CA Terminal: 01/22/15

Thursday 22 January 2015

Interest on purchase duty would be deductible on payment basis under sec. 43B, rules High Court

IT : Provision of section 43B are applicable to interest payable on purchase duty

Exp. incurred on construction of storage shed on leasehold land was revenue exp.

IT : Expenditure incurred by assessee on construction of storage sheds on leasehold land is revenue in nature

RBI revises conditions for overseas direct investment by Indian firms

FEMA/ILT : Review of Overseas Direct Investments by Proprietorship Concern/unregistered Partnership Firm in India

Payment to casual labours through senior workman would not attract sec. 194C TDS

IT : Payment made to casual labourers through senior workman was not liable to TDS under section 194C

Detention order vitiated when authority didn't supply docs to petitioner on basis of which detention

COFEPOSA : Non-supply of vital documents which were considereed by detaining authority while passing detention order vitiated detention order passed against petitioner

India Asks Refiners To Cut Iran Oil Imports Ahead Of Obama Visit

India has asked its refiners to slash oil buys from Iran in the next two months to keep the imports in line with the previous fiscal year's levels, sources with knowledge of the matter said, days ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to New Delhi.

India has raised its crude shipments from Iran around 40 percent over the first nine months of the current fiscal year, when as part of the temporary deal that eased some sanctions on Tehran it was meant to hold them steady.

India and the United States will discuss the status of the Iran nuclear negotiations, Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor in the White House told reporters in a teleconference detailing Obama's visit.

India's higher imports from Iran would also be on the agenda, the two sources in India said.

"The refiners will have to virtually halt Iranian oil imports in February-March to retain purchases at last year's levels," said one of the sources with knowledge of the matter. The sources did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

India's imports from Iran rose 41 percent to 250,200 bpd in April-December compared with the same period a year ago, according to tanker arrival data made available to Reuters.

One of the sources said India's federal oil ministry told Essar Oil, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and Indian Oil - the only Indian companies that buy from Iran - to cut imports.

Iran and six major world powers will meet next month to narrow differences over Tehran's nuclear programme after making limited progress earlier in January to clinch a full blown deal by June 30 deadline.

MRPL and Essar declined to comment on any requests to cut purchases from Iran. IOC's finance head did not respond to phone calls.

Source:- thedailystar.net

Honda Imports A Unit Of Pcx 150 In India

The premium end of scooter segment initiated by a slew of Piaggio Vespas is likely to get even more livelier. After Hero previewed its 157cc ZIR at the Auto Expo 2014 and Mahindra-Piaggio alliance about to bear its fruit in Indian market with a couple of premium scooters, its the turn of Honda to respond. In an answer to a rising competition, Honda has silently imported a unit of PCX 150 in India, which is one of the premium scooters it sells in the European markets.

The Honda PCX 150 is a full-sized scooter, which is based on the PCX 125 showcased by Honda during the Auto Expo 2014. It comes with a four-stroke, single-cylinder, fuel-injected, 153cc engine, which churns out 13.5PS of power and 14Nm of torque, through a V-Matic CVT transmission. Apart from an appealing European design, the PCX 150 also incorporates some thoughtful features such as front and rear LED lights, 14-inch alloy wheels, steeped seat and a 12V power socket in the under-seat storage compartment.

Though the reasons of Honda importing the scooter are still unknown, there are strong possibilities that Honda will be testing the PCX 150 either for R&D purposes within their technical center or for testing it on the Indian roads to judge its feasibility on the Indian tarmacs. If launched in India, the PCX 150 will be priced in the range of Rs. 70,000 to 80,000. Currently, Piaggio is the sole player in the premium scooter segment, with a portfolio comprising of Vespas, such as Vespa LX125, Vespa VX125 and Vespa S.

Source:- indianexpress.com

India Imports 654,000 Tonnes Of Scrap

The scrap imports by India during the month of October last year increased considerably when compared with the previous month.

The scrap imports stood higher when matched with same month the previous year. However, the cumulative scrap imports by the country during initial ten-month period of the year were slightly down over the previous year.

According to trade data, India imported 654,000 tons of scrap during October 2014. This is nearly 25% higher when compared with the imports of 523,200 tons during the previous month. The scrap imports during the month almost doubled when compared with the imports during Oct ’13. The country’s exports have surged by nearly 95% over the year in Oct ‘14.

In Oct ‘14, the UAE was the main exporter of scrap to India. The scrap imports from the UAE totaled 275,000 tons, accounting for over 42% of the total imports by India during the month. The scrap imports from the UAE were up nearly 5.7 times when compared with the same month a year ago.

The second largest source of scrap imports by India was South Africa. The scrap imports from South Africa during Oct ’14 totaled 83,000 tons, up by over 60% when compared with the previous year. The scrap imports from South Africa constituted 13% of Indian imports.

Source:- customstoday.com.pk

HC deletes penalty as no intention to evade taxes could be gathered from accompanied challans and bo

CST & VAT : U.P. VAT - Where transported goods were duly recorded in books, it was accompanied with challans and there was no intention to evade payment of tax, no penalty could be imposed

Unit set-up with new PAN and separate SSI registration with investment higher than existing unit was

IT : Where assessee's new unit had different registration number, PAN and customers and its investment in plant and machinery was much higher than existing unit, it could not be said that new unit was formed by splitting up existing undertaking so as to deny deduction under section 80-IC

Sum paid to Employees Association for construction of 'Shamiana' would be donation and not business

IT : Amount paid to Employees Welfare Association for construction of Kalyan Mandapam is donation, there being no proof of having paid for more efficient and contended labour force

Rupee Trades Higher At 61.41 Per Dollar

The Indian rupee on Friday strengthened sharply in the opening after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced larger than expected measures to stimulate the region’s sagging economy.

The local currency opened at 61.45 per dollar and touched a high of 61.37—a level last seen on 5 November. At 9.12am, the rupee was trading at 61.41 per dollar, up 0.47% from its previous close of 61.71.India’s benchmark equity index, BSE Sensex, was trading at 29,187.93 points, up 0.63%.

Asian currencies were trading higher against the dollar. The Taiwan dollar was up 0.45%, Indonesian rupiah 0.30%, South Korean won 0.24%, Malaysian ringgit 0.22%, Philippines peso 0.18%, Singapore dollar 0.17%, Japanese yen 0.12%.

ECB president Mario Draghi announced an expanded stimulus plan and kept benchmark interest rates at record lows, boosting speculation flows of foreign capital into emerging-market assets will increase. The ECB will buy €60 billion worth of assets per month, more than markets had been hoping for, in a program that will last through September 2016, Reuters reported.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond stood at 7.693% compared with its Thursday’s close of 7.714%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has strengthen 2.66% against the dollar, while foreign institutional investors have bought $782.5 million during the period from local equity markets and bought $2.36 billion from debt markets.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.175, up 0.1% from its previous close of 94.077.Dealers likely to be cautious ahead of extra long holiday ahead. The markets are closed from Saturday to Monday.

Source:- livemint.com

Assessee had to pay CST as sale wasn't a high seas sale since bill of entry included his name instea

CST & VAT: CST - Where assessee filed his central sales tax returns before Commercial Tax Officer of circle and thereupon said officer passed assessment orders and assessee filed writ contending that assessment orders were without jurisdiction in absence of any authorisation from Deputy Commissioner authorising said officer to take up assessment under Central Act, above officer was empowered to assess assessee under Central Act

ITAT unhappy with casual attitude of CIT in making revision on grounds not mentioned in show cause n

IT : Where show cause notice to assessee issued by CIT u/s 263 set out grounds for revision as 'inadmissible deductions', revision order cannot be made by CIT on the grounds of 'lack of proper inquiries' by AO. A revision order can only be, made on the ground on which assessee has been given a reasonable opportunity of being heard. It is not open to the CIT to set out one reason for revising the order in show cause notice but actually revise the order on some other ground

Not-ordinarily Resident is liable to pay tax on 'ESOPs' which are attributable to services rendered

IT/ILT : Where assessee, having residential status of 'resident but not ordinarily a resident' received certain amount as Stock Option Transfer Proceeds (SOTP) from its employer company namely 'Microsoft' for rendering services partly in India and partly in USA, only that portion of SOTP was taxable in India which was attributable to services rendered in India

HC allowed deduction of sales tax even when net profit was estimated after rejection of accounts

IT : Even in case of rejection of accounts and estimate of net profit, deduction towards sales tax payment could be allowed

Renting of a building for a hotel isn't liable to service tax

Service Tax : Renting of buildings used for purpose of accommodation including hotels, meaning thereby, renting of a building for a hotel, is not liable to service tax under 'Renting of Immovable Property Services'

Issue whether Tribunal can examine merits of review order permitting file of appeal is referred to l

Service Tax : Issues : (a) whether Tribunal can examine application of mind on merits by Committee; (b) if yes, decision of Committee would be void, if they have appended signatures to notes and objections prepared by subordinate officers, referred to larger bench of Delhi High Court

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