CST & VAT : Where Assessing Officer had disallowed assessee's claim of exemption for export sales on ground of non production of 'C' forms and 'H' forms, matter was remanded for passing fresh order after considering declaration forms being produced by assessee
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Imparting of training in seminary is 'education'; assessee was entitled for registration as a trust
IT : Where assessee was imparting training to students in 'Seminary', training programme undertaken by assessee was also education and, therefore, it was entitled for registration under section 12A
An amendment to by-laws of BSE doesn't restrict powers of its appellate Tribunal to condone delay in
CL: Whether the Appellate bench of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was right in concluding that it had no power to condone delay in filing appeal as amendment to the by-laws of BSE had restricted its powers - Held - No
AO to verify assessee's plea that sec. 69A addition couldn't be made on him as it was already made o
IT: Where assessee challenged addition made on account of unaccounted commission in respect of giving accommodation entries to various parties taking a plea that said addition had already been made in case of his brother, since aforesaid plea required verification at level of Assessing Officer, matter was to be remanded back for disposal afresh
Indian Ports Get Clogged After Rush To Import Coal
India’s power and steel companies are importing shiploads of coal due to a severe shortage at home, leading to heavy congestion in one of the country’s busiest ports that now has twice the number of vessels waiting than its available berths.
The over-crowding at Paradip port in Orissa could derail India’s efforts to prevent a shutdown of more than half of its power plants which are running on stocks of less than a week in the worst deficit since a massive blackout in 2012.
While power and coal minister Piyush Goyal has urged power firms to bring more coal into India, already the world’s No. 3 importer of the fuel, the country’s ports are finding it difficult to deal with the swelling traffic.
“We’re 100 per cent houseful,” said G.P. Biswal, deputy conservator of Paradip port. “We’re not able to cope with the sudden incre-ase in traffic."
Half of the 27 stranded ships at Paradip are carrying up to 90,000 tonnes of coal each and it takes up to six days to offload a ship once it is berthed.
Mr Biswal said rains in the eastern part of the country over the past few days have hampered operations but there could be an improvement in a week.
Some of the ships are to deliver coal for top power and steel firms like Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd, GMR Energy, Tata group and the Adani group run by billionaire Gautam Adani
Source:- porttechnology.org
Service Taxes Set To Get A Big Infrastructure Bump
The service tax net will be cast wider soon to include a wide range of construction-related services, which are currently exempt as “infrastructure services” and form more than a third of the country’s Rs 4.5-lakh-crore construction sector.
A 12% levy on services such as construction and upkeep of highways, bridges, airports, metro rail networks, post-harvest storage infrastructure, mechanised food grain handling systems and possibly even low-cost housing projects would add to the cost of these services, experts said.
Currently, commercial real estate projects are the chief source of service tax revenue from the construction sector for the Centre.
The Centre’s service tax revenue had grown at just 15% in April-August this year compared with the targetted growth of 31% for the full year.
The government’s move to do away with the exemption for a slew of infrastructure services would appear to be at variance with the thrust being given to infrastructure investments, but tax experts said the industries concerned won’t really bear the brunt of the decision. This is because the new tax on their outputs would allow them to more efficiently utilise their input tax credits. It would, however, result in an additional tax burden on users of these infrastructure facilities.
“At present, real estate activities are subject to service tax but not infrastructure development services such as construction of roads, bridges and airports. If infrastructure services are subject to service tax, the real impact for developers would be on the net value addition as they would get credit for the taxes paid on the inputs,” said R Muralidharan, Executive Director, PwC India.
This means the additional tax revenue for the government from the move would be significant but much less than the figure derived from applying the levy on the total value of the output.
Sources privy to the government’s plan said that bringing infrastructure services under service tax would not only widen the base of this levy but also help in keeping exemptions to the minimum to facilitate an easy transition to the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). Under GST, businesses could utilise credit for the taxes previously paid on raw materials and services for meeting their final output tax liability, for which it is essential for the output of an industry to be within the tax net.
Besides air and sea ports, railways, metro rail, single residential houses and low cost housing projects, exempted services also include construction of post harvest storage infrastructure and mechanized food grain handling systems. Construction and maintenance of civil structures, roads, bridges, tunnel, terminals and projects under certain welfare schemes like JNNURM and Rajiv Awaas Yojana (RAY) are also exempted from service tax now. The revenue department’s current thinking is to bring
Source:- articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com
Centre To Discuss New Textile Policy With States On Wednesday
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Textiles Santosh Gangwar will discuss the provisions of the proposed New Textile Policy such as introducing flexible labour laws and setting up integrated textile parks with States in an annual conference of State textiles ministers on Wednesday.
States will give their views on the proposals of a draft report on the New Textile Policy prepared by an expert committee which has already been circulated to them.
“Getting State Governments’ views on labour reforms is important as a number of important changes have been proposed in the textiles sector,” a Government official told BusinessLine.
The proposed reforms include removing restrictions on women working in night shifts, allowing fixed term employment and revising overtime work hours. The Centre has also proposed keeping units employing up to 500 people outside the ambit of the Industrial Disputes Act so that they don’t have the responsibility of providing employment to workers in case a unit winds up.
The proposed policy also suggests giving a blanket exemption to export oriented units to allow contractual labour without any restriction.
Gangwar is also expected to discuss the proposal of partnering with States for reengineering of existing schemes and policies such as the integrated textile parks, Technology Upgradation Fund Schemes and Integrated Processing Development Scheme.
“The State Ministers will also be asked to emphasise on ways to generate productive employment opportunity for the youth through the textile sector. Stress would be laid on inclusive and participative growth, developing skill, scale and speed, targeting zero defect and promoting ‘Make in India’ brand,” an official release said.Textiles exports contribute more than 13 per cent to the country’s total exports.
Source:- thehindubusinessline.com
China’S Move To Cut Cotton Imports To Hurt Growers
China’s decision to reduce cotton imports will hurt Indian farmers more. The latest move of the world’s largest cotton buyer will accelerate the fall in prices that are already headed south on excess supplies.
On Monday, China said it would cut import quota to drawdown on inventories, pressurising prices.“This was expected for quite some time now. They had huge surplus and wanted to exhaust them. It will lead to bearishness in global prices. Though this is a cause for concern, there’s no reason for panic,” said Dhiren Seth, President, Cotton Association of India, the apex body for cotton trade.
Domestic prices reacted on China’s announcement. Price of 29 mm cotton which traded around ?39,900 a candy (355.62 kg each) at the beginning of September ended at ?37,400 on Monday. Trade sources said that prices would come down further on harvest pressure.
“Cotton prices have come down by ?3,000 in the past one month. By the time new arrivals come in by end-October or early November, we expect prices to come down further by another ?3,000/candy,” said MB Lal, Managing Director of Shail Exports and former Chairman of Cotton Corporation of India.
Farmers in India have planted a record 12.57 million hectares under cotton this year as a delayed and truant monsoon prompted many of them to take up the cultivation of the fibre crop considered sturdy and relatively drought-resistant. Cotton output is projected to exceed a record four crore bales (of 170 kg each) this year.
India had exported about 1.25 crore bales each in 2013-14, of which about 70-75 per cent was bought by China. “This year our exports will come down to around 75-80 lakh bales,” Lal added. Seth said Indian exporters need to explore markets in other countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Far East.
Reuters adds: Beijing will only provide import quotas next year for the 894,000 tonnes that it is required to offer at low duties under commitments with the World Trade Organisation, according to Liu Xiaonan, vice-head of the economy and trade department at the National Development and Reform Commission.
Previously, China has offered another type of quota, in addition to the one compliant with the WTO, but Liu said no additional quota would be made available next year.
Non-quota imports are subject to a 40 per cent tariff, so the restricted availability of import quotas will inevitably dampen Chinese demand for foreign cotton.
In the 2013-14 marketing year, traders estimated that Beijing had issued 600,000-800,000 tonnes through the additional quota that will not be available next year.
“Apart from the 894,000 tonnes of import quota required under WTO entry commitments...we will not issue additional import quota, instead guiding domestic textile companies to use more Chinese cotton,” NRDC’s Liu told reporters.
Source:- thehindubusinessline.com
Alm Oil Imports By India Surge As Prices Slump
Palm oil shipments by India, the world’s biggest buyer, will climb to a record this year as tumbling prices and zero-tax on exports from Malaysia make the oil attractive to refiners, said Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd.
Inbound shipments may increase to 9 million metric tons in the year ending October 31, more than the 8 million tons estimated in July, Dinesh Shahra, managing director of the nation’s biggest importer, said in an e-mail interview. Purchases were at 8.3 million tons in 2012-2013, the highest ever, data from the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India show.
Palm and soybean oils slumped to the lowest in five years this month as forecasts for record supplies threatened to widen a glut in global cooking oils.
Palm will drop in the next few weeks toward the cost at which growers in Asia produce the world’s most-used cooking oil, Dorab Mistry, director at Godrej International Ltd, said September 15.
The decline spurred Malaysia, the world’s second-biggest grower, to scrap export tax on crude palm oil for two months through October to boost shipments.
“We have seen and would see a surge in imports in the nearby month” because of the Malaysian tax cut, Shahra said. “Stockpiles are thinner versus previous years,” he said. Most traders had “hand-to-mouth” stockpiles as longer dated deliveries were cheaper than spot rates, he said.
Futures tumbled to a five-year low of RM1,914 a ton on September 2 and traded at RM2,127 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives in Kuala Lumpur. Palm’s discount to soybean oil averages about US$91 a ton this year, compared with US$244 in 2013 as the US harvests a record soybean crop, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
India’s imports of vegetable oils, including those for industrial use, may jump to an all-time high of 13 million tons this year, Shahra said. The country bought 10.7 million tons in 2012-2013, according to the extractors’ association.
“Our oilseed crops are not big and demand will continue to outpace production,” Faiyaz Hudani, associate vice president at Kotak Commodity Services, said by phone from Mumbai. “Palm will have to be at a very good discount to motivate demand and shift people from soybean and sunflower oils.”
Soybean oil shipments will jump to more than 2 million tons and sunflower oil imports may climb to 1.6 million to 1.7 million tons, Shahra said. Soybean oil prices in Chicago have dropped 17 per cent this year, reaching 31.52 cents a pound on September 10, the lowest since 2009.
“The price gap should remain narrow due to ample supply of both oils,” Shahra said. “Though the supply suggests that prices should remain lower to attract demand, however, amid policy driven steps, prices for palm may get underpinned.”
India buys more than 50 per cent of its annual demand, shipping palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soybean oil from the US, Brazil and Argentina. Imports rose 8 per cent to 9.53 million tons in the 10 months through August from a year earlier, the extractors’ association estimates.
Domestic soybean production may decline to 9.5 million tons to 10.5 million tons in the crop year starting October 1 from 11 million tons predicted in July because of inconsistent monsoon rainfall, lower acreage and some crop losses during the germination stage, Shahra said.
Plantings of oilseeds fell to 17.68 million hectares (43.69 million acres) from 19.25 million hectares a year earlier, the Agriculture Ministry said yesterday. Monsoon rains were 11 per cent less than the 50-year average since June 1, the India Meteorological Department said yesterday.
Source:- themalaymailonline.com
High Court stayed garnishee proceedings as amount of duties weren’t quantified
Service Tax : Where dues/demand was not exactly quantified and figure stated in recovery notice was challenged, High Court stayed garnishee proceedings and directed department to hear assessee for purpose of quantification of exact amount
HC dismissed winding-up of Co. as it merely failed to pay interest amount after paying the principal
CL : Where respondent paid principal amount due towards petitioner but did not pay interest demanded, winding up petition against respondent would not be maintainable
Group Cos negotiating/securing contracts on behalf of foreign Co. would be deemed as service PE in I
IT/ILT : Where assessee, a US based company, entered into contract with an Indian company for supply, installation, testing and commissioning of equipment relating to GSM Cellular Radio Telephone System, in view of fact that a group company namely 'NL' India undertook responsibility for negotiating and securing contracts whereas another group company namely 'NL' Canada supplied aforesaid equipments and its LO in India rendered other services to assessee, those group concerns constituted assessee
SC: No violation of service rules by whistleblower, an IAS officer, on filing of writ petition again
CL: Filing of writ petition by IAS Officer containing allegations that the Government of India is lax in discharging its constitutional obligations of establishing the rule of law can be said to amount to either failure to maintain absolute integrity and devotion to duty or of indulging in conduct unbecoming of a member of the service
Salary paid by overseas HO to expatriate employees working exclusively for Indian branch is fully de
IT/ILT : Where assessee, a bank incorporated in Japan, paid salaries abroad to its expatriates working in Indian branch constituting PE, in view of fact that said expenditure had been incurred wholly and exclusively for Indian branch and, no part of those expenses could be allocated to any other branch by head office, provisions of section 44C did not apply to said expenditure and thus, assessee's claim for deduction of salary expenses was to be allowed
No further addition to be made in survey proceedings if addition was already made in original assess
IT: Where gross receipt of assessee was enhanced in original assessment proceedings, no further addition to be made on basis of survey proceedings
HC advises Commercial Tax Officer to follow set time-limit to take consequential action in case of i
CST & VAT : Where CTO conducted inspection at business premises of assessee on 27-6-2003 and thereafter he passed an order dated 16-6-2014 on assessee, since CTO had failed to follow Circular No. 8/13, dated 18-7-2013 prescribing time schedule, for taking consequential action, matter was remanded back for fresh adjudication
CBDT seeks inputs from officials on its instructions containing allocation of work amongst CIT(Judic
IT : Section 268 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 - Allocation of Work Amongst CIT (Judicial) and their Jurisdiction – Committee to Review the CBDT Instruction No.4/2002, Dated 7-5-2002 on Work Allocation of CSIT(j) – Suggestions Invited From All Officers Thereon
CBDT reconstitutes DRP panel at Kolkata
IT/ILT : Section 144C of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 – Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) – Reference To – Reconstitution of DRP at Kolkata
No reassessment on basis of audit report as it couldn’t be regarded as info indicating escaped incom
IT: Audit report could not be regarded as 'information' for purpose of reopening an assessment; hence reassessment proceedings initiated on basis of such audit report were illegal
HC directed revenue to lift attachment of bank accounts as ITAT had already granted stay against tax
IT : Where despite stay granted by Tribunal revenue attached and took away proceeds of assessee's bank account, revenue was directed to lift attachment
CBEC releases guidelines on structure, administrative set-up and functions of Audit Commissionerates
EXCISE & CUSTOMS LAWS : Guidelines on Structure, Administrative Set up and Functions of Audit Commissionerates
Madhya Pradesh Govt. amends VAT Rules; revises Form 10 and forms for work contractors/composition de
CST & VAT : Madhya Pradesh Value Added Tax Rules, 2006 - Amendment in Rule 21 and Forms 4B, Form 5, Form 10, Form 10.1, Form 10.2, Form 10-B
CBEC takes a leaf out of CBDT's book; mandates transfer of refund/rebate claim into bank account of
ST LAWS : Clarification on Payment of Sanctioned Rebate/Refund to Service Provider/Manufacturer Under Electronic Clearing System Through RTGS/NEFT Facility
Revisional proceedings by Joint Commissioner upheld as assessee had misused from XVII for concession
CST & VAT : Where in course of first appeal filed by assessee, revenue pointed out First Appellate Authority that for misuse of form XVII penalty was to levied upon assessee under section 23 and First Appellate Authority rejected revenue's contention and thereafter Joint Commissioner invoked his suo moto revisional powers under section 34 of Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 and directed Assessing Authority to initiate fresh penalty proceedings under section 23 against assessee, Joint Commi
Order of DRP without considering objections of assessee is a 'non-speaking' order; set aside by ITAT
IT/ILT: Where order passed by DRP was a laconic non-speaking order as it had not given any reason for disposal of assessee's objections and had also not adopted any reasons contained in draft assessment order nor even reasons that were contained in order of TPO; same was to be set aside
Even employee’s contributions to PF are deductible if paid by employer before due date of filing ret
IT: Contribution by employer towards provident fund means both employer's contribution and employee's contributions and if such contributions are paid before due date prescribed under section 139(1), employer shall be entitled to deductions as provided under section 36(1)(iv)
HC sanctioned amalgamation scheme as it was in interest of Co. and IT department didn't raise object
CL : Where income tax department had raised no objection to proposed scheme of amalgamation and same was in interest of company and its members, proposed scheme was to be sanctioned
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