In the context of refund of service tax paid on foreign agency commission, Notification 18/2009 dated 07/07/2009 (in the table, sl.no.2 , condition no. 2) says “exemption shall be limited to one percent of the free on board value of export goods for which the said service has been used”. This means that amount of service tax paid, which can be refunded to the exporter, is restricted to one percent of the FOB value of export goods in relation to which the taxable service of the foreign agent was used.
CIRCULAR NO 119/13/2009-ST- Customs House Agent’s (CHA) Services are taxable since 15th June 1997. As per the definition (section 65 (105) (h) of the Finance Act, 1994) the ‘taxable service’ means any service provided or to be provided to any person, by a custom house agent in relation to the entry or departure of conveyance or the import or the export of goods and the term ‘service provider’ shall be construed accordingly.
The much awaited new rules have now been notified by The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) vide Notification dated 18 December 2009. The amended provisions will be retrospectively effective from 1 April 2009 onwards. The new valuation rules as prescribed by CBDT and the comparative analysis with the earlier perquisite rules (Rule 3) have in respect of accommodation provided by employer including in respect of accommodation in hotels is tabulated as under:
The Delhi Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (the Tribunal) in the case of Sabre Inc. v. DCIT (2009-TIOL- 488-ITAT-DEL) ruled on the taxability of the income earned through Computer Reservation System (CRS) in India. The Tribunal after following the decision of the Delhi High Court in the case of Galileo International Inc. v. DCIT [2009] 180 Taxman 357 (Del) held that since the income attributable to the Permanent Establishment (PE) in India was less than the remuneration paid to the distributor in India by the taxpayer no income was taxable in hands of Sabre Inc.
Recently, the Delhi bench of the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (the Tribunal) in the case of DDIT v. M/s Saraswati Holding Corpn. Inc. (2009-TIOL-529-ITAT-DEL) ruled on the taxability of the income from the sale of shares in the hands of resident in Mauritius. The Tribunal held that the taxpayer holding tax residence certificate of Mauritius, was entitled to the exemption provided under Article 13(4) of the India-Mauritius tax treaty (the tax treaty). The Tribunal relied on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of UOI v. Azadi Bachao Andolan [2003] 236 ITR 706 (SC).
The state of Punjab has challenged in the Supreme Court the validity of Union government notification giving concessions in taxes and also providing subsidy to the new as well as existing industries in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Contending that such concessions provided on selective basis would adversely affect the industrial development of Punjab, the state government prayed for quashing of these notifications as null and void.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) has clarified the treatment of Central Value Added Tax (Cenvat) Credit in respect of stocks of goods whose value is written off in the books of accounts. It is not unusual that manufacturers are stuck with non-moving stocks of inputs such as raw materials and components, or semi-finished goods or finished goods due to change of models or change of processes or poor feedback from customers or obsolescence, etc.
In the words of our present Chief Justice of India,“….. the citizens’ faith in the judicial system will begin to wane because justice delayed is justice forgotten, excluded and finally discharged “ The quote certainly does not auger well if one were to look at pendency of tax cases in different layers of our judicial hierarchy – 28,000 cases in high courts with disposal rate of roughly 6000 each year. Ironically, the situation is worse in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Chennai where the wait time ranges between 10-15 years. Not to forget the figure of 2 lac crores often debated in the Parliament as arrears of tax in dispute. These could be more staggering in the future.
The nation’s accounting standard-setting body, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), has changed some rules to allow both new and serving officers of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) to acquire the qualification of a chartered accountant (CA).
It has been made clear that such information cannot be sought directly from the private business groups but from a government department which holds it.
