The petitioner was being prosecuted for an offence under Customs Act for the last 12 years. The value of the offending goods was Rs. Eight lakhs (approx). 20% of the value of goods comes out to be approx 1.6 lakhs. The compounding authority comes to the conclusion that out of 1.6 lakhs and 10 lakhs, 10 lakhs is higher and hence imposed a compounding amount of Rs. 10 lakhs.
There was a settled position of law that revenue is bound by the its circulars or clarification issued under Section 37B of the Central Excise Act. The principle behind such legal proposition is very simple- is an assessee has acted based on a circular issued by revenue, the revenue must not be allowed in the court of law to plead that the circular is illegal and punish the assessee for following its own circular/instruction. By no stretch of imagination this proposition is unjust or illegal.
The Central Government vide Notification No. 37/2007-C.E.(N.T.) dated 17.09.2007, amended the Notification 19/2004-C.E.(N.T.) dated 06.09.2004 by inserting clause 2(h), whereby it is provided that when a manufacturer is taking Area Based exemption under various notifications, he shall not be eligible for rebate of export goods. The clause reads as,
Service Tax is an enigma. It has shown to the government that you can tax the largest sector of the economy without having a codified law. It has shown to the tax administrators that it is better to tax without a law as law reduces your discretion. The only sufferer is tax assessee- but in any case, law or no law, they are there to suffer. The administration of Service Tax show ad-hocism at its zenith. In this ad hocism the method of collecting Service Tax on Goods Transport Operator is high point in enforcing uncertainty- I have heard uncertainty of law is the greatest cruelty. The service tax administrator has forgot this cliché.
It is a fact of common knowledge that in pendency of the investigation proceeding, the departmental officers coerce the assessee to deposit some part of the potential demand. The coercion to deposit the amount is more, when a more premier agency is investigating the case. Such deposit of amount is boasted by the officers in their report to their superiors.
Corruption is part and parcel of our life. A common person is faced with this problem, almost every time he approaches Public authorities for any permission, exemption or for any other public benefit. There are numerous allegations against public authorities for corruption with respect to functions like permission for building a residential accommodation, opening up a restaurant or any other commercial activity,
GST has been the preferred mode of taxation of goods and services and has been introduced in more than 140 countries. Most countries have single GST rate, however some countries like Canada & Brazil has dual GST structure. White paper proposes dual structure for GST in India. Standard GST rate in most countries vary between 15-25%.
