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Finance Bill not passed;may be passed today - certain cosmetic changes likely; Pre-deposit of duty or penalty or both to be clarified; Stay provision to be removed; Interest from Day one for pre-deposit

DDT in Limca Book of Records - Third Time in a rowTIOL-DDT 2404
25.07.2014
Friday

THE Finance Bill 2014 could not be passed in the Lok Sabha yesterday as the debate remained inconclusive. Most probably, the Finance Minister will reply and the Bill will be passed today.

It is understood that the Government is proposing certain amendments to clarify some doubts raised regarding the changes proposed in the Customs, Excise and Income Tax Laws in the Budget.

Pre-deposit of duty or penalty or both: In DDT 2394 11.07.2014, it was commented, "As per the amendment, pre-deposit is a percentage of the duty or penalty or both. Who will decide whether duty or penalty or both have to be paid? Does the appellant have a choice?" We understand that the clarification goes thus - that where duty or duty and penalty are in dispute, the pre-deposit would be of the prescribed percentage of duty and where only penalty is in dispute, the pre-deposit would be of the prescribed percentage of penalty. Some relief indeed.

Interest on refund of Pre-deposit from Day One - at rate to be notified: At present if pre-deposit is to be refunded due to an appellate order, interest is paid from a date after three months from the receipt of the appellate order. It seems this is to be amended for payment of interest from the date of deposit, but this will apply to only deposits made after the enactment of the Finance Bill. Interest will be at a rate (between 5and 36 percent) to be notified by the Government.But what happens if the operation of the order of the appellate authority is stayed by a superior court or tribunal - no answers!

No need of Stay applications? Now that pre-deposit is made mandatory, is there no requirement of filing applications for stay of the recovery of the balance amounts? This is a doubt nagging many assessees and consultants. Though no clarification is offered, the provisions for payment of a fee of Rs. 500 for Stay applications in Customs and Central Excise are being deleted, which would indirectly mean that stay applications are no more required.

Let us hope in the course of his reply, the FM would announce some more reliefs.

Anti Dumping Duty - In spite of HC Order, Govt continues with resurrection

IN DDT 2397 16.07.2014, we reported the drubbing that the Revenue received from the High Court holding that Anti Dumping Duty cannot be extended after the expiry of the Notification. As we reported, Board has no respect for Law, Courts or even itself. They are again at it.

Anti Dumping Duty on "Front Axle Beam and Steering Knuckle meant for heavy and medium commercial vehicles" was imposed with effect from 15th June 2009 by Notification No. 50/2010 -Customs, dated 12th April 2010 and this expired on 14th June 2014.

Now, after more than a month, they woke up and extended it till 14th June, 2015.

As per the High Court order, this extension notification is illegal and void.

Notification No.30/2014-Cus.,(ADD), Dated: July 23, 2014

Anti Dumping Duty - "Carbon Black used in rubber applications" - extended just in time

ANTI Dumping Duty on "Carbon Black used in rubber applications" was imposed by Notification No.9/2013-Customs (ADD), dated 26th April, 2013 and was to be valid till 29th July 2014.

Now the Anti Dumping Duty for the goods originating in, or exported from, the People's Republic of China, Russia and Thailand, is extended till 29th July 2015. This is done a full week before the scheduled expiry of the notification.

Notification No.31/2014-Cus.,(ADD), Dated: July 23, 2014

Anti Dumping Duty - Phosphoric Acid - resurrection month after death.

ANTI Dumping Duty on "Phosphoric Acid of all grades and all concentration (excluding Agriculture or Fertilizer grade)", falling under Chapter 28 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, originating in, or exported from, Korea (RP), was imposed vide notification No.140/2009-Customs, dated 15th December, 2009, with effect from 22 nd June 2009 and expired on 21st June 2014.

The Notification is extended till 21st June 2015. But this extension is done a month after its death and so is void and illegal.

Notification No.32/2014-Cus.,(ADD), Dated: July 23, 2014

Anti Dumping Duty - 'Vitamin C'- another resurrection after a month

ANTI Dumping Duty on "Vitamin C", falling under Chapter 29 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, originating in, or exported from, the People's Republic of China, was imposed vide notification No. 67/2009 -Customs, dated the 16th June, 2009. This expired on 15th June 2014.

The Notification is extended till 15th June 2015. But this extension is done more than a month after its death and so is void and illegal.

Notification No.33/2014-Cus.,(ADD), Dated: July 23, 2014

Anti Dumping Duty - Potassium Carbonate - yet another resurrection

ANTI Dumping Duty on "Potassium Carbonate", falling under Chapter 28 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, originating in, or exported from, the European Union, the People's Republic of China, Korea RP and Taiwan was imposed vide notification No. 61/2009 -Customs, dated the 10th June, 2009. This expired on 9th June 2014.

The Notification is extended till 9th June 2015. But this extension is done more than a month after its death and so is void and illegal.

Notification No.34/2014-Cus.,(ADD), Dated: July 23, 2014

Anti-dumping duty imposed on Rubber chemicals

A bit of history.

The Central Government had imposed provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of certain rubber chemicals, namely, MBT (having chemical description 2-Mercapto Benzothiazole), CBS (having chemical description N-Cyclohexyl-2-Benzothiazole Sulphenamide), TDQ (having chemical description Polymerized 2,2,4 - Trimethyl-1,2- dihydroquinoline), PVI [having chemical description N-(Cyclohexylthio) Pthalimide], TMT (having chemical description as Tetramethylthiuram Disulfude) and PX-13 (6PPD) [having chemical description N-(1,3-dimethyl butyl)-N Phenyl P-1] [subject goods] falling under Chapter 29 or 38 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), originating in or exported from the People's Republic of China and Korea RP [subject countries] vide notification No. 61/2008-Customs, dated 5th May, 2008. This duty was effective upto and inclusive of the 4th November, 2008.

Later, definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of the subject goods originating in or exported from the subject countries was imposed vide notification No.133 /2008-Customs, dated the 12th December, 2008, with effect from 5th May 2008.

By notification 92/2011-Cus. dated September, 20, 2011, the anti-dumping duty on the subject goods at modified rates was continued up to 04th May, 2013.

Later, vide notification 17/2013-Cus (ADD) dated 05.07.2013, the anti-dumping duty on rubber chemical, namely, PX-13 (6PPD),   originating in, or exported from, Korea RP & as imposed vide notification 92/2011-Cus was continued till 4th May, 2014.

Incidentally, a review was also initiated in the matter of continuation of anti-dumping duty on rubber chemicals, namely, MBT, CBS, TDQ, PVI, TMT and PX-13(6PPD), originating in, or exported from, People's Republic of China, & imposed vide notification No. 133/2008-Customs, dated the 12th December, 2008. Pursuant thereto, the anti-dumping duty on the subject goods imported from the subject country was continued till 4th May, 2014. This was by Notification 16/2013-Cus (ADD) dated 5th July 2013.

The net effect of all the above is that Anti-dumping duty on the subject goods imported from the subject countries was operative till 4th May, 2014.

And as always, nobody remembered about this although the dumping may have continued.

So, now we have a fresh notification imposing anti-dumping duty on these chemicals imported from the aforementioned countries and this would be, as always, valid for a period of five years.

By the way, for the period from 5th May, 2014 to 23rd July, 2014 only the wise Board and the designated authority know whether there was dumping or for that matter the anti-dumping duty.

Notification 35/2014-Cus (ADD), dated 24th July, 2014.

NACEN's Research Paper accepted for 9th PICARD WCO conference

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Dr.Anees
IN response to a world-wide call for papers from the WCO for the 9th PICARD conference, a research proposal submitted by a team consisting of the Director General of NACEN- Dr G Sreekumar Menon and two IRS (C&CE) probationers-Dr Anees C and Dr Divya S Iyer, has been accepted for presentation and discussion. The 9th PICARD (Partnerships in Customs Academic Research and Development) Conference of World Customs Organization is to be held in Puebla, Mexico, from 17 to 19 September 2014.
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Dr.Divya

We are informed that the paper has been selected amidst stiff competition from researchers across the globe, to represent India at this prestigious international conference and contribute towards the discourse under the topic ‘Customs Role in Securing Supply Chain and Preventing Illegal Trades'.

It is learnt that this is the first time that any such paper has been submitted by NACEN for recognition on a global platform. The original research paper is on Incidence of wildlife trafficking in India and utility of ‘fauna detector dog' for prevention. NACEN had earlier organized the Drug Awareness Drive on June 26, 2014 on the International Day against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking, and released three books; one of them being Detection Dog: The Canine Companion in Customs.

It would indeed be a proud moment for the probationers to represent the Nation in a WCO conference, even while undergoing training. NACEN and its leaders can also justifiably be proud of this achievement.

4.5 percent increase in Indirect Taxes Collection

THE overall growth in Indirect Tax Revenue (Provisional) Collections during the first quarter of current fiscal year i.e. April-June 2014 have increased from Rs.1,08,639 crore to Rs.1,13,570 crore registering an increase of 4.5 % over the corresponding period (April -June 2013) in last financial year. Service Tax collections alone during April-June 2014 have increased from Rs.32,617 crore (April -June 2013) to Rs 38,862 crore (April-June, 2014).

Transitional period for resolutions passed under the Companies Act, 1956 - MoCA clarifies

THE Ministry of Corporate Affairs has clarified that;

Resolutions approved or passed by companies under relevant applicable provisions of the Old Act during the period from 1st September, 2013 to 31 st March, 2014, can be implemented, in accordance with provisions of the Old Act, notwithstanding the repeal of the relevant provision subject to the conditions

(a) that the implementation of the resolution actually commenced before 1 st April, 2014 and

(b) that this transitional arrangement will be available upto expiry of one year from the passing of the resolution or six months from the commencement of the corresponding provision in New Act whichever is later.

It is also clarified that any amendment of the resolution must be in accordance with the relevant provision of the New Act.

MoCA General Circular No.32/2014, Dated: July 23, 2014

What they said on the Budget

THESE are the comments of some Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha while debating the Finance Bill 2014.

Veerappa Moily: When the present Finance Minister was sitting on the opposition side, he termed taxation as terrorism. Have you made any attempt to ensure that that kind of a tension in the economy is removed? Rather, you want to pursue it more vigorously.

One example is the GST. How many years have passed with the Finance Ministers of the States constituting a Committee which was headed by the former Finance Minister of Bihar from your own party? Earlier, it was the Finance Minister of Bihar, Shri Sushil Kumar Modi, who was heading it. Of course, there were voices that opposed it from your own party, particularly when the quantum of jump the GDP can have is by mere introduction of GST, it can add up two per cent. At least, you mentioned about GST in your Budget. But again yesterday or the day before, we read in the newspapers that a seventh trip has been planned by the Empowered Committee to go around the world to make a study.

What kind of an approach is this? That means, you are not serious about it. What is the impression you would be carrying to the investment community, both domestic and foreign? This means, you would like to avoid it, you are not serious about it.

A clarification on the GST is necessary and I hope that in his reply the hon'ble Finance Minister will come out with a roadmap for implementation of GST and DTC. This needs to be addressed immediately. I thought with the fresh mandate that you have, you will be able to do it.

Thambidurai: Many Members raised the issue of GST. Actually, when you are implementing GST, you see what the share of our State is. A number of concerns have already been raised by the Tamil Nadu Government in this regard. The extent of revenue loss under GST, estimated to be around Rs.9,270 crore, due to the lower than revenue neutral rates proposed. We are losing nearly Rs.10,000 crore. That is why, we are raising this issue. The Union Government is bringing GST. Sir, in the Finance Minister's Budget speech, he has assured that he would take the concerns of the State Governments into account. Not only Tamil Nadu, but also other State Governments are also facing the same problem.

Therefore, when you are implementing GST, please take care of the revenue loss of the State government. Some Members from the Opposition side said that it has to be implemented immediately. At the same time, you have to look into the problems faced by the State Governments.

Jayadev Galla: We have been waiting for the GST for the last 15 years. But it is yet to see the light of the day. Unless GST is implemented, the tax base will not go up; unless the tax base is improved, we cannot have more collections; unless we have more tax collections, we cannot have buoyancy in the system; and without buoyancy, there cannot be welfare measures. So, GST is the tharaka mantra for social welfare and for high growth.

Y V Subba Reddy: I urge upon the Government to declare a tax holiday at least for 10 years to the industries established in the State of Andhra Pradesh which will be helpful to the financially weakened State.

E T Mohammed Basheer: About black money, we have all been discussing about it. During a discussion, almost all the Members were emphasizing on this black money issue.

But it is a fact and even according to the Budget documents, there is acute shortage of staff in the CBDT, CBEC, ED and FIU. More than 30,000 vacancies are remaining to be filled. I would suggest that we must take war-footing level efforts to fill up the vacancies in these Departments. Then only, we will be able to control these kinds of things.

DDT Cartoon

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Jurisprudentiol – Monday's cases

Legal Corner IconService Tax

Notfn. 12/2003-ST - Since respondents are showing deemed sale of materials to extent of 60% and 40% towards labour charges and not indicating value of goods and materials actually sold, cost of materials is not excludible: CESTAT

THE respondents are undertaking the activity of retreading of tyres. The activities are covered under the Management Maintenance & Repairs Service. The Respondents were paying service tax only on the labour charges towards retreading the tyres excluding the cost of the rubber utilized towards retreading.

The adjudicating authority confirmed the service tax demand with interest and also imposed penalties.

Income Tax

Whether where partnership deed itself makes it clear that an immovable property is being contributed as an item of capital as objective of firm is to carry on business in real estate, such an asset can be considered as a stock in trade - YES: HC

THE assessee-firm was constituted through a partnership deed and comprised of three partners S, R and A. Before the constitution of the firm, the mother, S, and two sons, R and A, had equal shares, in an item of immovable property, being a house. Another item was an open land, in which two brothers had equal shares. Both the properties were pooled into assets of the firm towards the respective shares of the partners. The firm was dissolved and on dissolution, the entire house was allotted to the share of S, whereas the entire landed property was allotted to the share of R. A appears to have been allotted either cash component, or other properties.

The issues before the Bench are - Whether where the partnership deed itself makes it clear that the property is being contributed as an item of capital as the objective of the firm is to carry on the business in real estate, such an asset can be considered as a stock in trade and Whether the market value of the property has to be taken into consideration for determining the value of property, which is allotted to the respective partners on dissolution. And the verdict goes in favour of the Revenue.

Central Excise

S.4 of CEA, 1944 - Import Parity Price is not an artificially fixed price - It is an actual price at time and place of import which is also place for sales effected by Refinery or OMC to another OMC - Import price cannot be influenced by marketing companies situated in India - Revenue appeal dismissed: CESTAT

THE Commissioner (A) had set aside the order of the adjudicating authority and accepted the assessable value declared by the appellant based on the transaction value with the Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reached based on the direction of the Government and also by holding that appellant and other oil marketing companies are not related persons and even if they are considered as inter-connected undertaking, the transaction value would prevail .

See our Columns Monday for the judgements

Until Monday with more DDT

Have a nice weekend.

Mail your comments to vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com


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Sub: anti dumping duty - resurrection

Under section 9A(5) of the Customs Tariff Act 1975, anti dumping duty can be extended if the DG Anti Dumping has notified a review before its expiry. In the case of notification 34/2014-Customs (ADD), the duty expired on 14 June, and the DG had notified a review on 13 June. So the extension seems to be in order.

Posted by Radha Arun
 

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