Wednesday, 4 March 2015

No penalty alleging default in submission of TP docs when assessee had filed such docs within extend

IT/ILT: Where assessee had produced rule 10D documents within extended period, penalty under section 271G was not to be imposed


Software development Co. can't be chosen as comparable for captive service provider

IT/ILT : For computing ALP, Software product development-company cannot be selected as comparable in case of captive service provider


Mumbai customs had no jurisdiction to raise demand alleging misdeclaration when imports took place a

Excise & Customs : Where assessee imported goods at Chennai port and customs authorities at Chennai had cleared goods, Mumbai Customs House has no jurisdiction to raise demand alleging misdeclaration


ITAT condoned delay in filing appeal as assesse was prosecuting case before the wrong forum under bo

IT : Where assessee was prosecuting proceedings for approval under section 12AA bona fidely before wrong forum, a delay of 2353 days in filing appeal against impugned order denying registration was to be condoned


SEBI simplifies account opening process for individual investors trading in cash segment

SEBI : Saral Account Opening Form for Resident Individuals


HC directs AO to re-determine levy of penalty after considering ruling of Apex Court on similar issu

CST & VAT: Rajasthan VAT - Where Assessing Authority imposed penalty upon assessee under section 78(5) and Appellate Authorities deleted same, matter was restored back to Assessing Authority for deciding penalty proceedings afresh


TPO couldn’t determine ALP of services as Nil without examining docs showing rendition of services b

IT/ILT: Where TPO determined value of management fee paid by assessee to its AE at nil without considering material on record showing that AE had in fact rendered services to assessee, order so passed was to be set aside and, matter was to be remanded back for disposal afresh


No penalty under sections 76 and 77 when assessee had paid entire ST with interest before issuance o

Service-tax : Where, in a case involving evasion of service tax, assessee paid service tax along with interest even prior to issuance of notice, assessee was entitled to benefit of section 73(4A) and maximum penalty leviable could be 25 per cent of tax under section 78 and no penalty could be levied under sections 76 and 77


ITAT condoned delay of 6 years in filing appeal as delay was due to prosecution of proceedings befor

IT : Where assessee was prosecuting proceedings for approval under section 12AA bona fidely before wrong forum, a delay of 2353 days in filing appeal against impugned order denying registration was to be condoned


Income from letting out of warehouse alongwith incidental facilities was taxable as income from hous

IT : Where letting out of warehouse together with various services did not constitute a business activity of assessee, rental income therefrom was to be assessed as income from house property


Adani Ports In Talks With Essar Group To Acquire Its Ports Business

Gautam Adani led Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) is said to be in talks with Essar Group to acquire its ports business. According to multiple sources in the know, early stage discussions have been ongoing between both sides and may soon progress to a formal diligence.


Essar Ports, one of the largest private sector player by capacity and throughput, has an operational footprint on both western and eastern coast of the country and can handle liquid (mainly oil), dry bulk (mainly coal), general cargo and small volumes of container crago for specialized project equipment. Its existing aggregate capacity stands at 104 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) across its facilities in Vadinar and Hazira in Gujarat and Paradip in Orissa. The company is looking to expand capacity to 194 MMTPA by 2017. However, officials close to Essar said, the steel-to-mobile retail conglomerate, has identified two of its businesses - power and ports - and is open to divesting either one of them fully to reduce its high group level debts.


On the other hand, Adanis, in June 2014, took over Dharma Port - an equal JV between L&T and Tata Steel - for Rs 5500 crore, in what was the largest deal among private port operators in the country. APSEZ, whose market value has doubled in the last one year, is today the largest multi-port operator of India. From being a single port operator in Mundra, Gujarat, it has spread its presence across 8 ports in India. The company has an aggressive expansion blueprint to increase its annual cargo handling capacity from 108 million tonnes (as on Dec 31st) to 200 million tonnes by 2020.


Sources said, the promoters of Essar, the Ruia family, are expecting an enterprise value of over Rs 15,000 crore for the business which is inclusive of its debt of Rs 5836 crore debt, as of end-FY14. However, post its expansions in Orissa and Gujarat, analysts expect debt levels to go up to Rs 7000 crore. The current market cap of Essar Ports is Rs 5070 crore, with the stock seeing a sudden spurt of 7% in the last 24 hours of trading.


Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com





RBI further cuts bank rate by 25 bps wef March 4, 2015

BANKING : Change in Bank Rate


India Coal Imports In February Jump From Year Ago, But Drop M-O-M

India's imports of thermal and coking coal jumped 31 perc ent in February from a year ago, as new power plants ramped up output, preliminary data from online trader mjunction showed, though purchases sank month-on-month on rising prices.


Shipments through the 31 coal-handling ports in India, which is about to unseat Japan as the world's second biggest coal importer after China, stood at 17.94 million tonnes in February compared with 13.72 million tonnes a year ago.


Imports in January this year, however, were much higher at 20.29 million tonnes, compared with initial estimates of 15.79 million tonnes, according to the data based on monitoring of vessels and information from shipping companies.


"Spot steam (thermal) coal prices remained volatile in the international markets during February while showing an increasing trend over the previous month," mjunction Chief Executive Officer Viresh Oberoi said in an email.


Prices of thermal coal for export from Australia's Newcastle port, Asia's benchmark, soared 30 per cent in January and February to over $80 a tonne at the end of last month as major miners cut production, although prices have since fallen below $70 a tonne.


India imported 13.61 million tonnes of thermal coal in February this year, 3.54 million tonnes of coking coal and 138,499 tonnes of metallurgical coke among other varieties.


Thermal coal is used for electricity generation in power plants while coking coal and metallurgical coke find use in steel making.


Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com





Seafood Exporters See Achhe Din

Indian seafood exports are poised to cross the $5-billion-mark achieved last year with figures for 10 months to January 2015 showing a 12% rise, helped by a rise in demand in the US and Southeast Asia.


However, a slowdown in the global market may cause it to fall short of $6 billion at the end of 2015-16.Exporters say prices have slackened in recent months which could put the brakes on revenue in the next two months.


According to figures provided by the Marine Products Export Development Authority, marine product exports stood at 8,75,791 tonne valued at `28,084 crore ($4.7 billion) till the end of January this year.While the quantity increased around 5%, the value in rupee terms went up by 11% compared with the same period of the previous year. The jump is attributed to increased production and export of vannamei shrimps, frozen cuttle fish, both live and chilled.


About 85% of vannamei shrimps production is from Andhra Pradesh, where most of the farms are located.In value terms, the frozen shrimp accounts for over 68% of the total marine product exports from the country .


"Exports will definitely cross $5 billion, but it will be difficult to reach $6 billion as prices have fallen in Europe and the US markets. Movement is slow and buyers are adopting a waitand-watch policy ," said AJ Tharakan, president of the Seafood Exporters Association of India.


In 2013-14, seafood exports from the country reached a record high of `30,213 crore.Southeast Asia, which bought large amounts of shrimps from India because of a shortage following a disease affecting the farms, has recovered a bit, he added. This has led to the region to go slow on purchases.But it is still the second largest buyer of Indian seafood with a share of 26.22%, marginally below the US which accounts for 26.81%.


With vannamei shrimps becoming a money spinner in the Indian seafood exports, the focus has shifted to far med seafood products. The share of sea catch has come down in the total seafood export basket.


"The catch from the sea has also gone down due to a delayed monsoon last year. The price of fishes like tuna has slumped. On top of it, increase in diesel prices has raised the cost of running the boats," said George Joseph, CEO of Starfish Exports.A rise in export of farmed shrimp has made Visakhapatnam the top seafood exporting port of the country.


Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com





Profit earned by contractor by executing work through sub-contractor wasn’t liable to Kerala VAT

CST & VAT : Kerala VAT - Where assessee, a works contractor, was awarded a contract and it got said work executed through a subcontractor and under this transaction it earned certain amount as profits, in terms of Kerala VAT Act, there was no liability of assessee to pay tax on amount of profit


AO could estimate net profit rate of 8% by referring to Sec. 44AD even if such provision wasn’t appl

IT : In absence of any material to show net profit rate, presumptive net profit rate of 8 per cent as stipulated in section 44AD could be taken for estimation of income though said provision as such was not applicable to assessee, its turnover being more than Rs. 40 lakhs


Appeal against order of DIT is to be filed before ITAT and not before CIT(A)

IT: Appeal against an order of Director of Income-tax passed under section 271FA is to be filed before Tribunal who is higher in rank and not before Commissioner (Appeals) who is equivalent in rank with Director of Income-tax


ITAT couldn’t ignore decision of Special bench even though appeal against such decision was pending

IT : Tribunal was not justified in passing order of remand for redecision ignoring Special Bench decision of Tribunal on issue even though appeal against same was pending adjudication before High Court


No tax on advance received by builder if allotment letter didn’t confer possession rights on allotte

IT : Where allotment letter stipulated that possession of plots was to be given to buyers only on execution of sale deed, advance money given by buyers prior to that date was not required to be treated as income


HC upheld demand as evidence of clandestine removal was found in form of unretracted confessional st

Excise & Customs : When there is overwhelming evidence of clandestine removal in form of unretracted confessional statements, mere failure on part of Excise authorities to produce evidence of extra consumption of electricity or source of procurement of material cannot be a ground to set aside demand


Vessels sharing agreements of Liner Shipping Industry not to be deemed as anti-competitive for 1 yea

COMPETITION ACT : Section 54, Read with Section 3 of the Competition Act, 2002 – Power to Exempt - Exemption to Specified Vessels Sharing Agreements of Liner Shipping Industry under Section 3 of Said Act


CBEC revises guidelines for adjudication of cases booked by Directorate General of Excise Intelligen

EXCISE & CUSTOMS LAWS/ST LAWS : Section 2(b) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 – Central Excise Officer – Instructions on Adjudication of Central Excise and Service Tax Cases Booked by DGCEI


Prior to 1-3-2008, assessee could pay ST on GTA service under reverse charges using cenvat credit

Cenvat Credit : Rule 3(4)(e) provides that Cenvat credit may be utilized for payment of service tax on any output service; hence, service tax on GTA services received under reverse charge, which amounted to output services, could be paid by utilizing Cenvat Credit balance


Society to claim exemption under sec. 80P as earlier exemption notification relied by it was repeale

IT : Where assessee-co-operative society claimed exemption under notification no. SRO/992 dated 22-12-1950 of Income-tax Act, 1922, which was repealed by Income tax Act, 1961, claim of assessee was to be decided according to section 80P


Legal consultancy fee paid to foreign lawyer wasn’t taxable in absence of his base in India

IT/ILT: Where assessee paid a certain sum to Foreign agent, on account of legal consultancy fee for initiating anti-counterfeiting proceeding, since agent was not having any fixed base in India, it could not be taxed in India in respect of fees paid by assessee


ROC can allow e-filing of DIR-12 by one of the resigned directors who was an authorized signatory

COMPANIES ACT, 2013 : Section 168 of the Companies Act, 2013 – Director – Resignation of – Clarification Relating to Filing of E-Form DIR-11 & DIR-12 under Companies Act, 2013