SA/GPA/WILL transfers do not convey title to immovable properties- An important judgment by SC

0 comments Monday, October 31, 2011
 
Supreme Court of India in an important case namely Suraj Lamp & Industries Pvt. Ltd. Versus State of Haryana & Anr. has held that immovable property can be legally and lawfully transferred/conveyed only by a registered deed of conveyance. Transactions of the nature of ‘GPA sales’ or ‘SA/GPA/WILL transfers’ do not convey title and do not amount to transfer, nor can they be recognized or valid mode of transfer of immoveable property. They cannot be recognized as deeds of title, except to the limited extent of section 53A of the TP Act.
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No disallowance u/s 40(a)(ia) for short deduction of TDS-Kolkata ITAT

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Kolkata ITAT in Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax Vs.  M/s. S. K. Tekriwal  has given a very important decision wherein it has settled that disallowance of u/s 40(a)(ia) if for non deduction of the requisite Tax. However no disallowance can be made u/s 40(a)(ia) for short deduction of tax or for deduction of tax under any other section. 

In this case the assessee deducted tax u/s 194C @ 1% whereas as per department he was required to deduct tax u/s 194I @ 10% hence there was shortfall of TDS, on this ground the disallowance was made. But the ITAT decided the matter in favour of assessee with following observations:
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Court should not decide a criminal case against the accused in the absence of his counsel -SC

0 comments Monday, October 24, 2011
Supreme Court of India has held in MD. Sukur Ali Vs State of Assam that  the Court should not decide a criminal case against the accused in the absence of his counsel since an accused in a criminal case should not suffer for the fault of his counsel and in such a situation the Court should appoint another counsel as amicus curiae to defend the accused. 

 The apex court further stated  "The Founding Fathers of our Constitution were themselves freedom fighters who had seen civil liberties of our people trampled under foreign rule, and who had themselves been incarcerated for long period under the formula ‘Na vakeel, na daleel, na appeal’ (No lawyer, no hearing, no appeal). Many of them were lawyers by profession, and knew the importance of counsel, particularly in criminal cases. It was for this reason that they provided for assistance by counsel under Article 22(1), and that provision must be given the widest construction to effectuate the intention of the Founding Fathers.
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CBDT notifies new PAN Form and incorporates new conditions

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Income Tax Department has issued new PAN application form 49A AND 49AA.
 
New PAN application Form No. 49AA is for Individuals not being a citizen of India, LLP registered outside India, Company registered outside India, Firm formed or registered outside India, Association of persons(Trusts) formed outside India, Association of persons (other than Trusts) or body of individuals or local authority or artificial juridical person formed or any other entity (by whatever name called) registered outside India 
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Clarification of CBEC in relation to taxability of sub-contractors in exempt works contract services

0 comments Saturday, October 22, 2011
Works contracts relating to construction of roads, airports, railways, transport terminals, bridges, tunnels, dams etc.is exempt from service tax. However there was confusion as regard to whether the services provided by sub-contractors to the main contractors of such exempt works contracts are taxable or not.  

CBEC has issued a circular clarifying when sub-contracts in works contracts of  construction of roads, airports, railways, transport terminals, bridges, tunnels, dams etc.will not be taxable. It has been clarified that  just because the main contractor is providing the WCS service in respect of projects involving construction of roads, airports, railways, transport terminals, bridges, tunnels, dams etc., it would not automatically lead to the classification of services being provided by the sub-contractor to the contractor as WCS. Rather, the classification would have to be independently done as per the rules and the taxability would get decided accordingly.
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Due date of filing service tax return for period ending 30-09-2011, extended to 26-12-2011

0 comments Thursday, October 20, 2011
F. No. 137/99/2011 – Service Tax, New Delhi dated the 20th October 2011

ORDER NO. 1 /2011 – Service Tax

In exercise of the powers conferred by Rule 7(4) of the Service Tax Rules 1994 read with notification No. 48/2011-Service Tax dated 19th October 2011, Central Board of Excise and Customs hereby extends the date of submission of half yearly return for the period April 2011 to September 2011 from 25th October 2011 to 26th December 2011.

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Download Landmark Judgment in Gheru Lal Bal Chand vs State of Haryana

0 comments Monday, October 17, 2011
The all important judgment of Punjab & Haryana High Court in case of Gheru Lal Bal Chand Vs State of Haryana and Another on the issue of disallowance of Input Tax Credit to an innocent purchaser on the ground that seller has not deposited tax into treasury as collected by him from the purchaser, can be downloaded herebelow:

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Taxation of works contract services under Service Tax.

0 comments Sunday, October 16, 2011
Works contract services were brought into service tax net by the Finance Act, 2007, w.e.f 01-06-2007 vide notification No. 23/2007-ST, dated 22-05-2007. Works contract in general terms can be understood as a contract which involves transfer of property and also element of service or work rendered.

Definition of works contract service: Service tax under works contract services has been imposed on the service element involved in the works contracts. It should be noted that unlike VAT laws in various States service tax is applicable only on a fewer kinds of works contract as defined in section 65(105)(zzzza). Works contracts relating to Roads, Airports, railways, transport terminals, bridges, tunnels and dams are outside the purview of service tax.
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Know the Instructions given by RBI to Banks on customer services

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Reserve Bank of India issued a master circular no RBI/2011-12/56 DBOD No.Leg.BC.18/09.07.006/2011-12 on 1st July, 2011 giving instructions to banks on customer services. Many a times common man faces difficulties while operating their bank accounts like paying minimum balance charges, not issuing  of cheque books at counters etc. Coustomers should be aware of  instructions issued by RBI to banks. I am sharing the some extracts of the master circular herebelow:
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VAT on pre-owned cars under PVAT is on a dealer of pre-owned cars only and not on every person

17 comments Saturday, October 15, 2011
Recently Punjab Govt has imposed VAT on sale of pre owned cars by a dealer vide notification No. S.O. /P.A. 8/2005/S.8/2011 . the relevant extract of the notification is being produced herebelow:

   In the said schedule ‘E’, after serial No.9, and the entries relating thereto the following shall be added, namely:-

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VAT to be levied on Sugar and textiles from April, 2012-News

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Come April, and you may have to pay more for sugar and textiles.
All the States have arrived at a consensus to levy the Value Added Tax (VAT) on these two items from April 1, 2012.
The Centre had allowed them to levy it from April 1, 2006 in lieu of additional excise duty (AED) on sugar and textiles. But some States withdrew the tax after opposition by the traders. At present only Andhra Pradesh imposes the local tax on both sugar and textiles, while Delhi levies on textiles only.
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In works contract of constructing national highway purchase of consumables like Diesel, LDO, Furnace oil against C form can be made

4 comments Friday, October 14, 2011
Rajsthan High court has held in Commercial Tax Officer, Sirohi Vs. Agarwal J.V that a works contractor, for construction of national highway, can purchase diesel., LDO, Furnace oil and other materials against C form.

In this case it was argued on behalf of the Department that  the pre-condition for availing the benefit under C- Form is that the purchaser must use the goods inter alia for manufacturing or processing; but, this is not the case of the respondent. More so, the respondent is work contractor.
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Mobile Phones are taxable @ 5.5% in Punjab-Order u/s 85 of PVAT Act, 2005

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Before Sh. A. Venu Prasad IAS, Excise & Taxation Commissioner, Punjab.


Name of the Applicant                      M/s Ingram Micro India Ltd.,
                                                            B-XX-1275, Krishna Nagar,
                                                            Ghumar Mandi, Ludhiana.

Subject:                                            Application U/s 85 of the PVAT Act.
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Govt planning to allow reopening of income tax returns of past 16 years

0 comments Sunday, October 9, 2011
Government plans to allow reopening of income tax returns of past 16 years of suspected assessees, as against 6 years at present. The move is aimed at strengthening the mechanism to investigate black money cases.

A Finance Ministry official said in New Delhi that extending the period of reopening returns is to unearth undisclosed income and to empower tax officials to go deeper into the income and expenditure details of suspected persons and business firms.




The government is likely to amend the Income Tax Act of 1961 which allows tax officials to reassess tax returns only upto the past six years now.

As per the above news if the amendment is carried in the Income Tax Act so as to increase the period of reassessment from 6 Years to 16 years then the assessees will have to keep the record of last 16 years and they could be questioned about the income they have earned upto 16 years ago.  


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Innocent purchaser cannot be disallowed ITC for non payment of tax by seller-Landmark Judgement by P&H HC

0 comments Wednesday, October 5, 2011
The Punjab & Haryana High court has delivered a landmark judgement namely Gheru Lal Bal Chand Vs. State of Haryana and another on 23/09/2011 disposing off 26 writ petitions challenging the constitutional vires of section 8(3) of Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003 and Rule 20(1) and 20(4) of Haryana VAT Rules and the consequent assessment orders.

The Common issue involved in these writ petitions was with regard to denial of Input Tax Credit by the Assessing Authority on the ground that the dealers from whom the petitioners have purchased goods, have not deposited full tax in the State Treasury. The purchasers-petitioners have not been held entitled for deduction of Input Tax Credit in terms of the provisions of Section 8(3) of the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003.
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Procedure for e-payment of Excise duty and Service tax

0 comments Saturday, October 1, 2011
I am sharing herebelow the procedure for e-payment of excise duty and service tax for the assessees concerned. The first thing required for e-payment is the net banking, if you have it then visit the following link and follow the procedure provided below thereafter:

ELECTRONIC ACCOUNTING SYSTEM IN EXCISE AND SERVICE TAX
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