Union Cabinet nods to protocol amending India-Turkmenistan DTAA

IT/ILT/INDIAN ACTS & RULES : Section 90 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 – Double Taxation Agreement – Agreement fsor Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Foreign Countries – Protocol Amending Convention Between India and Turkmenistan

Prawns are non-agricultural produce; no excise exemption on gas compressors used for storage of praw

Central Excise : Shrimps/Prawns cannot be treated as agricultural produce; hence, goods meant for preservation, etc. of 'Shrimps/Prawns' cannot be exempted under Notification No. 6/2002-CE

Imported Wax used for coating can't be treated as consumable for availing concessional duty

Central Excise : Imported Wax used for 'wax coating' on cotton yarn, is a 'raw material' and not 'consumable'; therefore, owing to use of imported raw material, assessee-EOU cannot avail concessional rate of duty on DTA clearances under Notification 8/97-CE

Condition of recording satisfaction u/s 153C can't be bypassed even if AO of searched person and oth

IT: Recording of satisfaction by Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over person searched is an essential and prerequisite condition for bestowing jurisdiction to Assessing Officer of 'other person' under section 153C; even where Assessing Officer of searched person and such other person is same, Assessing Officer has to carry out dual exercise, first as Assessing Officer of person searched in which he has to record satisfaction and second as Assessing Officer of 'other person'

Sum paid to clear mortgage can't be held as exp. incurred in connection with transfer under sec. 48

IT: Amount spent a discharge of mortgage created by assessee after acquiring property, would not be deductible as expense under section 48(1)(i)

Refund of wrongly paid ST under reverse charge not hit by principle of unjust enrichment

Service Tax : Service tax wrongly paid by a sole-proprietorship under reverse charge on Goods Transport Agency's Services is refundable along with interest and bar of unjust enrichment would not apply thereto

Prior to 16-5-2008, services for starting of software couldn't be taxed as management consultancy se

Service Tax : Services relating to implementation of software cannot be taxed under Management Consultancy Services; it is taxable under Information Technology Software Services only from 16-5-2008

No rectification to disallow depreciation if it wasn't clear when asset was put to use

IT : In respect of rejecting assessee's claim for excessive depreciation, issue as to when assets were actually put to use during relevant year was a debatable issue and, thus, rectification order passed by Assessing Officer in respect of said issue was not sustainable

No input tax credit of VAT paid on coal which was used as fuel in manufacturing

CST & VAT : West Bengal VAT - Where assessee purchased coal after payment of VAT and used same both as raw material and fuel in manufacture of sponge iron, it was entitled to input tax credit only on that part of purchase price of coal which was utilised solely as raw material