Luxury Tax

Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow to seek his intervention in reducing taxes in the tourism sector. Sahay along with senior officials including four secretaries from the Ministries of Finance, Civil Aviation, External Affairs and Surface Transport will meet Singh to ensure rationalisation of the tax structure for development of the tourism sector in a coordinated manner with the involvement of all ministries concer.. Full Article

A person is required to get his accounts audited u/s 44AB if 1) The turnover of business exceeds Rs 60 Lakhs, or 2)The Gross Receipts of Profession exceed Rs 15 Lakhs. In case of business what should be the meaning of turnover/sales? Should it be Gross sales or net sales? Should it include VAT, Sales tax or excise duty? The meaning of turnover/sales for the purpose of tax audit is discussed as follows: Full Article

VAT exemption on paddy, rice, wheat, pulses and products of rice and wheat extended for one more year from 1.4.2010. Tax on Masala Powder Mixtures, Macaroni, Sports Trophies, Shields and Medals, all kinds of scrap, Electric generators of less than 15 KVA, railway concrete sleepers, school bags costing up to Rs 200, reduced from 12.5 % to 5 %. Full Article

The commercial taxes department has conducted 298 raids from April to November this year. These statistics were placed before the House by chief minister Digambar Kamat, who holds the finance portfolio, during Question Hour on Thursday. The additional tax collected from these raids are: Value Added Tax (VAT) from hotels -Rs 27.16 lakh; VAT from others-Rs 141.33 lakh; luxury tax from hotels-Rs 51.31 lakh, and entertainment tax from casinos - Rs 2.83 crore. Full Article

The Centre has turned down the proposal of the empowered group of state finance ministers to keep alcohol out of goods and services tax. The government has in fact suggested that both alcohol and tobacco, which are demerit goods and considered harmful for health, should be kept under GST, with the states getting the power to levy excise duty over and above GST on alcohol. The Centre would have the same power in case of tobacco. Full Article

1.         Dealer log  on to web-site  www.mahavat.gov.in 2.       Click on e-registration in   e-services column on home page. 3.   Instruction sheet – Detailed guidelines regarding application process flow, location details, list of required documents are provided in the instruction sheet. Click “next” and then “e registration information” page will appear. Full Article

TRADE CIRCULAR Mumbai, Dt.25.03.2009,     No.LTR-2009/ 1/Adm-29/ B-139  ,         Trade Cir. No. 11 T of 2009 Sub: Luxury Tax on luxuries provided in hotels from 1st May 2004 to 30th April 2005. Ref: 1) Notification No.LTA-1090/ 179/ Taxation-2 dated 21st January, 1992. 2) Notification No.LTA-1090/ CR-47/ Taxation-2 dated 18th November, [...] Full Article

The recent notification of the Central Government to reduce service tax and excise duty by two per cent is not expected to come to the rescue of the hospitality industry in the current time of despair. The Government directive will only be applicable to the hotel rooms and the banquet and convention facilities. Full Article