Assessees having income from salary have to file return of income before July 31 of the assessment year. This is the `due date’ prescribed in section 139(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Self-employed businessmen and professionals, and those deriving income from let-out property too have to file their returns by this date.

In the instant case, since the purchase and sale of shares are delivery based, the gross sale value has to be taken as the turnover. Therefore, if the gross sale value exceeds Rs 100 lakh, a chartered accountant must conduct a tax audit under Section 44AB. It is understood that you are a regular trader in shares carrying on the business of buying and selling of shares.

Employees generally receive a house rent allowance (HRA) from their employers. This is a part of the salary package, in accordance with the terms and conditions of employment. HRA is given to meet the cost of a rented house taken by the employee for his stay.The Income Tax Act allows for deduction in respect of the HRA paid to employees. The exemption on HRA is covered under Section 10(13A) of the Income Tax Act and Rule 2A of the Income Tax Rules. It is to be noted that the entire HRA is not deductible. HRA is an allowance and is subject to income tax.

When AO, who is both an adjudicator as well as an investigator, is acting in a quasi judicial capacity, it is his perception which counts and not that of CIT sitting in revisionary proceedings. It is not an error on the part of the AO not to conduct any inquiry into the accounts the way CIT wants it in exercise of his power under section 263.

Merely because income/loss in dealing in shares in one particular year is more than income/loss from principal business of the assessee of granting loans and advances, it cannot be said that principal business of assessee is not that of granting loans and advances.

What is Audit Report in Form 704? Ans : It is a report under section 61 of MVAT ACT, 2002 to be submitted by eligible dealer within 10 months of the end of a particular financial year.

SEBI’s income from fees and other charges dropped by 46 per cent to Rs 213 crore in the fiscal 2008-09 as against Rs 397 crore recorded during the previous fiscal, SEBI’s annual report released on Wednesday said.

For non filing or late filing of the Audit Report, penalty at the rate of 0.1% of the turnover of sales is also leviable. As explained from beginning, under VAT Act the assessments will be sparing, based on selection criteria. Therefore, to have authentic checking of the returns/tax liability of the dealer, the VAT Audit provision has been introduced. The VAT Audit report in Form 704 is accordingly notified in the MVAT Rules right from 01.04.2005. However, the said Form is now replaced by Notification dated 26.08.2009 under Rule 17A(2) of MVAT Rules,2005 applicable from 01.04.2008. The newly introduced Form will accordingly be applicable from financial year 2008-2009. Some of the important aspects of this Form can be noted as under:

The main attraction of the Direct Taxes Code 2009 will be the simplicity of the provisions, Mr P.V. Bhide, Secretary-Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, said.The level of understating between the assessees and department will be higher, Mr Bhide said at a presentation on the code organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry here recently.

Mumbai: Officials from the income-tax (I-T ) department on Wednesday and Thursday carried out searches at various offices of Bombay Rayon Fashion, a textile company promoted by Janardhan Agarwal. The company is into garments , textile and retail.