finance minister

Statutory taxes charged by the foreign governments are being excluded from taxable value for levy of service tax under the Air passenger transport service. 2) Exemption from service tax is being provided to services relating to ‘Erection, Commissioning or Installation’ of,- Full Article

The existing taxable service ‘Intellectual Property Right (IPR)’ excludes copyright from its scope. Copyrights on (a) cinematographic films and (b) sound recording are being brought under the ambit of service tax. However, copyright on original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work would continue to remain outside the scope of service tax. Full Article

Under the scheme of deduction of tax at source as provided in the Income-tax Act, every person responsible for payment of any specified sum to any person is required to deduct tax at source at the prescribed rate and deposit it with the Central Government within the specified time. However, no deduction is required to be made if the payments do not exceed prescribed threshold limits. Full Article

Income up to Rs 1.6 lakh – nil. Income above Rs 1.6 lakh and up to Rs 5 lakh – 10 per cent. Income above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 8 lakh – 20 per cent. Income above Rs 8 lakh – 30 per cent Full Article

The Finance Minister proposed to extend the concessional export finance regime for select exporters for one more year till March 31, 2011, thus giving the slowdown-hit sector further relief. "I propose to extend the interest subvention of 2 per cent for one more year for exports covering handicrafts, carpets, hand-looms and small and medium enterprises (SMEs)," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while presenting Budget for 2010-11. Full Article

# Income up to Rs 1.6 lakh - nil Income above Rs 1.6 lakh and up to Rs 5 lakh - 10 per cent Income above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 8 lakh - 20 per cent Income above Rs 8 lakh - 30 per cent. # Income Tax department ready with two-page Saral-2 return forms for individual salaried assesses. Full Article

NDTV and CNN IBN are the two leading news channels of India. People who are away from India or don’t have access to these channels on their TVs can view budget online on these channels for free. The official sites of NDTV and CNN IBN hosted the live streaming at NDTV 24×7 Live and CNN IBN Live respectively. The Hindi versions of these two channels are available at NDTV India and IBN 7. Full Article

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: Hailed as the father of India's economic reforms, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh takes part in the Budget-making process. The prime minister holds talks with the finance minister, economists and senior officials to make sure that the Budget unveils policies to stimulate economic growth. Full Article

Dismissing the notion that Mauritius is a tax haven, the island nation's Vice Prime Minister Ramakrishna Sithanen on Tuesday said he has not received any complaints from India about routing investments via his country to evade taxes. However, Sithanen, who is also the finance and economic development minister, promised to cooperate with Indian authorities to check tax evasion in case of complaints, but added his country would not welcome 'fishing expeditions'. Full Article

The government is likely to extend the 2 per cent interest subsidy given to exporters on rupee export credit from March 31 to December 2010. The announcement is expected in the upcoming Budget. Although India's exports have started growing again after several months of decline, commerce ministry sources told that the extension is being considered to sustain growth and stabilise it at 15 to 20 per cent. Full Article