Finance Commission Task Force Report on GST - The Enemy within!(See 'Common Basket')

CBEC Chief Commissioners' posting order file again gets moving after brief halt at Revenue Secretary level;

Law Ministry working on Bill for appointment of judges: Law Minister;

Govt notifies liberal foreign technology agreement policy and royalty payment;

Bombay High Court CJ Justice Swatanter Kumar appointed as SC Judge;

Sharp jump in toll collections - Rs 2710 Cr in last three years;

Govt to set up National Mission for Justice Delivery & Legal Reforms;

Procedural reforms to expedite decision-making in cases requiring consideration by the Cabinet/Cabinet Committees.;

Exim Bank's Line of Credit of USD 10 million to  the Government of the Republic of Djibouti;

UN, Nepal sign pact for release of Maoist child soldiers;

Empowered Committee to meet FM on January 7; favours 15% GST rate;

TIOL COMMENTARY

ddt 17 dec.pdf

Labelling and repacking etc. amounting to manufacture - tankers cannot be termed as bulk packs - CBEC Clarifies;

cobweb.pdf

Finance Commission Task Force Report on GST - The Enemy within!

RBI CIRCULAR

rbi09cir020.pdf

Exim Bank's Line of Credit of USD 10 million to  the Government of the Republic of Djibouti;

PRESS NOTE

pn8_2009.pdf

Liberalization of Foreign Technology Agreement policy;

CABINET

office_memorandum.pdf

Procedural reforms to expedite decision-making in cases requiring consideration by the Cabinet/Cabinet Committees.;

MIXED BUZZ

mbuzz1130.pdf

Govt notifies liberal foreign technology agreement policy and royalty payment;

mbuzz1129.pdf

Govt to set up National Mission for Justice Delivery & Legal Reforms;

mbuzz1128.pdf

Sharp jump in toll collections - Rs 2710 Cr in last three years;

mbuzz1127.pdf

UN, Nepal sign pact for release of Maoist child soldiers;

CBDT Order 188 2009

CBDT posts four OSDs in TPL;

CASE LAWS

2009-TIOL-705-HC-AHM-IT.pdf

CIT Vs Shree Bala Finvest Pvt Ltd (Dated: December 3, 2009)

Income tax - Sec 271(1)(c) - Assessee claims deductions under various heads - AO makes disallowances and initiates penalty proceedings, alleging concealment of information - held, penalty proceedings cannot be initiated by making disallowances, particularly when the assessee has maintained detailed account of expenses - Revenue's appeal dismissed:GUJARAT HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-704-HC-MAD-IT.pdf

CIT, Coimbatore Vs Coimbatore Lakshmi Inv And Finance Co. Ltd (Dated: November 30, 2009)

Income tax - Assessee is a NBFC - follows mercantile system of accounting - does not account for interest on non-performing assets - AO makes addition for notional interest income on the ground that the assessee has claimed deduction for expenses relating to both performing and non-performing assets - Tribunal disagrees with the AO - held, issue is no longer res integra as no income can be recognised from such asset, and the principle of accrual cannot be applied to notional income - Revenue's appeal dismissed:MADRAS HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-780-ITAT-BANG.pdf + dta story.pdf

ITO, Bangalore Vs M/s Iqura Technologies Pvt Ltd (Dated: August 21, 2009)

Income Tax – Conversion of DTA unit to STPI unit – eligible for deduction under Sectio 10A : the apprehension in the mind of Assessing Officer was misplaced. In the survey the application to the STPI was impounded and hypothetically considering the date of existence vis -a- vis registration applied for and the plant and machinery continuing existence only confused the application of facts by the Assessing Officer in compliance with the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in so far as having analysed the facts with a ratio of decisions and also considering the contents of the CBDT Circular Nos.308 and 657 as well as the CBDT Circular 1/2005 which establish beyond a shadow of doubt the deduction under section 10A was available to the existing units and secondly the conditions laid down in section 10A (2)(A)( i )(b) as well as section 10A (2)(ii) and (iii) are fulfilled.: BANGALORE ITAT;

2009-TIOL-779-ITAT-BANG.pdf

M/s MPG Holding Pvt Ltd, Manipal Vs DCIT, Udupi (Dated: July 31, 2009)

Income tax - Sec 36 (1)(vii), 37(1) - Assessee is into news gathering, manpower recruitment and related services - makes advances for supply of IT Directory - supplier fails to do so and demands more time and more money - bad debt - AO disallows it - CIT(A) agrees with the AO - held, going by the facts the lower authorities rightly disallow the claim as it is premature - the advance given for the supply of IT Directory does not become a time-barred debt in the same FY - Assessee's appeal dismissed: BANGALORE ITAT;

2009-TIOL-778-ITAT-DEL.pdf

ACIT, New Delhi Vs Andreas Beising (Dated: July 17, 2009)

Income tax - Sec 10(5B) - Assessee is a foreign national - hired by an Indian textile company for a technician's job - also agrees to pay his taxes as part of his total salary package - assessee claims exemption - AO disallows on the ground that the assessee fails to produce certificate or degree of a recognised educational institution to prove his skills and knowledge as a technician - CIT(A) allows the appeal on the ground of submission of documents relating to demonstrative skills of the assessee - Tribunal goes with the CIT(A) - HC remands the issue - held, the I-T Act does not prescribe that a formal degree is essential for being recognised as a specialist. One can be a specialist by education and also experience. Since the assessee has been hired for a particular specialist job which he successfully did for the employer and the various correspondence extracted to verify his qualification as a 'technical' tend to prove that the assessee has the necessary skills and is entitled to the exemption - Revenue's appeal dismissed: DELHI ITAT;

ORDER.pdf

Customs Appoints Common adjudicating Authority;

SERVICE TAX SECTION

2009-TIOL-2068-CESTAT-AHM.pdf

CST, Ahmedabad Vs M/s S Mohanlal Services (Dated: October 30, 2009)

ST - refund - Assessee is a receiver of service - claims refund for export of service - Revenue holds the refund is hit by unjust enrichment - Commissioner(A) holds allows the appeal - held, the refund claim has been made under Section 11B of Central Excise Act, 1944 made applicable for service tax matters. This means that provisions relating to unjust enrichment are not applicable in respect of export of service. Revenue's appeal dismissed: AHMEDABAD CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-2067-CESTAT-AHM.pdf

M/s N J Devani Builders Pvt Ltd Vs CST, Ahmedabad (Dated: June 22, 2009)

ST - Commercial and industrial construction service - assessee avails exemption benefit under Notification no 12/2003 - Revenue takes the view that once the benefit of Notfn. 12/2003 is availed, no cenvat credit can be taken, and if cenvat credit is taken in respect of other goods Notfn. 12/2003 benefit cannot be availed. since It is not clear how exactly the appellants have violated the condition of the Notification, waiver of pre-deposit granted: AHMEDABAD CESTAT;

CENTRAL EXCISE SECTION

2009-TIOL-706-HC-AHM-CX.pdf + welspun story.pdf

Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd Vs UoI (Dated: September 23, 2009)

Central Excise – Rebate – assessee advised to withdraw appeal with revision Authority, to grant rebate – Assistant Commissioner sanctions rebate and appeals against his own order. How can Assistant Commissioner challenge his own orders, wonders High Court – matter remanded to revision Authority: we are at loss to understand as tohow the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise himself could have challenged his own orders in appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals), Customs and Central Excise, Rajkot. That apart, once the rebate benefit was granted to the petitioners upon a condition that revisions should be withdrawn and the revisions were withdrawn, that order could not have been set aside prior to restoration of Revision. The order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) is virtually in the form of the review because the appeals are preferred by the Assistant Commissioner himself: GUJARAT HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-2070-CESTAT-MAD.pdf

M/s Sri Vaishnavi Mills Vs CCE, Coimbatore (Dated: June 29, 2009)

Central Excise – valuation – job work – when scrap is returned to the raw material suppler, the value of the same need not be included in value of goods manufactured by job worker.: CHENNAI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-2069-CESTAT-MAD.pdf

M/s The India Cements Ltd Vs CCE, Trichy (Dated: August 20, 2009)

Central Excise – Stay / Dispensation of pre-deposit - CENVAT Credit on Angles, Beams, channels and TMT bars – stay granted as the matter is pending before the Larger Bench.: CHENNAI CESTAT;

CUSTOMS SECTION

2009-TIOL-2072-CESTAT-MAD.pdf + indian surgicals story.pdf

CC, Chennai Vs Indian Surgicals (Dated: August 18, 2009)

Customs – exemption - Cardiac Stents are essential for cardiac catheter treatment through the process of angioplasty and are eligible for exemption under Notification No 17/2001 Cus .: CHENNAI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-2071-CESTAT-MAD.pdf

Glory Agencies Vs CC (Seaport-Exports) Chennai (Dated: August 13, 2009)

Customs – Penalty on CHA under Section 112 (a) of Customs Act on account of submission of fake bank guarantees for importing under DEEC licences – Penalty set aside as they have no knowledge or reason to believe that the Bank Guarantees were fake.: CHENNAI CESTAT;