Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) was entered on June 9, 1970. On 7th December, 1998 India became the 98th contracting state of the PCT. Signatory countries formed a Union for co-operation in filing, searching, and examination of applications for protection of inventions and rendering special technical services.
The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has started a round of consultations with the law ministry on the feasibility of setting up a National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in the next one year.
Over 40% of foreign investment inflows to India is routed through Mauritius, a significant portion of which is believed to be third country funds and Indian money routed through the island nation to avoid taxes. India loses over $600 million in revenues annually due to the tax treaty with Mauritius.
The Income Tax (I-T) department seems to have mastered the art of getting more for less. No strong-arm tactics here; it is just that the department has improved what it calls the effectiveness of its search operations through better targeting.
The Income Tax Department needs to immediately add 30,000 more employees to carry out its existing operations, a senior Finance Ministry official said.“To avoid affecting the overall revenue collection and delivery of tax payer services, the department immediately requires 22,000 additional employees apart from filling up the 8,000-odd vacant positions,” the official said.
Life insurance companies anticipate a fall in premium collected through unit-linked pension products. This is due to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) making life cover compulsory with pension plans.
The director of income tax has sought the interference of the Supreme Court in deciding whether the payments made by Indian hotels, including ITC, to hospitality major Sheraton International Inc would fall under business profits or royalties and fees under the double taxation avoidance agreement between India and the US.
Recently, the Delhi High Court in the case of Maharishi Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. v. ACIT (ITA no. 222 of 2009) (Delhi) after following its own decision in the case of Van Oord ACZ India (P) Ltd v. CIT [2010-TIOL-1 87-HC-DEL-IT] held that the question of tax withholding in case of payment made to non-resident would arise only if the said payment is chargeable to tax in India.
Recently, the Bombay High Court in the case of M/s. Essel Propack Limited [2010-TIOL-209-HC-MUM-IT] held that the technical know how fee paid by the taxpayer for acquiring non exclusive licence to manufacture some machines, which was confined to the territory of India for the term of five years during which the proprietary rights in the patents of the licence continued to vest in the licensor,
Recently, the Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) in the case of Laird Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. [2010-TIOL-06-ARA-IT] has held that the fees received by the USA company for assigning contractual rights to the applicant for supply of products in India is taxable as business profits and in the absence of a Permanent Establishment (PE) such consideration is not taxable in India under the India-USA tax treaty (the tax treaty). Accordingly,
