34 officers of Customs & Excise get Presidential Award; Notification issued (See 'Common Basket')

Satyam needs to be revived... Without any bail-out! (See 'Common Basket')

Govt notifies Travelling Allowance Rules as per Sixth Central Pay Commission recommendations (See 'Common Basket')

CBDT seeks suggestions on Cadre Review & Restructuring of Income Tax Department (See 'DDT')

Dismissal of Vodafone SLP in USD 2 bn capital gains tax: SC for transparency; directs Vodafone to furnish all documents to Revenue;

PM scheduled to undergo bypass surgery tomorrow; Mr Pranab Mukherjee to hold addl charge of PMO and Ministry of Finance;

JS-rank officer from Home or Civil Aviation can requisition pvt aircraft for public safety cause any time; Notification issued;

CBI books four cases against Shamken Group Companies for cheating banks;

DRI 'sees' consumer goods in printed books; three misdeclared containers seized; Delhi ICD Customs suspends four officers;

Govt offers multiple sops for promotion of tourism;

CBI Court sentences Income Tax Officer to five-year RI with Rs 26.3 lakh fine;

States cannot deprive people of enjoying rights over natural resources like river, forests and beaches;

ddt 23 Jan.pdf + cadre_restructuring.pdf + selfcontained.pdf

Income Tax – TDS on foreign payment – Quarterly Statements;

Satyam Needs To Be Revived.pdf

Satyam needs to be revived… Without any bail-out!

potpourri.pdf

CIC on RTI - Grievance of Apex Court - A quest at balancing of public interests;

presidential_award 2009.pdf

34 officers of Customs & Excise get Presidential Award; Notification issued;

Travelling Allowance Rules.pdf

Govt notifies Travelling Allowance Rules as per Sixth Central Pay Commission recommendations;

mbuzz0018.pdf

Dismissal of Vodafone SLP in USD 2 bn capital gains tax: SC for transparency; directs Vodafone to furnish all documents to Revenue;

mbuzz0080.pdf

JS-rank officer from Home or Civil Aviation can requisition pvt aircraft for public safety cause any time; Notification issued;

mbuzz0079.pdf

CBI books four cases against Shamken Group Companies for cheating banks;

mbuzz0078.pdf

DRI 'sees' consumer goods in printed books; three misdeclared containers seized; Delhi ICD Customs suspends four officers;

mbuzz0077.pdf

Govt offers multiple sops for promotion of tourism;

mbuzz0076.pdf

CBI Court sentences Income Tax Officer to five-year RI with Rs 26.3 lakh fine;

CBDT Order 005_2009

CBDT issues posting order for two JC-level deputationist on their return;

CBDT Order 004_2009

Three CITs locally rotated in Delhi;

CASE LAWS

2009-TIOL-39-HC-MUM-IT.pdf

Snowcem India Ltd Vs DCIT, Mumbai (Dated: January 5, 2009)

Income tax - Interest under Ss 234B and 234C - Tribunal agrees with Revenue that even in the case of computation of income under provisions of Sec 115JA, the provisions of Ss 234B and 234C are attracted - held, in the view of Apex Court dismissing the appeals in the case of Kwality Biscuits Ltd which in turn confirms the HC decision that since the book profits are computed only at the year-end after the books are finalised and advance tax provisions cannot be applied to such a situation, it is now binding on the court to follow the same decision - assessee's appeal allowed:BOMBAY HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-38-HC-MUM-IT.pdf

CIT Vs M/s Zenith Steel Pipes And Industries Ltd (Dated: January 14, 2009)

Income tax - Sec 35B - weighted deduction - AY 1976 to 80 - assessee incures expenses towards advertising and publicity in newspapers - held, since the expenditure was not incurred wholly and exclusively for sale of export goods, deduction cannot be allowed as a major component of sale was done in India. Similarly, the goods inspection charge and legal documentation charges for goods cannot be allowed benefits of weighted deduction u/s 35B - Revenue's appeal allowed :BOMBAY HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-58-ITAT-MUM.pdf + capital gain story.pdf

M/s New Shailaja Chs Ltd Vs ITO, Mumbai (Dated: December 2, 2008)

Income tax - capital gains - assessee is cooperative housing society - had acquired land along with building in 1972 - Development Control Regulations Act, 1991 entitled the assessee to additional floor space index - assessee sells the same to developer - AO for imposing capital gains tax - held, since the additional floor space was granted by the municipality because of existing land holding and no additional cost was incurred for the same, in the absence of the cost of acquisition, the asset falls in the category of assets specified in Sec 55(2) and no capital gains tax can be imposed - Assessee's appeal allowed:MUMBAI ITAT;

2009-TIOL-57-ITAT-DEL.pdf

ADIT(E), New Delhi Vs Hunger Project (Dated: March 20, 2008)

Income tax - Sec 11 - assessee is a charitable organisation - claims set off of excess expenditure of previous year against income of current year - Revenue disallows - CIT(A) finds no limitation clause in Sec 11(1)(a) and allows the same - held, in view of the Rajasthan HC decision that there is nothing in section 11(1)(a) as per which expenditure incurred in the earlier year cannot be met out of the income of the subsequent year and utilization of such income for meeting the expenditure of earlier year would amount to such income being applied for charitable and religious expenses, Revenue's appeal does not stand on any legs - Appeal dismissed:DELHI ITAT;

2009-TIOL-56-ITAT-BANG.pdf

ITO, Mangalore Vs M/s Intop Software Inc (Dated: December 01, 2008)

Income tax - assessee is a software development firm - enters into agreement for outright sale of the firm - Survey u/s 133A - AO finds a claim expenditure for upgradation of software - additions made - CIT(A) allows the expenditure - held, since the buying company wanted to create an asset base before its IPO, and made it a condition for effecting the final purchase, the assessee had to incur this upgradation cost and the same cannot be denied - Revenue's appeal dismissed: BANGALORE ITAT;

SERVICE TAX SECTION

2009-TIOL-145-CESTAT-MUM.pdf + M S Discom story.pdf

M/s M S Discom Ltd Vs CCE & CC, Aurangabad (Dated: November 12, 2008)

Service Tax Dispute between PSU and Central Excise department – Tribunal tells Revenue to obtain “authentic” information from the Union Cabinet Secretariat as to whether the COD has been constituted:MUMBAI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-144-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

M/s Chattisgarh State Coop Federation Vs CCE, Raipur (Dated: December 11, 2008)

ST - GTA service - assessee is a cooperative society - avails GTA service but pays no tax - contends that they act on behalf of the Govt of Chhatisgarh which has 90% stake in it - prima facie, the assessee has not made a good case - pre-deposit of Rs 50 lakh ordered:DELHI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-143-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

M/s Cross Road Auto Pvt Ltd Vs CCE, Kanpur (Dated: November 18, 2008)

ST - Business Auxiliary Service - assessee is an authorised service station - also facilitates car loans - On being pointed out they take separate registration and deposits tax on net commission income basis - demand raised and penalty imposed - Commissioner(A) upholds consolidated penalty - Commissioner meanwhile imposes separate penalty under various Sections - held, issue is already decided in favour of Revenue and such a service as claimed by the assessee does not fall in the category of commission agent as it s BAS and the penalty imposed by the Commissioner(A) is reasonable - Penalty hiked by Commissioner set aside:DELHI CESTAT;

CENTRAL EXCISE SECTION

2009-TIOL-41-HC-HP-CX.pdf + hp story.pdf

M/s Gillete India Ltd Vs UoI (Dated: December 18, 2008)

Himachal exemption – withdrawal of exemption to peripheral activities, not to affect existing units; Section 38A saves accrued rights; In the instant case, Section 38-A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, saves the right accrued to the petitioners, under notification 50/2003. The right saved, by virtue of this provision, is not only the exemption availed upto the date of the issuance of the amending notification 1/2008, but exemption for the entire period of ten years, specified in 50/2003. We do not find anything in the aforesaid notification indicative that the intention of the authorities issuing the notification is to take away or in any other manner affect the right accrued to an entrepreneur, under the unamended notification 50/2003.

No superior public interest in withdrawing exemption to existing units; it appears that the benefits offered by 50/2003 have been withdrawn, on the basis of apprehension that the peripheral or incidental activities may not bring investment and employment commensurate with the fiscal cost of granting the exemption. Admittedly, notification covered not only the production of goods by manufacturer, but also activities, like packing, repacking, labelling, re-labelling, etc., irrespective of the fact whether the goods were manufactured or not in the industrial unit or even in the State in some other unit. The public interest that was sought to be achieved by this notification was to make use of local resources and to generate employment for local people. Petitioners have made huge investment and have also generated employment and, therefore, it cannot be said that the public interest, which existed at the time of the issuance of notification 50/2003, atleast in the case of the industrial unit of the petitioners, had ceased to exist, when notification 1/2008 was issued and, therefore, it cannot be said that notification 1/2008 is in the superior public interest and so it affects even the industrial unit of the petitioners, which had come into operation, before the issuance of notification 1/2008. In our considered view, notification 1/2008 is prospective, in the sense that the benefit of notification 50/2003 will not be available to those industrial units, engaging only in so-called peripheral or incidental activities, which come into operation and comply with the terms and conditions of 50/2003, after the issuance of notification 1/2008.: HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-40-HC-KAR-CX.pdf + anz story.pdf

CC, Bangalore Vs ANZ International (Dated: June 28, 2008)

Central Excise – Cenvat credit – exports – refunds - 100% EOU is entitled to take Cenvat credit on the inputs procured indigenously and when they were not in a position to utilize the same, they are entitled for the benefit of refund – Revenue appeal rejected.:KARNATAKA HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-140-CESTAT-MAD.pdf

CCE, Chennai Vs M/s Essar Engineering & Contractors Ltd (Dated: December 12, 2008)

Central Excise – demand of duty on structural fabrication items like trusses, purlins and columns etc – different interpretations of the Tribunal resolved only by the Larger Bench – respondents cannot be held guilty of suppression of facts with intention to evade payment of duty – extended period cannot be invoked.:CHENNAI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-139-CESTAT-MAD.pdf

M/s Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd Vs CCE, Trichy (Dated: December 17, 2008)

Central Excise – Exemption Notification – Cement cleared in 50 kgs pack to Govt. companies, construction companies and other industrial/institutional consumers eligible for benefit of notification 4/2006-CE dt.01.03.2006 in view of Boards clarification that no RSP is required to be printed on the goods sold to industrial/institutional consumers as defined under the rules framed under the Standards of Weights and Measures Act and that such goods would be covered under Sl. No. 1B or 1C of Notification No 4/2006-CE by virtue of the Second Proviso to the Explanation to Sl. No. 1C of the Notification as amended. Appeal allowed. ( Para 2):CHENNAI CESTAT;

CUSTOMS SECTION

NOTIFICATION

ctariff09_008.pdf

Govt imposes anti-dumping duty on import of DVD-R and DVD-RW from China, HK and Taiwan;

CASE LAWS

2009-TIOL-142-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

M/s Asha Speech & Hearing Clinic Vs CC, New Delhi (Dated: October 1, 2008)

Customs - refund without challenging the assessment order is not allowed - the lower authorities have rightly rejected the claim.: DELHI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-141-CESTAT-MUM.pdf

CC, Mumbai Vs Express Industries (Dated: September 5, 2008)

Customs – When warehoused goods are disposed of during pendency of the case after relinquishing title, demand of duty with interest not sustainable due to non-availability of goods – Penalty also set aside: MUMBAI CESTAT;