In a move expected to make family settlements and transfer of shares more taxing, the government plans to tighten anti-abuse provisions in the Income Tax Act, by including share sales in unlisted companies below fair market value under the ambit of regulations.
Having altered the income tax slabs in the Budget, the Finance Ministry on Thursday said the next round of widening of the tax slabs is possible when the direct taxes code comes into effect, likely from 2011-12. “A further widening (of tax slabs) is possible. But this will happen when revised (draft direct taxes code) paper comes,” revenue secretary Sunil Mitra told reporters on the sidelines of a CII seminar here today.
CBI has arrested a Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax and an auditor in Guntur in Andhra Pradesh for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs four lakh from a man. The two arrested are A V Srinivasa Rao and Koteswara Rao, DC, Income Tax, Guntur and auditor, respectively.
One recurring point of dispute in consumer law has been the standing of the person who makes the complaint. The Consumer Protection Act allows only persons who buy goods or services for their own purpose to approach a consumer forum. The law was amended in 2002 to further clarify that those who buy goods or services for commercial purposes cannot move a consumer forum.
Net direct tax collections during first eleven months of the present fiscal (up to February 2010) stood at Rs.2,78,373 crore, up from Rs.2,58,902 crore in the same period last fiscal, registering a growth of 7.52 percent. Growth in Corporate Taxes was 10.89 percent (Rs.1,80,318 crore as against Rs.1,62,617 crore), while Personal Income Tax (including STT, and residual FBT and BCTT) grew at 1.84 percent (Rs.97,692 crore as against Rs.95,930 crore).
With the April 1 deadline to migrate to the base rate model fast approaching, bank chiefs are likely to raise concerns about the new system and seek an extension of the deadline during their scheduled meeting with top RBI officials on Friday. Bankers are worried the new model will affect their business of giving short-term loans to corporate clients at cheaper rates (sub-PLR loans) as lending rates on such loans will go up at least by 2 per cent in the base rate system.
In a clear signal of a rising interest rate regime, country’s largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, on Thursday said it has hiked its auto loan rates by up to 0.5 percent and withdrawn its 8.25 percent special home loan scheme. “Auto loans rack rates have been raised by 0.25-0.5 percent depending on segment and tenor with effect from March 5,” an ICICI Bank spokesperson said.
Increase in customs duty on crude petroleum from Nil to 5%. Decision on Kirti Parikh recommendations will be taken in due course. Weighted deduction on expenditure incurred on in-house R&D enhanced from 150% to 200%. Also weighted deduction on payments made to National Laboratories, research associations, colleges, universities and other institutions, for scientific research increased from 125% to 175%
There is good news for the companies usingPay Pal services as Reserve Bank of Indiahas given the green signal for restarting the bank withdrawals in the country, the news was confirmed last week by PayPal. The RBI has approved in order to settle payments and withdrawals for exports of gods and services.
The Supreme Court has dismissed the plea of the excise department to levy service tax on IBM India’s application software — enterprise resources planning software system (implementation service). A bench headed by justice SH Kapadia rejected the plea of the commissioner of central excise alleging that IBM had failed to pay service tax on its enterprise resources planning (ERP) software system (implementation service) used to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of its clients’ organisations and manage the connections with outside stakeholders.
