Blackberry service: Govt hardens stand; gives 15 days to service providers to put security system in place;

Pay Panel for 2.5% annual increment; 3.5% for high performers; All increments to be timed from July; Leave encashment upto 300 days allowed to all in Defence Sector (See 'Common Basket');

Pay Panel delinks 33-yrs service for full pension; A virtual exodus can be expected now; Secretariat & Stenographers cadres merged - Diploma in Computers must Executive Assistant (See 'Common Basket');

Pay Panel for 40% hike across the board; reduces grades to 20 running across four pay bands; Performance-based incentive scheme proposed; Max salary proposed to be Rs 80,000/- per month for Secretaries; (See 'Common Basket')

India successfully launched Agni I (A1) surface to surface missile with 700 km range;

DRI seizes 22 kg heroin in Amritsar sector; arrests Akali Dal politician

PM says nuclear energy must for energy security of India;

Govt bans fishing by all fishing vessels on East Coast (for 60 days) + West Coast for 47 days;

2008-TIOL-165-HC-RAJ-IT.pdf

Marlborough Polychem Ltd Vs CIT, Jodhpur (Dated: February 15, 2008)

Income Tax - A.O. disallows the claim of assessee u/s 80HHC and 80I and makes addition accordingly while making assessment u/s 143(1)(a) relying on a judgement delivered sometime before the filing of return by assessee - Assessee contends the issue of admissibility or otherwise of its claim to be debateable at the time of filing of return and moreover it is argued that the said judgement relied upon was published in journals after the filing of return and that it wasn't aware of the judgement - The issue with respect to admissibility of the claims of assessee was not debatable at the time of filing of return as it had been setttled against the assessee by a judgement delivered before the filing of return and the contention of assessee cannot be accepted since judgements become operative from the date they are pronounced and their efficacy does not depend on their reporting in journals or they being noticed by public at large - Assessee's appeal dismissed. : RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT;

2008-TIOL-164-HC-MUM-IT .pdf

Sanghvi Swiss Refills Pvt Ltd Vs ACIT, Mumbai (Dated: October 23, 2007)

Income Tax - Petitioner assessee, engaged in the business of manufacturing of ball pens and refills, is given a notice u/s 148 for reassessment on the basis of statements recorded in course of search - Assessee contends that reopening can be done only if revenue authorities have reason to believe that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment - Reasons recorded for reopening clearly bring out that there was no omission on part of assessee to disclose fully and truly facts material for assessment leading to escapement of income and A.O. has merely proceeded on surmises and conjectures, thus it cannot be said that there were reasons to believe warranting assumption of jurisdiction for issuing of notice u/s 148 - Petition allowed: BOMBAY HIGH COURT;

2008-TIOL-128-ITAT-KOL-SB.pdf + itc sb story.pdf

JCIT, Kolkata Vs M/s ITC Ltd (Dated: September 7, 2007)

Income Tax - Excise duty and sales tax cannot form part of the "total turnover" under section 80HHC(3), otherwise the formula becomes unworkable: KOLKATA ITAT SPECIAL BENCH;

2008-TIOL-127-ITAT-DEL.pdf

M/s Transindia Travels Pvt Ltd Vs ACIT, Delhi (Dated: February 8, 2008)

Income Tax - Assessee claims refund after adjusting MAT credit u/s 115JAA and deducting TDS - AO allows MAT credit but only after charging interest u/s 234B and 234C - Issue is settled and MAT credit is to be allowed first, followed by the TDS and refund is admissbile as per this calculation - Assessee's appeal allowed: DELHI ITAT;

CENTRAL EXCISE SECTION

2008-TIOL-55-SC-CX.pdf

MRF Ltd Vs CCE, Chennai (Dated: January 24, 2008 )

Central Excise- refund – failure to prove that the incidence of duty has not been passed on – refund not eligible: SUPREME COURT ;

2008-TIOL-163-HC-P&H-CX.pdf

CCE, Ludhiana Vs M/s Nand Mangal Steels Ltd (Dated: February 22, 2008)

Central Excise – Evasion: The department has failed to produce any material corroborating the parallel invoices etc. and the statement of the assessee which was relied upon by the department was retracted on the very next day. It is also note worthy that the photo copy of the invoices provided by the informer to the department were not supported by any material and during the search by the officers of the department in the factory, office, residential premises of the Director and the authorized signatory, no incriminating documents were found. Therefore, the demand of duty on the basis of the said invoices in the present case is not sustainable. It is also not disputed that the respondent has also reversed the Cenvat credit on the shortage of inputs detected during the stock verification and therefore, demand of duty and imposition of penalty was rightly quashed by the Tribunal. Thus, we find no ground to interfere in the finding of fact recorded by the Tribunal and in our view no substantial question of law was arisen in the order of the Tribunal: P & H HIGH COURT;

2008-TIOL-439-CESTAT-MUM.pdf + dust story.pdf

CCE, Pune I Vs M/s R M Dhariwal (Dated: January 16, 2008)

Adjudicating authority had actually imposed penalty & interest on the assessee but had not spelt out the same in his order as the amount of voluntary payment of duty exceeded the duty amount, penalty  & interest confirmable -  Assessee is also not aggrieved with the same - Revenue appeal arguing that no mandatory penalty was imposed rejected as being devoid of any merits.:MUMBAI CESTAT;

2008-TIOL-438-CESTAT-MUM.pdf

CCE, Pune I Vs M/s Eisen Pharma Pvt Ltd (Dated: February 6, 2008)

Value of the goods bearing brand name of another cleared on payment of duty is NOT to be taken into consideration for computing aggregate value of first clearances of Rs.75 lakhs in terms of Notification No.175/86-CE.:MUMBAI CESTAT;

2008-TIOL-437-CESTAT-BANG.pdf

CCE, Mangalore Vs M/s HPCL (Dated: November 27, 2007)

Transit loss – CESTAT has no jurisdiction – Revenue files appeal in the wrong forum: BANGALORE CESTAT;

SERVICE TAX SECTION

2008-TIOL-443-CESTAT-MUM.pdf + exempted st story.pdf

CCE, Goa Vs V M Salgaonkar Bros PVt Ltd (Dated: February 15, 2008)

Exempted & dutiable services – common input services - Not maintaining separate records cannot be a ground for denying Input Service Credit in respect of service tax paid on services referred in Rule 6(5) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 – Tribunal.

Sub-rule (5) begins with a non obstante clause, hence the provisions of rule 6(3) do not come into effect - once there is no objection to the fact that the credit availed on input services are those out of the 17 services referred in sub-rule (5) of rule 6 of CCR, 2004, it cannot be contended that taking of credit is proper but utilization is improper  – Revenue appeal rejected:MUMBAI CESTAT;

2008-TIOL-442-CESTAT-MUM.pdf

M/s Anchor Agencies (P) Ltd Vs CCE, Bhopal (Dated: February 14, 2008)

Service Tax – Clearing and forwarding agents service - service charges shown as receipts in audited balance sheets by following the mercantile accounting system under the Companies Act, but not yet actually realized – matter needs scrutiny as the inference drawn by the authorities may not be justified – Rule 6 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 – matter remanded to the Commissioner (Appeals) to examine the issue on limitation also.:MUMBAI CESTAT;

2008-TIOL-441-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

M/s Lintas India (P) Ltd Vs CST, Delhi (Dated: February 22, 2008)

ST - Advertising Service - Assessee places advertisements in print & electronic media on behalf of the client - Since the assessee is accredited agency it gets 15% discount on its billings to the media - Revenue demands service tax on this discount amount - Such discount cannot be treated as a commission as it is only a pricing mechanism - Pre-deposit waiver granted: DELHI CESTAT;

CUSTOMS SECTION

NOTIFICATION

cnt08_030.pdf

India, Singapore trading pact: CBEC amends rules of origin of goods;

dgft07pn124.pdf + dgft07pn125.pdf

Fresh quota of sugar for exports to EU;

CASE LAWS

2008-TIOL-440-CESTAT-AHM.pdf

M/s Dow Chemical International Pvt Ltd Vs CC, Kandla (Dated: February 18, 2008)

Appellant closely related to the Foreign supplier and is also their indenting agent - decision of the authorities in enhancing the value of the consignments imported by the appellant based on a value of identical goods from the same supplier by the same ship which happened in August, 2001 appears reasonable in the absence of any satisfactory explanation.

Presumption that such a lower price to the appellant is in view of the relationship is reasonable and it is up to the appellant to have the adduced evidence that there was no reduction due to relationship.: AHMEDBAD CESTAT;

ddt 24 mar.pdf

Corporation Tax – CAG lambasts CBDT;

Goods, in which more than 25% by weight of red mud, press mud or blast furnace slag are used – exempted twice?

ICE in TIOL;

guest column.pdf

Budget 2008: Proposal to add back deferred tax for book profits not in harmony with MAT objectives;

tiol top story.pdf

Live telecast of Service Tax avoidance!

revenue story.pdf

Pay Commission Report : No autonomy for Revenue Boards; CBEC & CBDT Members to be Special Secretaries;

pay panel story.pdf

Pay Panel for 40% hike; reduces grades to 20 running across four pay bands; Performance-based incentive scheme proposed

pay story2.pdf

Pay Panel delinks 33-yrs service for full pension; A virtual exodus can be expected now; Secretariat & Stenographers cadres merged - Diploma in Computers must Executive Assistant;

Highlights.pdf

PAY COMMISSION;

mbuzz460.pdf

Pay Panel for 2.5% annual increment; 3.5% for high performers; All increments to be given from July; Leave encashment upto 300 days allowed to all in Defence Sector;

mbuzz459.pdf

Nagarjuna, Maytas & German major set up shuttering company at Vizag;

mbuzz458.pdf

XL Telecom & Energy gets Rs 1539 mn order for supply of solar panels;

mbuzz457.pdf

India to import rough diamonds directly from Africa;