The Delhi Bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (the Tribunal) in the case of Infrasoft Limited v. ADIT [2009-TIOL-21-ITAT-DEL] has held that the amount received by the taxpayer company for transfer of the right to use the licenced software was not for the use of copyright in the software but only the software as such (which was a copyrighted article) and, therefore, could not be taxed as royalty but as business income under Article 7 of the India-UK Tax Treaty (the tax treaty).
With the tax authorities out to prove that the existence of a large number of transactions in shares is to be treated as business income, while the focus of assessees generally has been on trying to refute the tax authorities arguments through stressing the various factual aspects related to the transactions, very often one tends to miss out on exploring the possible alternative contentions, which could mitigate the impact or at times even dissuade the Assessing Officer from treating such transactions as business transactions. What are these contentions?
What constitutes ‘Service’ is certainly a subject matter of discussion. Its plain meaning is an Act of helpful Activity or Rendering of Assistance or Help. Service is generally a feeling in the form of efforts and excludes sale of goods or property or commodities. It pre-supposes existence of a Service Provider. For Service Tax purposes, if there is no Service, then there should be no Tax.
Whether for the purpose of disallowance under Section 14A of the Act:-(a) Rule 8D is to be considered as retrospective; Whether before application of Rule 8D the Assessing Officer should give a holding that he is not satisfied for the basis or quantum of expenses disallowed by the Assessee; b) Whether disallowance is to be made if Investment is held as stock-in-trade?
Whether in determination of book profit u/s 115JB of I. T. Act, adjustment is to be made for:-(a) Depreciation not debited to P & L Account but a note is given in respect thereof; (b) Capital gain not credited to P & L account and taken to reserve; (c) Prior period expenses and extra ordinary items; (d) Difference in the amount of depreciation on account of change in the method of providing depreciation i.e. straight line to WDV or vice-versa?
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against the then Commissioner Income Tax (Appeal), XIV, Mumbai U/s 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of PC Act. on the allegation that he had obtained pecuniary advantage to the tune of Rs. 50 lakhs (approx) during the period 2001 to 2008 in the form of huge donations for his Mumbai based charitable trust from Income Tax assesses/ parties coming under his jurisdiction and as a quid pro quo passed orders in the favour of the assesses.
More than 6,300 frozen demat accounts are now finding some claimants, giving new leads to the Income Tax department’s probe in the matter pertaining to Rs 6,700 crore of unclaimed stocks. A number of accounts were lying idle since 2007 and no transactions were being carried out in them for almost two years. A number of such accounts have now been claimed which the department is scrutinising, official sources said.
he Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has worked out new parameters for scrutiny of companies. These are based on reports on the Satyam fraud investigation. In instructions to the Registrar of Companies (RoC), MCA has pointed to ‘cash at bank’ as a vital parameter for scrutiny. Till now, the auditor’s certificate was sufficient.
The government will take inputs from various stake holders before giving final shape to Direct Taxes Code, said the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee while addressing the second meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee attached to the Ministry of Finance, here today.
The Thirteenth Finance Commission’s taskforce on the proposed goods and services tax (GST) has recommended a 5 per cent central GST and 7 per cent state GST on all goods and services, except five specific categories. It has proposed a zero rate for exports though it is not in favour of any special dispensation for the special economic zones (SEZs).
