Budget

1. Rate of Service Tax Increased from 10% to 12% across all the services; (effective date 1st April, 2012). 2. Consequent rates changes in the service tax have been made in specific and compounding rates of tax for the following (effective date 1st April, 2012): a) Service in relation to purchase and sale of foreign currency including money changing, existing rates increased proportionately by 20%;b) Service of promotion, marketing, organizing or in any manner assisting .. Full Article

Changes in the Rates of Duty- a. Central Excise rate for all goods, other than petroleum, called the Standard Rate has been enhanced from 10% to 12% ad valorem. b. The merit rate of excise duty for all non-petroleum goods has been increased from 5% to 6%. c. The concessional rate of duty of 1% imposed on 130 items in the last Budget-2011 has been increased to 2%. However, the following 4 items would attract only 1% duty:- Full Article

Shift to Negative List Approach from Positive List: (Applicable date to be notified) Present: A present under positive list approach, only those services are taxable which are specifically prescribed under service tax law (more than 125 services). And other activities which are not specifically mentioned under law are not liable to pay service tax. Full Article

Sec 2 , Sec 9 and Sec 195 have been amended and it clarifies “ Property includes any rights in or in relation to an Indian company,including rights of management or control or any other rights whatsoever. This was retrospectively ammended from 01.04.1962. This ll open up VODOFONE case . Sec 10 D and 80 C : any sum received under an insurance policy issued on or after the 1st day of April, 2012 in respect of which the premium payable for any of the years during th.. Full Article

General Anti-Avoidance Rules has been introduced as a result of Ruling in the case of VODAFONE by the Apex Court. The implication of this is that the Income-tax department will have powers to deny tax benefit if a transaction was carried out exclusively for the purpose of avoiding tax. Full Article

Under the provisions of section 144C of the Income-tax Act where an eligible assessee files an objection against the draft assessment order before the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP), then, the time limit for completion of assessments are as provided in section 144C notwithstanding anything in section 153. A similar provision is proposed to be made where assessments are framed as a result of search and seizure to provide that for such assessments, time limit specified in .. Full Article

Power of the DRP to enhance variations Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) had been constituted with a view to expeditiously resolve the cases involving transfer pricing issues in the case of any person having international transactions or in case of a foreign company. It has been provided under sub-section (8) of section 144C that DRP may [...] Full Article

Under the provisions of sub-section (8) of section 144C, the DRP has the power to confirm, reduce or enhance the variations proposed in the draft order. The Income Tax Department does not have the right to appeal against the directions given by the DRP. The taxpayer has been given a right to appeal directly to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) against the order passed by the Assessing Officer in pursuance of the directions of the DRP. Full Article