In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) read with sections 136 and 138 of the Finance Act, 2007 (22 of 2007), the Central Government, on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts all goods specified in the Tenth Schedule to the Finance Act, 2010 (14 of 2010) from the Higher Education Cess leviable thereon under the said sections 136 and 138 of the said Finance Act.
It is well known that the government is the largest litigant in the courts. It is less known that it starves the judiciary of funds. It is even less known that it chokes the courts with unnecessary suits. The last one frequently invites drubbing from the Supreme Court. Two judgments delivered last week analyse the psychology of bureaucrats in the legal departments.
Domestic and international air fares would rise by Rs 100 and Rs 500 respectively from July one with the government issuing a notification to bring air travel into the service tax ambit.
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) read with sections 91 and 93 of the Finance (No.2) Act, 2004 (23 of 2004), the Central Government, on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts all goods specified in the Tenth Schedule to the Finance Act,2010 (14 of 2010) from the Education Cess leviable thereon under the said sections 91 and93 of the said Finance (No.2) Act.
Those looking to book a house should do so before July 1. All sales of under-construction houses from July 1 will attract service tax with the finance ministry notifying tax on new services. Sale of immovable property will be deemed to be taxable unless entire consideration is paid after the issuance of completion certificate by a competent authority. However, service tax will be levied only on 25% of the gross sale value of property .
Sports events such as Indian Premier League will attract service tax but tax exemption has been allowed to tournaments and championships organised by certain bodies such as national sports federations or federations affiliated to them. These include School Games Federation of India, Association of Indian Universities and Olympic Committee of India, among others.
To check the menace of international cross border tax evasion, the Union Ministry of Finance has approved eight income tax units within the Indian missions overseas, Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said.The Union Finance Ministry has already set up two income tax overseas units within the Indian missions in Singapore and Mauritius, and recently approved eight more such units to facilitate seamless flow of tax-related information from abroad.
The Indian currency achieves another milestone, as the rupee is set to get a symbol for the first time in history.The Indian rupee will now sport a distinct identification symbol like the world’s major currencies – dollar, pound sterling, yen and the euro.
The government has decided to exempt distribution of electricity, services provided within ports and airports, international passengers in transit and those travelling to and from the North-East from the ambit of service tax while bringing in more services in the tax net from July 1.
Any profits or gains arising from the transfer of a capital asset is taxable as ‘capital gains’ and is deemed to be the income of the tax payer in the financial year in which the transfer takes place. Similarly, income of every kind, which is not specifically taxed under any of the specified heads of income, like salary, house property, business income etc., and unless specifically exempt, is subject to tax under the head ‘income from other sources’.
