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.

With the service tax rate being reversed from 12 to 10 per cent, a question which the service providers face is to determine the day on which the new service tax rate is effective. Even after 15 years of introduction of service tax in India, this very crucial legal issue is still unresolved. Controversies are [...]

THE SALES TAX OFFICE HAS OPENED A SEPARATE DESK FOR ACCEPTING THE MVAT AUDIT REPORT (FORM 704). 1.THE MVAT AUDIT REPORT CAN ALSO BE SUBMITTED ON 28TH FEBRUARY & 1ST MARCH 2009. 2.ON ABOVE DATES THE SALES TAX OFFICE IN THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA WILL BE REMAIN OPEN DURING REGULAR OFFICE HOURS FOR ACCEPTING MVAT [...]

TAX evasion and tax fraud through the abuse of charities is a serious and increasing risk in many countries, and some estimate that the abuse of charities costs their treasury many hundreds of millions of dollars. The vast majority of charities are legitimate but some may be targeted by criminals to launder the proceeds of [...]

Income tax is a tax on income earned by a taxpayer in a given year. However, activity of a taxpayer may not always result in income. Certain activities may cause losses too. It would be unfair to tax a person on his income, while ignoring the loss. In recognition of this principle, there are elaborate [...]

The Supreme Court last week ruled that the buyer of assets of a company in liquidation had no liability to clear the arrears of property tax, setting aside the judgment of the high court in the case, Champdany Industries Ltd vs The Official Liquidator. In this case, Wool-Combers of India Limited went in liquidation. The [...]

NOTIFICATION NO 8/2009-ST Dated : February 24, 2009 In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 93 of the Finance Act, 1994 (32 of 1994) (hereinafter referred to as the Finance Act), the Central Government, on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts all [...]

New Delhi, Feb 24 (IANS) The Lok Sabha Tuesday approved 2-percent cuts in excise duty and service tax proposed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who said resilience of the India economy which grew by an average of 9 percent annually in the last three years will help it overcome the current crisis. Replying to [...]

The government on Tuesday said that the 4 per cent excise duty cut across-the-board will continue beyond March 31, 2009. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also said that the excise duty on cement will be reduced to 8 per cent from 10 per cent, while service tax will be cut from 12 per cent to 10 [...]

  CASE LAW DETAILS Decided by: ITAT, `F’ BENCH, MUMBAI, In The Case of : Kusum R. Ghuwalewala v. ACIT , Appeal No. : ITA No. 3408/Mum/2005, Decided on:February 12, 2009. RELEVANT PARAGRAPHS: 8. We have considered the issue. It is the assessee 1s contention that the assessee is paying secret commission and the amount [...]