Constitution (One Hundred and Fifteenth Amendment), Bill, 2011 (GST Bill) as introduced in the Parliament on 22 March 2011, deals with key transaction taxes in India. The proposed GST Bill, inter alia seeks to introduce articles effecting the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the introduction of the GST Council. As per the existing structure of indirect taxation, the Parliament has the power to make laws on the manufacture of goods and the provision of services (Union List) while the State Legislatures have the power to make laws on the sale and purchase of goods within their respective states (State List). The Parliament has retained the exclusivity to make laws pertaining to sale of goods in the course of inter-state trade or commerce.
The Finance Bill, 2011 contains some international tax proposals that are focused on anti-tax avoidance, transfer pricing (TP), tax enforcement and provisions to encourage Indian companies to repatriate profits back from their foreign subsidiaries. The Finance Minister also reinforced the intent of the Government of India (GOI) to enact the Direct Taxes Code, 2011 (DTC) with effect from 1 April 2012. Here we have highlighted the key international tax provisions contained in the Finance Bill, 2011.
CIT V. Govind Nagar Sugar Ltd. (ITA No. 164 of 2008) (Del)- Taxpayer filed its return of income for the assessment year 2001-02 on 31 March 2003 declaring a loss. The due date of filing the return of loss in terms of provisions of section 139(3) of the Income Tax Act,1 961 (the Act) was 31 October 2001. In the assessment order, the Assessing Officer (the AO) did not allow the carry forward of unabsorbed loss including the unabsorbed depreciation. The Commissioner (Appeals) confirmed the AO’s order and held that the taxpayer was not allowed to carry forward the losses by virtue of section 80 of the Act. On appeal, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (the Tribunal) allowed the carry forward of unabsorbed depreciation for the assessment years 2000-0 1 and 2001-02. Aggrieved by the order of the Tribunal, the tax authorities filed an appeal before the High Court.
