The Supreme Court (SC) last week set aside the judgement of the division bench of the Madras high court in a case raising the question of the power of the Income Tax authorities to ‘rectify mistakes’ in assessment under Section 154 of the Income Tax Act.
On October 30, 2009, the Income-Tax Department issued a notice to Vodafone International Holdings BV (VIH BV) over its 11.2-billion dollar purchase of Hutchison Telecom’s Indian operations (Vodafone Essar) in 2007. “Vodafone International Holdings BV (VIH-BV) was required to file its explanation by November 16, 2009. However VIH BV has requested for further time till January 29, 2010,” Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The Member of Parliament and former owner of BPL Mobile, Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has written to the Prime Minister suggesting the Government should impose a windfall (Extra) tax on new mobile players if they sold their licences.
It could soon be a tough road ahead for vehicles with low fuel efficiency. The Government is considering a proposal to introduce a new tax on such vehicles to ensure that they are phased out. This tax could be a deterrent against manufacture of fuel-guzzling vehicles. The proposal simultaneously suggests a ban on vehicles older than 15 years as they cause greater pollution. Besides, States could be given incentives to impose such taxes, while those not falling in line might be penalised.
The total tax arrears have galloped to nearly Rs 2 lakh crore till September 30, 2009, an amount sufficient to fund at least half of the government’s budget deficit for the current financial year. But, surprisingly, the government has said that it can only recover Rs 13,000 crore, about 6.5% of the total outstanding, from corporates and individuals on whom the tax is pending.
The finance and labour ministries have locked horns over the issue of bringing retirement fund manager EPFO under the service tax net. The Central Board of Excise and Customs has slapped a notice for recovery of service tax on Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) but the Labour Ministry has opposed it saying the organisation was not doing any commercial activity.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today fixed at Rs 19 the reference rate for portability fee — charged from users for changing operator while retaining the number.
The anti-corruption wing of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted seven raids, including four in Vidarbha, after they arrested a retired income tax officer in Mumbai for his alleged involvement in raising fund for his NGO misusing his official powers while serving as I-T commissioner between 2001 and 2009.
Long-term life insurance policies are expected to grow in popularity if the EET (exempt exempt tax) regime under the proposed Direct Tax Code comes into force by 2011.According to Mr G.V. Nageswara Rao, Managing Director and CEO, IDBI Fortis Life Insurance, customers would choose long-term policies if the Government decides to tax the final lump sum of matured policies.
The Finance Act, 2001 has introduced Sections 92 to 92F in the Income-Tax Act, 1961 with effect from Assessment Year 2002-2003 and these provisions are commonly referred to as transfer pricing regulations. These provisions deal with the methods of computation of income from international transactions, the document to be maintained by the enterprises, certification by a Chartered Accountant and penalty for noncompliance thereof. The legal, financial and accounting aspects relating to transfer pricing are highly complex having global ramifications.
