Monday, 8 December 2014

Allahabad High Court nods to constitutional validity of sec. 34 relating to TDS under UP VAT Act

CST & VAT - U. P. VAT - Provisions of section 34 of U. P. VAT Act and notification dated 7-10-2013 issued under section 34(1) are constitutionally valid and they did not violate article 14 of Constitution


Word ‘used’ doesn’t include ready to use; unused rig wouldn’t constitute PE under India-USA DTAA; S

IT/ILT : Word 'used' as specified in article 5 of Indo USA DTAA clarifies usage of an installation or structure for exploration of natural resources and if it was so used for a period of 120 days in 12 months, only then it can be considered as PE in India and not merely being ready for use


Place of presentation of cheque wouldn't confer jurisdiction upon local Court to take cognizance of

Negotiable Instruments Act : Presentation of a cheque for collection on drawee bank or issue of a notice from a place of choice of complainant would not by themselves confer jurisdiction upon Courts where cheque is presented for collection or default notice issued demanding payment from drawer of cheque


No criminal breach of trust when petitioner had sold pledged shares with prior notice to pledger: HC

SEBI: Where sale of pledged share was with prior notice to pledger, no offence of criminal breach of trust was made out and disputes being civil in nature FIR filed for such offence was nothing but an abuse of process of law


Entire penalty had to set aside once reasonable cause for non-payment of ST was established; no redu

Service Tax : Penalty under section 76 cannot be reduced below that specified as minimum; however, since section 80 overrides section 76, hence, once reasonable cause is established, no penalty is imposable; section 80 does not say that even upon establishment of reasonable cause, a reduced quantum of penalty is imposable


No rejection of transaction based benchmarking if price charged from AEs was higher than that charge

IT/ILT : Where prices charged to Associated Enterprises are higher than prices charged to non-Associated Enterprise, a transaction based benchmarking approach should not be rejected though yearly average is a good and reasonable indicator


Stay application allowed as exclusion of functionally different comparable would bring price of tran

IT/ILT: Where assessee had been able to show that on exclusion of a comparable selected by TPO assessee's mark-up cost would come within ±5 per cent range and no transfer pricing adjustment would be required to be made, stay application filed by assessee was to be allowed


No reassessment to levy penalty on charging wrong rate of VAT if such rate was accepted during asses

CST & VAT : M.P. VAT Where Assessing Authority accepted return submitted by assessee and made assessment and subsequently he reassessed assessee and imposed tax on sale of goods at 12.5 per cent as against 4 per cent paid and also imposed penalty under section 21(2) of M.P. VAT Act, imposition of penalty was against law


Chairman of I-T SetCom has no powers to set-aside orders passed under RTI Act

IT : Chairman, Income-Tax Settlement Commission ('ITSC'), has no power to set aside orders passed under the RTI Act by passing an administrative order. If ITSC aggrieved by orders passed under RTI Act, the ITSC can prefer an appeal in accordance with RTI Act. The Chairman, ITSC has no inherent or other power to pass administrative order to set aside orders passed under the RTI Act


SC admits SLP to decide whether legal exp. made by a dealer to get interest-free deposit from tenant

IT: SLP granted against order of High Court where it was held that licence fee paid by assessee to group resource company providing centralized resources to all group companies for availing valuable benefits, was allowable as business expenditure


Burden of proof is on assessee to show that goods transferred are inter-State stock transfers under

CST & VAT : CST - Where a dealer claims a transaction to be covered by section 6A of CST Act, then he has to satisfy conditions mentioned in said provision and has also to submit a declaration in form 'F', which should be genuine one


Individual lorry operators are commercial concerns; their services amount to GTA services

Service Tax : Individual truck/lorry operator would also be covered within meaning of expression 'commercial concern' as appeared under section 65(50b) and their services amount to Goods Transport Agency's Services


Creditor couldn't raise objection to amalgamation scheme when its entire claim had been adjudicated

CL: Where entire claim of objector to scheme of amalgamation had been adjudicated and adjudicated amount had been fully adjusted/secured, objector would have no locus to raise any objection


Reassessment upheld on basis of partner's confession regarding non-disclosure of cash loan in book o

IT: Where AO had recorded reasons to believe based on confession made by partner of assessee that he had taken cash loan from market which were not disclosed in regular books of account at time of search and seizure, proceedings initiated by AO under section 147 on basis of same were valid


Non-notified goods deemed to be smuggled if proven by department, unless assessee proves to contrary

Excise & Customs : Where department has prima facie shown that non-notified goods are smuggled goods and assessee had failed to prove otherwise, said goods are to be regarded as 'smuggled goods' and liable to be confiscated


It isn't permissible to initiate parallel proceedings before various forums to challenge same order

Service Tax : When appeal, along with stay application, is pending before Tribunal, assessee cannot challenge very same order before High Court; assessee cannot initiate parallel proceedings before various forums challenging very same order


Extended period of limitation couldn't be invoked to cover up indolence on part of Excise Officers

Excise & Customs : Extended period of limitation cannot be used to cover up indolence on part of Jurisdictional Central Excise Officers; hence, when all facts were within knowledge of department on 14-3-2008, issuance of notice on 31-3-2011 was barred by limitation


HC admitted appeal against Tribunal's order holding that money transfer services weren't liable to S

Service Tax : High Court admits appeal against Tribunal majority order holding that services of agents/sub-agents of Western Union delivering money sent by foreign senders from abroad to recipients in India amount to 'export of service' and not liable to service tax