The long-standing demand of banks that they be allowed to issue tax-free bonds to fund long-term infrastructure projects may not be accepted by the government and included in the Budget. The government has not found any reason to accept the demand, especially at a time when the state of its finances has gone awry.
Sixteen new sporting disciplines have been brought under the ambit of Section 80G of the Income Tax Act– which defines charitable and benevolent purposes and allows tax benefits to donors if donations are made to institutions or funds under its ambit. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has “added” baseball, fencing, handball, ice hockey, karate, kayaking and canoing, netball, sepak takraw, snooker, soft tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, skiing and ice skating (winter games) and wushu, to the list through an amendment notification earlier this month.
The Bombay High Court has recently admitted a writ petition that challenges an Income-Tax rule allowing the taxation of expenditure incurred on earning tax-free income like dividends and long-term capital gains. The writ petition was filed by Technocraft Industries India, a Mumbai-based exporter, along with Indian Exporters’ Grievance Forum, a body under the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). The final hearing of the matter is slated for February 15.
In a move to bring in standardised practices in the mutual fund industry, especially in the debt market segment, Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday asked mutual funds to value all money market and debt securities with residual maturity of up to 91 days at the weighted average price at which they are traded on the particular valuation day.
The Delhi High Court deferred the hearing of a petition filed by legal heirs of Maharani Gayatri Devi seeking release of Rs 80 lakh deposited by them in the Government vault as taxes for contravention of the Gold Control Act in 1975.
The forthcoming budget may have provisions binding on the third party administrators (TPAs), the entities that network between insurers and hospitals to facilitate cashless treatment for policyholders, to deduct tax at source (TDS) before making payments to hospitals.
With the aggressive disinvestment of PSUs being planned for the coming months, the government is likely to introduce a fixed time-frame during which the nomination of independent directors should be completed by state-run companies.
The banking regulator of the country, Reserve Bank of India, does not have any information about “heavy penalties” and “extra-ordinary interest rates” imposed by banks on credit card defaults. In reply to a question “Is RBI aware that banks are charging heavy penalties also in addition to extra-ordinary interest rate on credit card default payments?
November-2009 CA Examination Results:- The results of the Chartered Accountants Professional Education Examination-II (PEE-II), Professional Competence (PCE) and Integrated Professional Competence Examinations (IPCE) were declared recently.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) was chasing tax evaders so far. Now they have to deal with hackers too as incidents of fraudulent tax refunds were detected involving at least Rs 4 crore from the Income Tax Department, Mumbai with CBDT planning to put in place a more robust and foolproof system for handling high value refunds.
