The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has asked income-tax authorities to disallow the forex derivative loss claimed by companies on the basis of ‘marked to market’ valuation. Simply put, forex derivative loss, recognised on MTM basis, would be added back for the purpose of computing the taxable income of the company concerned (assessee).
VODAFONE Essar, the country’s second-largest GSM telco, has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the government-appointed special auditors. Auditor SK Mehta and Co in their 140-page report said there were no discrepancies in the books of Vodafone Essar as the telco’s accounting were in line with international standards, but added that the company may have to pay an additional Rs 188 crore as liabilities to the government.
The Urban Development Minister, Mr Jaipal Reddy, will soon take up with the Finance Ministry, the contentious issue of service tax imposition in the real estate sector proposed in the Budget. This assumes significance as the service tax imposition can translate into a three-four per cent increase in the cost of under-construction apartments for most home buyers.
Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister for Corporate Affairs, here today launched the Hindi website of Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), which is being administered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The address of the website is: www.iepf.gov.in.
Exporters’ body FIEO said on Friday it will approach the government for withdrawal of an order which sought recovery of duty drawback credits from those who failed to realise payments from their buyers.Reversing a concession given by the commerce ministry to the embattled exporters in the midst of recession in the West last year, the Central Board of Excise and Customs has directed chief commissioners of customs and excise to recover the drawbacks from exporters who have not realised their proceeds.
“The new Companies Act is already placed on the table of the House. A committee has been constituted … We are very hopeful that within 3-4 months we will have a new Companies Act,” Ministry of Corporate Affairs Secretary, R Bandyopadhyay, said at a function here.
“The next biggest problem may be a currency crisis. It is a possibility that the next crisis awaiting the world is a currency crisis,” renowned currency expert and Non-Executive Director of Elara Capital, Avinash Persaud, told PTI here.
The government today said it is looking into the report submitted by the expert group set up to suggest steps for monitoring the end-use of IPO funds and would take appropriate action to prevent misuse of IPO money.”The report (of expert group) has been submitted. We will certainly read the report carefully. But we can only tell you the finding after we finish reading it,” Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said when asked about the findings of the report.
The government today said it is planning to allow banks and financial institutions to issue long-term tax-free bonds specifically to fund the crucial infrastructure sector requirements. “What has been proposed is that there will be financial entities and banks, which will be authorised to issue infrastructure bonds to raise money specifically for lending in infrastructure activities,” finance secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters here today.
The Meghalaya budget 2010-11, presented in the Assembly today, proposed to hike the VAT rate on all items, barring wheat and rice, from four per cent to five per cent. Presenting the budget, Finance Minister Mukul Sangma proposed to raise the royalty rate on coal to realise Rs 42 crore. The tax on luxuries will be amended to rationalise the room tariffs, he added.
