Tuesday 11 August 2015

Rule 8(3A) seeking 'withdrawal of monthly facility to pay duty' is unconstitutional hence demand the

Excise & Customs : Since rule 8(3A) has already been struck down as unconstitutional, hence, withdrawal of monthly facility to pay duty and consequent demand consignment-wise in cash, cannot be sustained

ITAT sounds note of caution for frivolous appeal by revenue; it damages public faith

IT : Filing of appeal with complete knowledge of its fate by the Revenue only reflects the mischievous adamancy to attempt to mislead the Tribunal and waste the time of the Court and the officers concerned.

CUP method to be applied instead of TNMM as assessee was doing job work for its foreign AE

IT/ILT: Where assessee had followed CUP method for determining ALP, which was a standard method, it could not be discarded in preference over transactional profit methods unless revenue authorities were able to demonstrate fallacies in application of such method

Premium paid on medical insurance of employees was eligible for input credit as it formed cost of pr

Cenvat Credit : Premium paid for group insurance/insurance of their employees (including retired employees) and mediclaim insurance premium is eligible for input service credit, as same forms part of cost of final product, on which excise duty is paid

High Court sets aside order of CLB as it failed to serve notice to appellant before passing the orde

CL : Where CLB passed order against appellant but no notice was served upon appellant, order of CLB was to be set aside

Apex Court denied to interfere with order of High Court due to meagreness of amount involved

IT : Where High Court held that report of DVO could not have been taken into account for assessment, in view of meagreness of amount involved, impugned judgment could not be interfered with

SEBI relaxes ICDR norms; reduces limit of Avg. Market capitalization under Fast Track issue

SEBI : SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2015 – Amendment in Regulation 10, Schedule VIII, Schedule XIX and Schedule XXI

HC comes down heavily on CBDT for constituting ITAT's Special Bench through private meeting

IT : High Court quashes Constitution of Special Bench of ITAT through "private meeting" between CBDT's counsel and Vice-President of ITAT

Competition Act allows parties to enter into a compromise or settlement subject to scrutiny of CCI

Competition Act, 2002: Scheme of the Competition Act, 2002 allows the parties to enter into a compromise or settlement, but the same shall be subject to a scrutiny by the Commission, for examining whether public interest would continue to suffer and whether the object of the inquiry would stand defeated by the acceptance of the compromise.

Payment for lease line charges isn't 'FTS'; not liable to withholding tax u/s 194J

IT: There is no requirement to deduct tax at source from payments made to NSE/BSE towards VSAT charges and lease line charges under section 194J

Comparable due to outsourcing its work falied to satisfy employee cost filter; excluded from TP stud

IT/ILT : Where TPO made addition to assessee's ALP for rendering software development services to its AE, since some comparables selected by TPO were developing their own software products whereas some other comparables failed to satisfy 25 per cent employee cost filter, impugned addition was to be set aside

Sec. 80-I relief available even if manufacturing is carried out by assessee by taking industrial uni

IT : Where assessee takes an industrial undertaking on hire and uses it for purpose of its manufacturing activity, it is still eligible to claim deduction under section 80-I

Top Iron Ore Exporter Goa Resumes Output After Three Years

India's top iron ore exporting state of Goa resumed production on Monday after nearly three years and could hit its court-set annual limit of 20 million tonnes this fiscal year itself, its mines director told Reuters.

Vedanta Ltd (VDAN.NS), India's largest private miner, led the resumption with a ceremonial opening at its Codli mine, heralding the return of a once-big exporter just when iron ore prices are inching up after hitting a decade-low in July.

Almost all other miners in Goa should get their licences to restart this fiscal year started April, said Prasanna Acharya, Goa's director of mines and geology.

The Supreme Court of India banned mining in Goa in 2012 as part of a clampdown on illegal mining, freezing shipments that reached about 50 million tonnes in 2010/11. It lifted the ban in April last year but companies had to wait to get environmental and dozens of other clearances from the government.

Aniruddha Joshi, vice-president at Vedanta, said as Goa's mining revs up only after the monsoon season ends in September, companies will be able to easily meet their output targets this fiscal year despite starting late.

Finding buyers, however, would not be easy given that prices have fallen sharply due to an oversupply.

"It's going to be an uphill task to regain customers, mainly in Europe and Japan," Joshi said by phone. "But we have created a niche for us, mainly in China. Three Chinese mills are coming to meet us."

Vedanta CEO Tom Albanese said on a call with reporters that the company expects positive cash flow from its iron ore business in Goa despite the low prices.

India has cut the export duty on low-quality ore to 10 percent from 30 percent, mainly to help companies sell Goa's ore that contains less than 58 percent iron. Most Indian steel companies either do not have the technology to use low-grade iron ore competitively or are located such that transportation costs are prohibitive.

Source:firstpost.com



No appeal before High Court, if demand set aside by Tribunal is below monetary limit

Excise & Customs : If demand as confirmed by Commissioner (Appeals) is below monetary limit and Tribunal has dropped said demand, no appeal can be filed thereagainst by revenue before High Court

Sec. 234E which levies fee for late filing of TDS/TCS returns is constitutionally valid, rules HC

IT : Section 234E does not suffer from any vices for being declared to be ultra vires of the Constitution. Section i.e., 234E is intra vires of the Constitution

Rupee Falls To 64.16 Against Us Dollar As China Devalues Yuan

The Indian rupee on Tuesday opened lower against the US dollar, tracking losses in the Asian currencies market. The local unit opened at 64.15 per dollar. At 9.08 am, the home currency was trading at 64.16, down 0.46% from previous close of 63.87.

China’s central bank cut the currency’s reference rate by a record 1.9% on Tuesday. This will strengthen the market’s role in the fixing and promote the convergence of the onshore and offshore rates, a stronger yuan puts pressure on exports.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower. Chinese renminbi was down 1.43%, Japanese yen down 0.08%, Malaysian ringgit 0.11%, Singapore dollar 0.79%, Taiwan dollar 0.47%, Hong Kong dollar 0.01%, South Korean won 0.63%, Thai baht 0.54%, Philippines peso 0.11% and Indonesian rupiah 0.05%.

The Sensex index gained 0.33% or 91.54 points to 28,193.29 points in pre-opening trade.The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.80% compared with its Monday’s close of 7.79%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 1.3%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $13.44 billion from local equity and bond markets.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.47, up 0.32% from the previous close of 97.159.

Source:livemint.com



'Best judgment assessment order' wasn't invalid even if served after expiry of limitation period

CST & VAT : Haryana VAT : In terms of provisions of section 15(4), date of communication of assessment order could not be taken as date of making of order

Even semi-finished structure on land would be treated as urban land for levying wealth tax

IT : Structure standing over land during relevant period being a half/semi-finished one cannot come within the exclusionary clause so as to take it out from ambit of urban land under section 2(ea); and assessee was not entitle to claim exemption under Wealth Tax Act

Services provided by cricket associations were covered under 'Club or Association Services'

Service Tax : Promotion of cricket is neither 'public service' nor 'charitable purpose' for purposes of service tax law; hence, cricket associations engaged in promotion of cricket are liable to service tax on membership/subscription fees under 'Club or Association Service'