Packaging & Labelling Rules for Cigarette and other tobacco products: Customs and Central Excise officers get enforcement powers;

Service Tax - Un-notified Issues (See 'DDT')

Definitive anti-dumping duty on import of Flexible Slabstock Polyol levied;

Fixation of pay on deputation after the replacement of the pre-revised S-30 scale by the new HAG scale - clarifications regarding;

Grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (Ad-hoc bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2008-09;

CBEC revises monetary limits of officers for adjudication of Customs cases;

India has 2.61 Cr MSMEs, reveals Census;

India to set up four Trade Centres in South American to enhance trade relations;

Shantanu Consul takes over as new Secretary of DoP&T;

H R Bhardwaj, Karnataka Governor, gets addl charge of AP Governor;

M Dwivedi is new Member of Customs & Excise Settlement Commission;

India's exports continues to be down; logs negative growth of 34% in July;

Kolkata DRI detects racket in import of branded glassware and export of red sander logs;

OECD report shows bank secrecy as a shield for tax evaders coming to an end;

TIOL COMMENTARY

ddt 01sept.pdf

Service Tax – New Services from Today – CBEC finally issues Notifications – No tax on accompanied baggage in trains; abatement of 70% on rail transport – no abatement for waterways, plastic surgery and Legal Consulting;

st se gst tak.pdf

GST – A blind man's attempt to describe an elephant?

office_memorandum.pdf

Fixation of pay on deputation after the replacement of the pre-revised S-30 scale by the new HAG scale - clarifications regarding;

office_memorandum.pdf

Grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (Ad-hoc bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2008-09;

MIXED BUZZ

mbuzz0808.pdf

India has 2.61 Cr MSMEs, reveals Census;

mbuzz0807.pdf

Kolkata DRI detects racket in import of branded glassware and export of red sander logs;

mbuzz0806.pdf

India's exports continues to be down; logs negative growth of 34% in July;

mbuzz0805.pdf

OECD report shows bank secrecy as a shield for tax evaders coming to an end;

2009-TIOL-542-ITAT-KOL-SB.pdf + spl bench story.pdf

Shree Capital Services Ltd Vs ACIT, Kolkata (Dated: July 31, 2009)

Income Tax - the term 'derivatives' in which underlying asset is shares, will fall within the meaning of 'commodity' used in Sec. 43(5) of the Act; In this case, it is admitted that the underlying asset is shares. Therefore derivatives will also fall within the meaning of 'commodity' used in Sec. 43(5). Finance Act, 2005 has provided that certain transactions in respect of trading in derivatives shall not be deemed to be speculative transactions within the meaning of Sec. 43(5). If the transaction in derivatives does not fall within the definition of 'speculation transaction' u/s. 43(5), then there was no question of exempting certain type of transaction in derivatives from the scope of speculative transaction u/s. 43(5). If it is held that the transaction in derivatives does not fall in Sec. 43(5), it will make clause (d) and Explanation thereto below Sec. 43(5) introduced by Finance Act, 2005 to be redundant. It cannot be presumed that the Government has introduced a clause, i.e. clause (d) as well as Explanation thereto, which was redundant and infructuous .

Exempting certain derivatives by Finance Act only prospective: in this case, the Legislature made the amendment because of the technological advancement introduced by the stock markets resulting in more transparency in the dealings. Therefore, the circumstances under which amendment was brought into existence do not lead to the inference that it was retrospective.:KOLKATA ITAT (SPECIAL BENCH);

2009-TIOL-541-ITAT-MUM.pdf

TCI Reality Pvt Ltd Vs ITO, Mumbai (Dated: April 22, 2009)

Income Tax - Assessee is a lessee under a long term lease agreement of 7.5 years which is further extended - claims the income from the property as income under the head house property - AO treats the income as ''Income from other sources'' - CIT(A) confirms the order - Held, if a person acquires right in or with respect to any building or part thereof then if the conditions as specified in clause (f) of section 269UA are satisfied then such person shall be deemed to be the owner of the building or part thereof - held, the lease agreement mentions only land with structures and there is no mention of building, therefore, rent received should be treated as income from other sources - Matter remanded back to AO for fresh determination.:MUMBAI ITAT;

2009-TIOL-540-ITAT-DEL.pdf

Oracle India Pvt Ltd Vs ACIT, New Delhi (Dated: August 5, 2009)

Transfer Pricing- section 92, 92CA(4)- Income-tax- Sections 40A(2)-Royalty paid to the parent corporation whether can be disallowed under section 40A(2)-Whether section 40A(2) overrides chapter X ( special provisions relating to avoidance of tax)- whether the A.O is bound to follow the order of the TPO.

Assesse pays royalty to its parent corporation for duplication and distribution of software - TPO does not make any adjustment in respect of royalty - A.O makes addition under section 40A(2) - CIT(A) confirms the addition- Held, following the appeals in the assessee's own cases for earlier years- section 40A overirdes only provisions relating to computation of income under the head 'profits and gains of business and profession'-The TPO having accepted the price , the Assessing Officer is required to compute the total income of the assessee having regard to the arm's length price determined by the TPO - A.O directed to determine the income of the assessee as per the value of services determined by the TPO-assessee's appeal allowed.:DELHI ITAT;

2009-TIOL-539-ITAT-DEL.pdf

ACIT, New Delhi Vs Cargo Motors Pvt Ltd (Dated: May 19, 2009)

Income tax - Sec 2(22)(e) - held, deemed dividend cannot be assessed in the hands of a person other than a shareholder of the lender company - since the assessee is not a shareholder, Sec 2(22)(e) is not applicable in this case - Revenue's appeal dismissed:DELHI ITAT;

2009-TIOL-455-HC-MUM-IT.pdf

Prime Securities Ltd Vs Varinder Mehta, ACIT, Bombay (Dated: April 27, 2009)

Income Tax – Section 292B and sections 139 r.w section 140 – Held, although section 140 mandates that return of income has to be signed in case of a company by the Managing Director and where the Managing Director is not available, by any other director - however signing of return by the Company Secretary would not result in a mere irregularity but the return will be defective – Held further that the defect can be cured by virtue of section 139(9):BOMBAY HIGH COURT;

SERVICE TAX SECTION

corrigendum.pdf

Corrigendum to Notification No. 20/2009-Service Tax, dated the 7 th July, 2009;

CASE LAWS

2009-TIOL-1367-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

M/s Prakash & Poonam Tours & Travels Vs CCE, Jaipur-II (Dated: June 29, 2009)

ST - Tour Operator - Assessee carries employees of a corporate client from their residence to their work place and back home - Revenue raises demand - held, since the vehicles owned by the assessee are not tourist vehicles nor transport permit is granted for this purpose, the assessee is not covered under the 'Tour Operator' Service - Assessee's appeal allowed: DELHI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-1366-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

CCE, Jaipur Vs M/s Kalpana Travels Pvt Ltd (Dated: July 9, 2009)

ST - Tour Operator Service - Ticket booking agent who books tickets on behalf of the principal is not liable to pay tax prior to 10.9.07 - Revenue's appeal dismissed: DELHI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-1365-CESTAT-BANG.pdf

M/s Aspinwall & Co Ltd Vs CCE, Mangalore (Dated: May 12, 2009)

Service Tax – Services provided by CHA do not come under category of port service – All relevant facts known to department, no justification for invoking longer period – Full waiver of pre-deposit and stay granted: BANGALORE CESTAT;

CENTRAL EXCISE SECTION

CIRCULAR

excircular896.pdf

Implementation of the provisions of COTP Act, 2003 and The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008”- Empowering the Customs & Central Excise Officers - regarding;

NOTIFICATION

etariff09_24.pdf

DTA clearances of Gold and silver jewellery - excise duty increased;

CASE LAWS

2009-TIOL-1373-CESTAT-MUM.pdf + ring story.pdf

M/s Ring Plus Aqua Ltd (SGD) Vs CC & CCE, Nashik (Dated: July 7, 2009)

Goods cleared under claim of rebate – truck meets with an accident and goods brought back to factory – refund of duty paid allowed but Commissioner(A) sets aside order insisting that rule 16 procedure ought to be followed – there cannot be any recovery without a demand u/s 11A of the CEA, 1944 – CESTAT orders stay.:MUMBAI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-1372-CESTAT-BANG.pdf

M/s HPCL Vs CCE, Visakhapatnam (Dated: May 6, 2009)

Central Excise – Valuation of petroleum products cleared to ocean going vessels made in terms of kilolitres instead of MT and inclusion of delivery charges, wharfage charges, berth charges – Appellant being a PSU and price fixed as per Ministry's Circular – Prima facie strong case in favour of appellants – Offer of pre-deposit of Rs. 11 lakhs accepted and balance amount waived :BANGALORE CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-1371-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

M/s DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd Vs CCE, Jaipur-I (Dated: April 27, 2009)

Central Excise – Grinding media used in ball mill of a cement plant is input and not capital goods – LB decision in Durgapur Cement Works 2002-TIOL-293-CESTAT-DEL-LB followed:DELHI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-1370-CESTAT-BANG.pdf

Bhoruka Aluminium Ltd Vs CCE, CC & ST, Mysore (Dated: May 7, 2009)

Central Excise – Supplies of aluminum extrusions to SEZ Developers without payment of duty and liability to pay 10% under Rule 6 of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 – SEZ supplies deemed as export under SEZ Act and not liable for payment of duty – Prima facie strong case in favour of appellants – Full waiver of pre-deposit ordered and stay granted.:BANGALORE CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-1369-CESTAT-MUM.pdf

Bajaj Electricals Ltd Vs CCE, Pune-I (Dated: June 17, 2009)

Job worker used excess cenvatted materials and the applicant recovered the value of the same from the job worker by way of debit note – Revenue demanding Cenvat credit on inputs lost on account of excess consumption – Issue involved debatable - Prima facie, case made out for for grant of waiver of pre-deposit of duty, interest and penalty – Tribunal decision in Galaxy Surfactants Ltd. 2005-TIOL-1205-CESTAT-MUM referred.:MUMBAI CESTAT;

CUSTOMS SECTION

NOTIFICATION

ctariff09_089.pdf

Definitive anti-dumping duty on import of Flexible Slabstock Polyol levied;

CIRCULAR

cuscir09_023.pdf

Powers of adjudication of the officers of Customs;

PUBLIC NOTICE

dgft09pn004.pdf

VKGUY Entry No 7 of Table 1B of Appendix 37A relating to Flours & Meals of oil seeds corrected ;

dgft09pn002.pdf

EO period for 'Pencillin & its salts replaced in HoP;

CASE LAWS

2009-TIOL-454-HC-MUM-CUS.pdf + cus hc story.pdf

M/s Kamat Printers Pvt Ltd Vs UoI (Dated: August 12, 2009)

Customs – Settlement Commission is empowered to order interest even if there was no notice for interest: the Settlement Commission has all the powers of an officer under the Act. The Applicant approaches the Settlement Commission for the purpose of settlement of the matter which can exercise the power of the Custom Officer. Once there is power under Section 127F , it was open to the Settlement Commission to have directed payment of interest. Ultimately Settlement is of the “case”. The case involves a demand for duty. Once duty is held to be payable, interest becomes payable by operation of law. Only the question has to be ascertained in terms of the Board's Orders. It is, therefore, a part of the ‘case'.:BOMBAY HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-1368-CESTAT-BANG.pdf

M/s ITI Ltd Vs CC, Bangalore (Dated: May 19, 2009)

Customs – Plant and Corporate office situated in same premises – Communication received in corporate office not disputed and appeal not filed in time before Commissioner Appeals – All aspects considered while passing final order – No ground for rectification of mistake:BANGALORE CESTAT;