Search and Survey:-Power to carry out search under section 132 and survey under section 133A are important tools in the armoury of the Income–tax department for detecting and preventing tax evasion. Though the need to have such tools cannot be grudged, the department has to use it sparingly and in deserving cases and after complying with necessary guidelines and safeguards. A search is violation of personal privacy and rights of a citizen and its use should only be in rarest of rare cases.
The assessee, engaged in the business of manufacture and export of diamonds and jewellery, claimed that having regard to the nature of the product, none of the transfer pricing methods were applicable for benchmarking the international transactions with associated enterprises. The TPO rejected the argument on the ground that the Transactional Net Margin Method (TNMM) was applicable and made an adjustment by comparing the enterprise level operating margins.
The assessee, a Singaporean company with a PE in India, obtained rights from the Global Cricket Council, Singapore, for telecast of cricket matches in India. The AO took the view that the payment for the said rights constituted “royalty” in the hands of GCC u/s 9(1)(vi) & Article 12(7) of the India-Singapore DTAA and that it had arisen in India on the ground thatthe payer had a PE in India and there was a direct nexus between collection of advertisement revenue in India and payment for the rights.
The finance ministry appears to have sealed the fate of forth coming auctions of exploration acreages. The revenue department has rejected the oil ministry’s suggestion to extend the seven-year tax holiday under the New Exploration Licensing Policy to gas discoveries in the ninth bidding round.
The finance ministry has turned down a suggestion that government mobilise funds for infrastrucure sector from non-resident Indians through special tax-free bonds. “It may not be a very viable plan as it could lead to losses at the time of redemption because of fluctuation in the Indian currency,” a senior government official said.
Nearly 50,000-odd Income Tax (I-T) employees and officials went on a one-day nationwide strike on Thursday, to press their 12-point agenda, which includes putting an end to outsourcing of departmental functions at the central processing centre (CPC) in Bangalore. The strike called by the Joint Council of Action (JCA), comprising the Income Tax Employees’ Federation (ITEF) and Income Tax Gazetted Officers’ Association (ITGOA) brought routine functioning of the department
State-owned insurance companies on Tuesday agreed to restore cashless treatment facilities in big private hospitals on a case-to-case basis, a development likely to benefit mediclaim policy holders. “Insurance companies have decided to restore cashless facilities on a case-to-case basis. We discussed ways of making people part of the facility and how reimbursements can be revived,” said Sanjay Datta, head, health insurance, ICICI Lombard, after a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-initiated meeting between insurers and the healthcare industry.
The government has set up a committee to undertake a comprehensive review of the small savings instruments in India such as public provident fund schemes and national savings certificate schemes. This marks the first steps towards migrating to a deregulated regime for such schemes. At present, interest rate on these schemes, which come with tax breaks, are administered by the government and are not linked to market rates.
Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Corporate Affairs, today launched the Telugu version of the Investor Education and Protection Fund Website at Hyderabad. He also released Beginner’s Guide to the Capital Market in Telugu language at a function organized by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) in partnership with the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) as part of India Investor Week (IIW) 2010.
The Union Cabinet today approved the acquisition of State Bank of Indore by State Bank of India (SBI) and also accorded `in-principle’ approval to introduce a Bill in the Parliament for making consequential amendments in the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959, to remove references of State Bank of Indore.
