Finance Bill, 2013 - The Amendments cometh
Direct Taxes
IN section 252 of the Income Tax Act, for sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be substituted with effect from the 1st day of June, 2013, namely:-
"(3) The Central Government shall appoint-
(a) a person who is a sitting or retired Judge of a High Court and who has completed not less than seven years of service as a Judge in a High Court; or
(b) the Senior Vice-President or one of the Vice-Presidents of the Appellate Tribunal, to be the President thereof."
The existing sub-section (3) is the one as substituted by the Finance Act, 2002 w.e.f 01.04.2002 and reads-
"(3) The Central Government shall appoint the Senior Vice-President or one of the Vice-Presidents of the Appellate Tribunal to be the President thereof."
And the sub-section (3) as it existed prior to the one in vogue read-
"(3) The Central Government shall ordinarily appoint a judicial member of the Appellate Tribunal to be the President thereof."
It seems there was a lot of experimentation undertaken earlier. And now the Central Government has decided to take a leaf from the Customs Act, 1962 in this matter. Section 129 (3) of the Customs Act, 1962 reads-
"(3)The Central Government shall appoint -
(a) a person who is or has been a Judge of a High Court; or
(b) one of the members of the Appellate Tribunal, to be the President thereof."
This provision made its appearance by the Finance Act, 1996. A comparison between the proposed amendment in the Income Tax Act indicates that there remains a subtle difference in the appointment to the post of the President of the CESTAT and the ITAT.After all, one cannot overlook the fact that the appointment of the Members too are on different parameters for the CESTAT & the ITAT. For more on this read . The other proposed amendments on the Direct Taxes side are -
# No PAN needed for payment of interest on infra bonds made to non-residents # TDS on royalty & fees for technical services to attract 25% rate # Sec 2 of Wealth Tax Act amended relating to definition of 'urban land'
# TDS on transfer of property above Rs 50 lakh or more: TAN requirement dropped
Indirect TaxesService Tax -
We had in mentioned the following -