TIOL-DDT 1605 · the untouched capture
Rendered as it looked. Links and images are disabled in this view; the file itself is untouched.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <title>Untitled Document</title> </head> <body> <p><font color="#FF6633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span class="textamericaorange"><b>Service Tax - Renting - Delhi High Court Update</b></span> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <strong><font color="#663399">TIOL-DDT 1605 </font><br /> 10.05.2011 <br /> Tuesday </strong></font> </p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>A </strong>lawyer closely associated with the case sent us this input on the proceedings in the High Court yesterday. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">UOI did not keep its word to limit itself to 1 hour today. The ASG Mr. Chandiok took the entire time. Mr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi kept waiting and so did Mr. Ganesh (all the 3 senior advocates) but it was not to be their day. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">ASG could not be faulted. Assurance was given in his absence last time around when he was indisposed, obviously without his consent. Today he was in his element. Bit by bit, he took the Court through the finer points. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">There were brief interjections by Mr. P.K. Sahu and Mr. Rakesh Chitkara, Advocates before the larger bench. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mr. Sanjiv Khanna, J too needled the UOI with his sharp questions, well versed as he is with Direct Taxation. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Court fixed 20th May as the next day of hearing, perhaps the last on this issue in Delhi High Court. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">At the end of the session, a tired and still unwell but pleased ASG sat down as the crowd filtered out. He was then surrounded with admirers on the petitioner's side, who sought his autographs, impressed as they were by his brilliant performance. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Whether we will see a decision before the Courts adjourn for summer break from 4th June, looks a tad difficult now. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Court also advised that all arguments now be submitted only in writing on the due date. </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">Drive to clean up TDS database by May 20, 2011 </font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>TO</strong> immediately redress the grievances of tax payers who have claimed refunds, but because of the default on the part of tax Deductors, tax demands have been created, CBDT advises all the CCITs (CCA) to ensure the following: </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">i.<strong> Where TDS Returns have been filed : </strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">TDS Returns with very high number of mismatches have been identified by the Systems. Top 15,020 deductors account for a mismatch of Rs 11652 cr (86% of total mismatch amount). </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">ii. <strong>Where TDS Returns have not been filed :</strong> </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">CITs (TDS) to ensure that TDS Returns are necessarily filed by non-filers against whom deductees have lodged TDS claims in their income tax returns of AY 10-11. Such lists are available at ITAXNET & may be downloaded therefrom. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As most of the TDS mismatch is reported in the TDS returns of Corporates, all the corporate charges' CITs are advised to extend whole-hearted support &cooperation to CITs (TDS) to ensure that TDS returns, correct & complete in all respects with 100% PAN quoting, are filed by the non-filer Corporates and also incomplete TDS Returns are immediately corrected. They should have separate meetings with CEOs of Corporates in this regard. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">For getting the TDS Returns immediately filed, CITs (TDS) may take the assistance of TRPs, payments to whom may be made directly by CITs (TDS). </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">27th Annual Conference of Chief Commissioners of Income Tax</font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>THE</strong> 27th Annual conference of Chief Commissioners and DGs of Income Tax is to be held on 24th and 25th May, 2011 at Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Delhi Chief Commissioner is making all the arrangements in this regard. </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">The Advocate </font></strong></font></p> <blockquote> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ An advocate's duty is as important as that of a Judge. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Advocates have a large responsibility towards the society. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ A client's relationship with his/her advocate is underlined by utmost trust. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ An advocate is expected to act with utmost sincerity and respect. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ In all professional functions, an advocate should be diligent and his conduct should also be diligent and should conform to the requirements of the law by which an advocate plays a vital role in the preservation of society and justice system. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ An advocate is under an obligation to uphold the rule of law and ensure that the public justice system is enabled to function at its full potential. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Any violation of the principles of professional ethics by an advocate is unfortunate and unacceptable. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Ignoring even a minor violation/misconduct militates against the fundamental foundation of the public justice system. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ An advocate should be dignified in his dealings to the Court, to his fellow lawyers and to the litigants. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ He should have integrity in abundance and should never do anything that erodes his credibility. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ An advocate has a duty to enlighten and encourage the juniors in the profession.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ An ideal advocate should believe that the legal profession has an element of service (taxable! DDT) also and associates with legal service activities. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Most importantly, he should faithfully abide by the standards of professional conduct and etiquette prescribed by the Bar Council of India. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ As a rule, an Advocate being a member of the legal profession has a social duty to show the people a beacon of light by his conduct and actions rather than being adamant on an unwarranted and uncalled for issue. </font></p> </blockquote> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">We hope and trust that the entire legal fraternity would set an example for other professionals by adhering to all the above mentioned principles. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">[<em><strong>The Supreme Court in a judgement delivered yesterday</strong></em>]</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">World's Most Valuable Brands – Apple Tops </font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>APPLE</strong> has overtaken Google as the World's most valuable brand, according to the Millward Brown study of the top 100 most valuable global brands. Google did not fall very badly and now occupies the second position. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The top 10 brands are: </font></p> <blockquote> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">1. Apple </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">2. Google </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">3. IBM </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">4. McDonald's </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">5. Microsoft </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">6. Coca Cola </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">7. AT&T </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">8. Marlboro </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">9. China Mobile </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">10. GE </font></p> </blockquote> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">There is only one Indian Company in the top 100, not a TATA, not a Reliance, not INFOSYS, but ICICI Bank at 56th place. </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">What is RBI all about? </font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>RBI</strong> has a mandate that is wider than is typical of central banks. The preamble to the RBI Act, 1934 describes its main functions as "...to regulate the issue of Bank Notes and keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage." This preamble indicates the two core functions of the Reserve Bank: (i) issue of currency; and (ii) monetary authority. The Act also entrusts other functions to the Reserve Bank such as regulation of non-bank financial institutions, management of foreign exchange reserves, management of sovereign debt - by statute in respect of central government and by agreement in respect of state governments - and regulation of forex, money and government securities markets and their derivatives. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The statutes make the Reserve Bank a full service central bank. It is the issuer of currency and is the monetary authority. It regulates and supervises banks, non-bank financial companies and segments of the financial markets. It is the banker and debt manager to the Government. It is the gate keeper of the external sector. It regulates and supervises the payment and settlement system. Being both the monetary authority and banking sector regulator gives it also the principal responsibility for financial stability. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Inflation Targeting</strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Inflation targeting, by its very nature, is an issue in central bank governance. The defining features of an inflation targeting central bank are a precise mandate, a single instrument (the policy interest rate) in its armoury, a single minded devotion to achieving this target and a principal-agent relationship with the Government. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Reserve Bank is not an inflation targeting central bank. Nevertheless there is an influential view that our economy will be better served if the Reserve Bank becomes one. The argument is that inflation hurts much more in a country like India with hundreds of millions of poor people and that the Reserve Bank will be more effective in combating inflation if it is not burdened with other objectives. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Debt Management Office</strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The RBI Act mandates the Reserve Bank to be the debt manager of the Central Government. The Reserve Bank also manages the debt of state governments by mutual agreement as provided in law. There is now a proposal to shift this function out of the central bank, and this has generated a debate around several governance issues. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Responsibility for Financial Stability</strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Reserve Bank's mandate for ensuring financial stability arises mainly from its mandated functions of regulator of the banking system, regulator and supervisor of the payment and settlement systems, regulator of the money, forex, government security and credit markets, banker to the banks, as also the lender-of the last resort. This unique combination of responsibilities for macroprudential regulation and microprudential supervision, together with an implicit mandate for systemic oversight has allowed the Reserve Bank to exploit the synergies across various dimensions. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">[<em><strong>From a speech by Dr. D. Subba Rao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India at the meeting of the Central Bank Governance Group in Basel on May 9, 2011</strong></em><strong>.</strong>] </font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#006600">Jurispruden</font><font color="#FF6633" size="5">tiol</font><font color="#006600"> – </font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><strong><font color="#006600"> Wednesday's</font></strong></strong></font><font color="#006600"> cases</font></strong></font></strong></font><font color="#006600"> </font></strong></strong></font></p> <p><font color="#663399" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><img border="0" hspace="5" alt="Legal Corner Icon" align="left" src="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/image/stories/ddt_hammer.jpg" width="100" height="84" />Service Tax</strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#ff6633">Construction falling under Works Contract Service - Taxable prior to 1.6.2007 – Prima facie case in favour of Revenue - Pre-deposit ordered - CESTAT </font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>THERE</strong> is nothing in any provision of the Finance Act, 1994 from which it can be inferred that the taxable services, as defined in various clauses of Section 65 (105), have to be pure services not involving the use or supply of any goods or that such services would not be taxable if the same involve use or supply of any goods or materials. Prima facie there is merit in the department's contention that the services provided by the appellant were taxable even during the period prior to 1.6.2007. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#663399">Income Tax</font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#ff6633">Sec 80IB - Whether Central Excise refund and interest subsidies received from State Govt's new Industrial Policy are to be treated as revenue receipts - NO, rules HC</font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>THE</strong> finding of the Tribunal on the first issue that the Excise Duty Refund, Interest Subsidy and Insurance Subsidy were Production Incentives, hence Revenue Receipt, cannot be sustained, being against the law laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Sahney Steel and Ponni Sugars cases </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#663399">Customs</font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#ff6633">Imported Goods - Burden of proof - Respondents discharged initial burden by producing invoices which Customs did not find to be not genuine -HC</font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>RESPONDENT</strong> has discharged the burden of proving that the goods seized are not smuggled goods and that they purchased those from their seller who lawfully acquired ownership of those goods. In this case the test reports of the seized goods substantially tally with the descriptions of those indicated in the invoices produced before the Customs authority and thus, even though the High Court did not agree with the view of the Tribunal regarding the question of burden of proof, High Court was of the view that such burden has been discharged by the Respondent as the Customs authority did not find that the invoices were not genuine. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font color="#663399">See our columns Tomorrow for the judgements</font></strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font color="#ff6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Until Tomorrow with more <strong>DDT</strong></font></p> <p align="justify"><font color="#ff6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Have a Nice Day. </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#ff6666">Mail your comments to</font><strong> <a href="mailto:vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com">vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com </a></strong></font> </p> </body> </html>