Wheat and Paddy which are declared goods under CST Act 1956, have been added to schedule B of Punjab VAT Act 2005. The goods contained in schedule B of PVAT act 2005 are taxable @ 5%. An additional surcharge @ 10% is also applicable. But such surcharge will not be applicable on wheat and paddy since these goods are declared goods as per section 14 of CST Act 1956.
Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry during the bilateral meeting with Mr. Richard Bruton Ireland, Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, has expressed satisfaction that negotiations of the EU–India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement are intensifying with the 12th Round of negotiations scheduled for 31st March to 6th April, 2011 at Delhi, India is over. Shri Sharma said, “Both the sides committed to a balanced, ambitious agreement by 2011. It is hoped that this agreement will lead to increase in opportunities for market access in both goods and services for each other”.
U.S. companies face the sixth- highest effective tax rate in the world, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The tax rate for the largest U.S. companies between 2006 and 2009 was 27.7 percent, compared with a non-U.S. average of 19.5 percent, according to the study released today. Companies based in Japan, Morocco, Italy, Indonesia and Germany faced higher tax rates. Excluding the U.S., companies based in industrialized countries had an average rate of 22.6 percent.
Notification No. 36 /2011-Customs Whereas in the matter of imports of Acetone [hereinafter referred to as the subject goods], falling under sub- heading 2914 11 00 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), originating in, or exported from, Thailand and Japan (hereinafter referred as the subject countries) and imported into India, the designated authority in its preliminary findings vide notification No. 14/31/2009-DGAD, dated the 16th February, 2010, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part I, section 1, dated the 16th February, 2010, had come to the conclusion that –
New reports by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax purposes assess its members ability to stop international tax evasion. Reports on Aruba, The Bahamas, Belgium, Estonia and Ghana evaluate their legal and regulatory frameworks for the exchange of information. Reports on Canada and Germany assess both the legal frameworks and their implementation in practice. The Global Forum, hosted by the OECD, has published reports on 25 of its members and will complete another 35 by November for the Cannes G20 Summit.
At the Seoul Summit last November, the leaders of G-20 tasked us to formulate indicative guidelines for the identification of persistently large imbalances requiring corrective action, including their root causes and impediments to adjustment. Earlier this year at Paris, we decided to break up the exercise into an integrated two step process. For the first step, while agreeing on a set of indicators, we resolved to firm up indicative guidelines against which each of these indicators will be assessed to identify persistently large imbalances by our next meeting in April. We now need to finalize these guidelines and move on to the second step of the exercise. Presumably, this would focus on root causes, impediments to adjustment and corrective policies and actions.
Open to extending Aug 15 deadline if he finds the govt on the right path. In an apparent softening of stand, Anna Hazare today said Parliament was supreme and he would accept its decision if it rejected the Lok Pal Bill. Hazare also showed some flexibility on the August 15 deadline he had set for the passage of the Bill by Parliament, saying he was open to extending it if he found the government was on the right path.
With inflation showing no signs of moderation, economists expect the Reserve Bank to hike key policy rates by at least 25 basis points in its annual monetary policy to be unveiled on May 3. The headline inflation (WPI) stood at 8.98 per cent for March, much above the RBI’s projection of 8 per cent, fuelling speculation that the central bank may go in for another hike in the repo (lending) and reverse repo (borrowing) rates.
The Minister appreciated the Revenue Department for exceeding even the revised targets of direct and indirect tax collections for fiscal year 2010-11. The Budget estimates for 2010-11 for direct and indirect taxes were Rs.7,45,000 crore which were revised to Rs.7,80,000 crore and actual collection at the end of financial year was Rs.7,92,000 crore, said the Finance Minister. The project is expected to be completed in next 24 to 30 months time, the Minister added.
The Supreme Court last week ruled that an arbitration clause in a contract would not exclude the power of the high courts or the Supreme Court to decide disputes between the parties. The court thus dismissed the appeal of East Central Railway in the case, Union of India vs Tantia Construction Ltd. In this case, the railway awarded a project to the construction firm. Later, additional work had to be done and the firm was asked to undertake that too, at the cost dictated by the railway. This was resisted by the firm which moved the Patna high court. It stated that the entire work could not be thrust on the firm at its risk and cost. The government appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that it could vary the nature of the work according to the terms of the contract. The government also argued that the courts could not interfere in the dispute as there was an arbitration clause.
