tax experts

In the run-up to Budget 2010-11, the Finance Ministry is mulling a reduction in the number of personal income tax rates from the current three to two. At present, there are three rates - 10, 20 and 30 per cent - and these are applied on slabs that are specified from year to year as part of the Budget. Full Article

The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, or PMEAC, has favoured asingle slab each for goods and services or one common rate for both under the proposed goods and services tax (GST), unlike the proposal mooted by the states.“The Centre could follow the pattern in which there is only one rate for goods and one rate for services, or one rate which is common to both goods and services,” PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan said. Full Article

This tax treaty controversy is snowballing. First it was just the India Mauritius Double Tax Avoidance Treaty that was under a shadow and has been that way for a couple of years then the proposed Direct Tax Code released in August this year proposed a Treaty of Override Clause. Tax experts and India Inc are up in arms because if the code becomes the law, that law would override any existing treaty and its provisions, creating confusion and uncertainty for tax payers. And.. Full Article

Most countries have Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC) laws that enable authorities to levy such taxes. These laws effectively check the governments’ revenue loss due to the transfer of undistributed dividends to offshore tax havens like Isle of Man, Cayman Islands and Mauritius.  Indian tax authorities, for long, have maintained that there is a need to [...] Full Article

The Supreme Court has ruled that provisioning for bad debt cannot be considered for deduction against the taxable income & Provision for bad and doubtful debts cannot be added to the “book profits” for purposes of section 115JA because they merely represent the diminution in the value of an asset and are not a provision for an unascertained liability. Full Article