State of U.P. & Ors. Vs. M/s. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. – The Supreme Court has set aside the judgment of the Allahabad high court, stating that the high court had inserted words in a Uttar Pradesh notification which it had no power to do. The court should only interpret provisions of tax laws; it should not take over the role of the supervisor or legislator, the court stated in the judgment, State of UP vs Mahindra & Mahindra. The case arose when the tractor manufacturer moved the high court seeking exemption in the sale/excise duty for tractor engines specifying cubic capacity not exceeding 1800 cc. The high court allowed the writ petition. The government appealed to the Supreme Court. It remitted the matter to the excise tribunal for reconsideration, asking it not to alter the scope of the state notification.
Booz Allen and Hamilton Inc. Vs. SBI Home Finance Ltd. & Ors.- All disputes are not capable of settlement through arbitration; some by nature have to be adjudicated by courts, according to the Supreme Court. A suit for sale, foreclosure or redemption of mortgaged property should be tried by a court and not by arbitral tribunal, the court stated in the judgment, Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc. Vs SBI Home Finance Ltd. In this case, two firms took loan from SBI to buy flats in Mumbai and they entered into leave and licence agreements with Booz. The borrowers did not repay the loan and so SBI filed a mortgage suit before the Bombay high court. Booz moved the high court for arbitration which was dismissed. Its appeal was also dismissed by the Supreme Court. It stated that a court where the mortgage suit is pending should not refer the parties to arbitration as it is not an “arbitrable” issue. This is so because only a court can protect the interests of third parties. Arbitration deals with only disputes between parties to the arbitration agreement. The court gave similar instances where arbitration should not be attempted, like insolvency and winding up matters, tenancy, wills, criminal offences, matrimonial disputes and guardianship issues.
Download Appeal Forms under Customs Act, Central Excise Act, Finance Act (Service Tax) and under Customs Tariff Act 1975 (Anti Dumping Duty). Form No. S.T.-5, Form No. S.T.-6, Form No. S.T.-7, Form No. E.A.-3, Form No. E.A.-4, Form No. E.A.-5, Form No. C.A.-3, Form No. C.A.-4, Form No. C.A.-5
Carriages which run under public transport system fall under category of stage carriages where passengers have a right to board or alight according to their choice and convenience and pay fares for the journey individually, do not fall under definition of ‘tourist vehicle’ under Section 2(43) of the Motor Vehicles Act.
As many as 85 lakh tax payers will benefit from the government’s decision to exempt persons earning less than Rs 5 lakh a year from filing I-T returns, a finance ministry official said. The decision, which will come into effect from June 1, 2011, will reduce the compliance burden about 85 lakh small taxpayers, he said.
Desperate to curb the flow of blackmoney into the country’s economy, the Income Tax department has now begun to track all fliers and visitors who travel to tax havens like Switzerland, Virgin Islands and Bahamas for personal or business purposes secretly. The department has focussed its intelligence and investigation scanner on all such travellers who have visited tax haven nations last year and have not disclosed the expenditure and instances of such tours in their Income Tax returns.
The new company law will make it mandatory for companies to disclose details of social sector initiatives, called CSR, in addition to money spent, to shareholders in their annual reports. Not just how much, but companies will also have to disclose to their shareholders where they have spent the 2 per cent of net profit earmarked for corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, once the Companies Bill 2009 is passed by Parliament.
Silver prices plunged across the world market keeping every one on the table of quest of what made the fall of silver prices. Base metal prices were very much over leveraged or over brought in the past couple of months on a continuous basis. Silver is expected to have another correction from the last weeks closing by another 5% to 10%.
Sapient Corporation Pvt Ltd vs. DCIT (ITAT Delhi) – When loss making companies have been taken out from the list of comparables by the TPO, Zenith Infotech Ltd. which showed super profits should also be excluded. The fact that assessee has himself included in the list of comparables, initially cannot act of estoppel particularly in light of the fact that the AO had only chosen the companies which are showing profits and had rejected the other companies which showed loss (Quark System vs. DCIT 38 SOT 307 (SB) followed).
ACIT vs. Clough Engineering Ltd (ITAT Delhi – Special Bench)- Under Article 11(4) of the DTAA, interest from indebtedness “effectively connected” with a PE of the recipient is taxable under Article 7 and not under Article 11. Though the interest was connected with the PE in the sense that it has arisen on account of TDS from the receipts of the PE, it was not “effectively connected” with the PE either on the basis of asset-test or activity-test. The payment of tax was the responsibility of the foreign company and the fact that it was discharged by way of TDS did not establish effective connection of the indebtedness with the PE. In order to be “effectively connected”, it is not necessary that the interest income has to be necessarily business income in nature. Even interest assessable under “other sources” can qualify.
