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By Vijay Kumar

Income Tax

Delayed TDS on 'usance interest' - Payment of interest u/s 201(1A) - effective date - liability from the date of payment and not from day Gujarat HC decision given : ITAT Third Member

The dispute revolves around the issue of, whether interest u/s 201(1A) is payable on the ''usance interest'' from the date of payment or from the date of pronoucement of High Court decision in the Vijay Ship Breaking Corpn case (2003-TIOL-177-HC-AHM-IT) whereby it was held that the usance interest is nothing but interest payment and TDS is deductible.

Customs

Claim for refund cannot be treated as demand of duty, interest or penalty by Revenue, and in absence of any specific provisions, fee for refund claims, need not be paid : CESTAT

In the present case pertaining to a Customs refund matter, the appellant had filed an appeal to the Tribunal against an Order of the Commissioner(Appeals) & paid the fees of Rs.500/- for COD and Rs.1000/- for regular appeal. Even before their appeal was disposed, the Registry took an objection that the prescribed fees for filing the appeal were not paid. The objection was that since the refund claim involved was more than Rs. 5 lakhs, the appellant ought to have paid a fee of Rs.5000/- in terms of Section 129A(6)(b) of the Customs Act, 1962.

Custom House Agent cannot be classified under Port Services - Every licensed person cannot be brought under net of port services : Tribunal

THE appellant is engaged in the activities of Customs House Agent services and holds a valid licence from the Customs under the provisions of Customs House Agent Licensing Regulations.

After some time, the Department thought they were C&F Agents. As confusion compounded the Department wanted them to be a Cargo Handling agency, but finally settled for port services and stuck them with a demand of over a Crore of rupees.

See our columns tomorrow for the judgements