The Supreme Court has upheld a Bombay High Court ruling saying that the Government cannot levy service tax on services provided outside the country. The order pertains to service tax for the period from March 1, 2002 to April 17, 2006.
The Law Commission is in favour of amending the country’s archaic Indian Stamp Act 1899 and the Court-fees Act 1870, which entail payment of stamp duty on instruments and court-fee on documents to be filed in courts only in the form of adhesive stamps or stamped papers.Taking up the obsolete statutes suo motu for a thorough study, the Law Commission headed by Dr Justice A.R. Lakshmanan in its latest report tabled in Parliament, said in the recent past there have been scandals on stamp papers.
The single-most important regulation in India, governing the acquisition of shares or control in an Indian listed company is the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeover) Regulations, 1997, or the Takeover Code. In the backdrop of changing needs of a dynamic Indian economy surging at a growth pace of more than 7 per cent over the last few years, this code has been tested during many a corporate takeover battle in India, observes Girish Vanvari, Executive Director, M&A Tax Head and Member of the Tax Executive Committee, KPMG India, Mumbai.
In a recent ruling Delhi Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in the case of Growth Avenue Securities Pvt. Ltd. (Taxpayer) v DCIT [ITA No. 3912/Del/2005] on the issue of inclusion of capital gains in book profits while computing Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) under the provisions of the Indian Tax Law (ITL), where such capital gains are not chargeable to tax under the normal provisions of the ITL. The ITAT held that any adjustments outside the scope of the MAT computation mechanism, under the ITL, is not permissible and since the exclusion of capital gains is not specifically provided therein, a taxpayer is not entitled to such an adjustment while computing book profits for the purpose of MAT.
Whether amendment to Section 43B (Section) of Income Tax Act,1961, enacted with effect from 1 April 2004, is retrospectively applicable? This amendment was introduced to rationalize the tax deduction of the employer’s contribution to provident fund, superannuation fund, gratuity fund and such other funds for the welfare of employees (social security contributions).
You are aware that rate of tax on timber was reduced to 4% in the Budget Speech of Hon’ble Finance Minister, Maharashtra for the year 2008-09. This reduction in rate has been made with retrospective effect from 1st April 2009. The Gazette Notification for the amendment was published on 1st July 2009.
In recent times, Ministry of Corporate Affairs has taken a number of initiatives by introducing e-stamping with MCA-21 to further facilitate the e-registration of companies. It has also made the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) functional. Limited Liability Partnership Act has been enacted and relevant rules issued.
Further to the First Discussion Paper released by the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on 10 November 2009, the Finance Commission has released its report giving its recommendations on GST design implementation.
Accounting regulator Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has allowed Indian students of chartered accountancy to undergo their mandatory three-year training programme outside India. This means that even ICAI members working with a local firm outside India would be entitled to train chartered accountancy students. Earlier, CA students had to undertake the training programme within India. This also posed a problem for students settled abroad.
Accounting regulator ICAI said on Wednesday it would give auditors of Price Waterhouse in the Satyam scam a chance to present their side before passing any order against them. “I told my office to take permission of the court because I want Director, Discipline, to begin proceedings against them (S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri). Unless I listen to them, I cannot pass the order against them… either send them to us or a llow us to hear them while in custody,” ICAI President Mr Uttam Prakash Agarwal said.
