant. The consignment is then brought to the border and stored in safe houses.
"From here, human couriers are hired and given one or two bars to take across the border. It is difficult to detect such small amounts on a long border. These couriers make two to five trips a day and thus manage to carry considerable gold in a day. The gold is then collected and stored on the Indian side and transported to unscrupulous jewelers in cities," the officer said.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Eu Ends Sops For Indian Textile, Engineering Exports
In a twin blow to local exporters, the European Union has given special preference for imports from Pakistan, which will allow duty-free access into 27 markets, while withdrawing the concessions for several Indian goods, including textiles and engineering. And, it's the Indian government, not EU, to be partly blamed, for creating this disadvantage for exporters.
While India had managed to block similar concessions nearly a decade ago after a challenge at the World Trade Organization, this time the sops have been given to deal with floods that hit Pakistan and have been given after the move was backed by New Delhi. The GSP-plus benefits will kick in from January 1.
The new concessions to Pakistan, known as GSP-plus or those above the Generalized System of Preferences, come at a time when the Indian textile sector was looking up, with exports and employment on the rise.
"Pakistan stands to gain on products on which it gets duty concessions and to that extent the competitivenss of Indian products gets eroded," said Abhijit Das, who heads the Centre for WTO Studies. While Apparel Export Promotion Council chairman A Sakthivel said garment exports will not be hit, Das identified products such as bed linen where Indian exports may be impacted.
The list of 75 goods on which Pakistan will enjoy duty concessions was not immediately available but exporters said textiles will be a major product. Although the concessions have been discussed for several weeks now, the European Parliament approved the package for Pakistan on Thursday, raising expectations of a $1 billion gain for India's neighbour.
From the same date, Indian exporters of several products ranging from chemicals, textiles, leather goods, motor vehicles, bicycles, aircraft parts and shipbuilding and components will lose 6-12% advantage
. "When it comes to bicycles, GSP benefit to China too has been withdrawn. So, we can compete there but life will be tougher for several other segments," said Anupam Shah, chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council.
Sources in the textiles industry said some Indian companies would look to invest in countries such as Bangladesh to claim concessions under schemes such as Everything Bur Arms (EBA).
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Only drawer of cheque was liable under Negotiable Instrument Act even if cheque was issued from join
CL: Only drawer of cheque was liable under Negotiable Instrument Act even if cheque was issued from joint account
ITAT comes down heavily on contemptuous behavior of Dept. representatives; slaps fine for intimidati
IT : ITAT imposes cost of Rs.1000 on CIT(DR) deductible from salary for contemptuous actions, behaviour & utterances
ITAT approved reference made to DVO as value of land as per stamp authority was higher than as claim
IT: Where value of land as per stamp duty authority was higher than that claimed by assessee, Assessing Officer could issue commission under section 131(1)(d) to DVO to ascertain fair market value under section 55A
Assessment witnessing detailed enquiry followed by few disallowances can't be prejudicial to revenue
IT : Where Assessing Officer had taken into accounts all details and made addition wherever required, same could not be said to be prejudicial to interest of revenue, merely because no detailed discussion was made
HC stays recovery of services tax on profit earned out of toll collection
ST : High Court stays demand of service tax on amount retained by assessee from out of 'toll charges' after payment to NHAI, treating such retained amount as 'commission'
Capital goods or inputs used at captive mines are eligible for credit
Cenvat Credit : If mines are captive mines so that they constitute one integrated unit together with concerned factory, capital goods/inputs used at such mines would be eligible for credit
Sec. 80-IC relief granted to assessee as he had shown existence of factory and manufacturing of perf
IT : Where assessee had prima facie established its claim that factory was in existence and assessee was engaged in manufacturing activity to produce perfumery oils, deduction under section 80-IC was to be granted
Rebate of purchase tax on flyash granted to cement units located in UP is voilative of article 301
CST & VAT : Grant of "rebate of tax" on fly-ash purchased from State of Uttar Pradesh by units/plants located in State of Uttar Pradesh but not to units/plants located in other States for cement sold in State of Uttar Pradesh is violative of Article 301, read with article 304(a); such rebate is available to units/plants located in other States
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