Thursday 27 November 2014

Payments made by Delhi Race Club for live telecast of horse races weren't covered within the ambit o

IT : Payment made by a race club for live telecast of horse races is not covered under section 9(1)(vi) and said amount, as such not being royalty, TDS was not required to be deducted


Interest earned by Co-operative society on surplus funds deposited in FD wasn't eligible for sec. 80

IT : Where assessee, a co-operative society, engaged in providing credit facilities to its members, deposited surplus funds in fixed deposits and earned interest thereon, said interest would be assessable as 'income from other sources' and, thus, not eligible for deduction under section 80P(2)(a)(i)


Revenue can rely upon statements recorded under sec. 131 while making addition for unexplained credi

IT : Under section 68 question is essentially of discharge of onus toward proving facts, based on positive materials, so that it is only proper and in order that either party furnishes to other all material it relies upon


Land acquired by mutual negotiation between parties won't attract TDS under sec. 194LA

IT : Where assessee had acquired land under Chhattisgarh Nagar Tatha Gram Nivesh Adhiniyam, 1973 by mutual negotiation hence, same could not be treated, as compulsory acquisition and provision of section 194LA would not be applicable


Income from providing seismic services was taxable under sec. 44BB if it was connected with PE of NR

IT/ILT : Revenue earned by a non-resident under a contract for providing seismic services in India is taxable under section 44BB only if it is effectively connected with PE of non-resident in India


Communication of non-certified copy of order by hand-delivery triggers time-limit to file appeal to

Service-tax : It is wrong to contend that 'date of communication of certified copy' is 'date of communication' for purpose of computation of time-limit for filing appeal to Commissioner (Appeals) under section 85; communication of non-certified copy by hand-delivery puts time-limit in motion


Bye-law of NSE prescribing limitation period of six months for reference of disputes to arbitration

SEBI : Byelaw 3 of Chapter XI of NSE Byelaws, to extent it prescribes limitation of six months for reference of disputes/claims to arbitration is void


I-T returns and info provided to tax authorities are exempt from disclosure under RTI Act

IT : Income-tax retruns and information provided to Income Tax Authorities by assessee are confidental and not required to be placed in pubic domain; given nature of income-tax returns and information necessary to support same, it would be exempt under section 8(1)(j) of Right to Information Act, 2005 in respect of individual and unincorporated assessees


ITAT quashes re-assessment concluded on basis of TP report where no proceedings were pending before

IT/ILT: The Assessing Officer cannot make a reference to TPO unless the income-tax return is pending before the AO and the time-limit for issue of notice under Section 143(2) is available. Thus, reassessment made on basis of such report is not sustainable in law.


No denial of sec. 80P relief when revenue failed to prove that society was accepting deposits from n

IT : In absence of any evidence on record that assessee society was accepting deposits from non-members also, Assessing Officer was not justified in rejecting assessee's claim for deduction under section 80P(2)(a)(i) taking a view that assessee was a primary co-operative bank and, therefore, provisions of section 80P(4) applied to assessee's case


No denial of credit merely due to different description of goods provided in transporter's records

Cenvat Credit : Merely because transporter's records contain different description of goods, department cannot deny credit especially when all parties in chain and even check-post records evidence receipt of inputs by assessee


IRDA takes away free look period from health insurance policies having tenure of less than one year

INSURANCE/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : IRDA (Health Insurance) (First Amendment) Regulations, 2014 – Amendment in Regulation 5 and Insertion of Regulation 19


No Indian Sugar Export Deals Signed Due To Doubts Over Subsidies

Indian traders have yet to arrange sugar export deals for the new season harvest as mills are not producing raw sugar due to uncertainty over whether the government will offer incentives, industry officials said.


A drop in exports by India, the world's second-biggest producer, would support global sugar prices and let rivals Brazil and Thailand increase shipments of the sweetener.


In the 2013/14 marketing year to Sept. 30, India exported 2.1 million tonnes of sugar, including 1.2 million tonnes of raws. By the end of November 2013, dealers had signed contracts for nearly 500,000 tonnes of raws but this year they've clinched none.


To help mills saddled with large stockpiles, India gave a subsidy of Rs 2,277 to Rs 3,371 ($37 to $54) a tonne for the production of raw sugar for export in 2013/14. After a change of government in May, no decision has yet been made about 2014/15.


"No one is producing raw sugar this year. Unless government announces a subsidy for exports, they won't start production of raw sugar," Sanjeev Babar, managing director of Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories Federation, told Reuters.


The western state of Maharashtra accounts for most of the raw sugar produced in India.


India's mills traditionally produce white sugar but a global glut has made exports difficult. To bring down inventory, mills produced raw sugar last year, taking advantage of rising refining capacity in Asia and Africa. They are currently producing only white sugar.


"We are not producing raw sugar since exporters are quoting very low prices," said Balasaheb Patil, chairman of Sahyadri co-operative sugar factory, which produced 25,000 tonnes of raw sugar last year. "There is no point in producing raw sugar unless we are sure about prices and the government subsidy."


Kamal Jain, managing director of Pune-based brokerage Kamal Jain Trading Services, said a stronger rupee had added to the pain caused by low global raw sugar prices.


"In the local market, prices will fall further if we fail to export. The government should quickly announce a subsidy to avoid distress sales by mills," Jain said.


Domestic sugar prices hit a nine-month low this month.


In 2014/15 India is set to produce surplus sugar for the fifth year in a row, putting further pressure on mills, which have to pay government-set prices to farmers for cane.


By Nov. 15, mills had produced 560,000 tonnes of sugar compared to 462,000 tonnes in the same period a year ago.


Source:- thehindubusinessline.com





Rupee Trades Marginally Weaker Against Dollar At 61.88

The Indian rupee was trading marginally lower against the US dollar in afternoon trade on Thursday, as dealers avoided taking huge positions ahead of the key economic data due on Friday.


The government will issue gross domestic product (GDP) data for the September quarter and fiscal deficit data for October on 28 November. A Bloomberg poll estimates GDP for the September quarter will be 5.1% as compared with 5.7% in the June quarter.


The local unit opened at 61.82 per dollar. At 2.54pm, the home currency was trading at 61.88 per dollar, down 0.05% from previous close of 61.85, while India’s equity benchmark Sensex index was trading at 28,366.59 points on BSE, down 0.07%.


Most of the Asian currencies were trading higher. South Korean won up 0.75%, Japanese Yen 0.32%, Philippines peso 0.21%, Malaysian ringgit 0.16%, Indonesian rupiah 0.07% and Taiwan dollar 0.06%.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 8.153%, compared with its Wednesday close of 8.145%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.


The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday announced a sale of government of India dated securities (G-secs) worth Rs.12,000 crore through open market operations (OMOs) on 1 December.A number of bank economists and treasurers say that a reduction in interest rates is unlikely at the central bank’s next monetary policy review on 2 December.


A survey of 10 economists and bank treasurers showed that no one is expecting an immediate cut in interest rates; instead they expect RBI governor Raghuram Rajan to wait until there is more clarity on the inflation trajectory and global developments such as commodity prices and monetary policy in the US, Mint reported.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has weakened 0.08%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $15.73 billion during the period from local equity markets.


The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 87.699, up 0.11% from the previous close of 87.607.


Source:- livemint.com





Exp. on construction of superstructure on leasehold premises was in nature of capital exp.; deprecia

IT: Where assessee company had constructed building on leased premises and was getting enduring benefit from it, said expenses incurred was to be treated as capital expenditure and would fall within ambit of Explanation 1 of section 32(1)


AO couldn't disallow genuine exp. when it was disclosed by recipient in his return of income

IT : Where recipient of commission payment accepted same and his return also disclosed amount received from assessee, no disallowance could be made under section 37


HC denied to review its order as petitioner was retracting its earlier stand taken during course of

IT: It is duty of Court to deal with all arguments/points raised by parties and if petitioner has chosen to take a stand during course of argument, petitioner cannot take a 'U' turn and say that judgment may be reviewed as points for determination were limited


Interest to be paid if duty was paid in instalment even if adjudication order didn't provide for lev

Excise & Customs : Where assessee seeks payment in instalments and said facility is granted subject to payment of interest, assessee cannot, later on, contest levy of interest itself after having availed instalment facility; this is so even if adjudication order did not provide for levy of interest


After investing huge sums in mutual funds assessee couldn't plead that it didn't incur exp. to earn

IT : Where assessee systematically invested in large number of mutual funds and, moreover, various mutual funds were liquidated during relevant year, assessee's explanation that no expenditure was incurred for earning tax free dividend income was a bold assertion liable to be rejected and, consequently, matter was to be remanded back to Assessing Officer with a direction to work out disallowance in terms of Rule 8D of 1962 Rules


HC decides TP issue of undervaluation of shares in favour of shell; follows ratio of Vodafone's case

IT/ILT : The Bombay High Court in the instant case held in favour of Shell India ('petitioner') on the issue of applicability of Transfer Pricing provisions in case of issue of shares. In this regard, the High relied upon decision in the case of Vodafone India Services (P.) Ltd. v. Union of India [2014] 50 taxmann.com 300 (Bombay). In case of Vodafone India (Supra) it was held that the jurisdiction to apply Chapter-X of the Act would occasion only when income arises out of International Transact


AO couldn't make addition alleging undisclosed cash purchases if payment was routed through bank

IT: Where purchases were actually made and payment was made by account payee cheques, no disallowance could be made on account of undisclosed cash purchases


Assessee was eligible for tax credit as Tribunal had failed to record any finding on forged tax invo

CST & VAT : UP VAT : Where assessee purchased timber from a registered dealer 'H' after payment of input tax and 'H' issued tax invoice and further assessee claimed for credit of input tax paid, in absence of any finding recorded by Tribunal that tax invoice was not genuine, claim of assessee could not be disallowed


HC directed SEBI to allow employee to occupy official quarter until disposal of appeal on vacation o

SEBI : During pendency of appeal against order directing vacation of official quarter by petitioner, SEBI was directed to allow petitioner to occupy said quarter till disposal of appeal