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The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Sunday said the proposal in Finance Bill 2016 to declare spectrum allocations as services would result in a tax burden of Rs.77,000 crore for operators and is likely to hurt consumers as they have to pay higher tariff rates if the load is passed on to them. " The service tax levy on spectrum assignment means that during auctions lined up for JuneJuly, where reserve price is around Rs.5.36 lakh crore, the industry will have to cough up minimum Rs.77,000 crore as a service tax. This is asubstantial financial burden on the industry. Business Standard, New Delhi, 14th March 2016

Though the sales tax authorities have the power to extend the date for filing returns, the extension should be done before the expiry of the deadline, the Supreme Court has stated in a large batch of appeals, State of Punjab vs Shreyans Industries Ltd. In these matters, the revenue authorities sent notices to the firms after the expiry of three years. The assessees objected to it arguing that the notices were sent beyond the period of assessment and, therefore, it was not permissible to issue notices after the expiry of three years and carry on with the assessment proceedings. The Punjab and Haryana High Court agreed with them. The appeal of the state government was dismissed noting that there are similar provisions in the Karnataka and Gujarat sales tax laws. The commissioner has the power to extend the date, but it should be done giving adequate reasons in writing. The judgment stated that “ once the period of limitation expires, the immunity against being subject to assessment set...

Tax benefit to NPS can be given by exempting the pension received from income tax Much has already been written about the proposal to tax 60 per cent of the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) corpus on retirement and the subsequent rollback of this provision. As before, the entire corpus received back from EPF will continue to be completely exempt from tax. Thankfully, the proposal to exempt 40 per cent of the National Pension System (NPS) corpus is proposed to be continued. While this exemption is better than there being none at all, NPS will still remain a poor cousin compared to EPF. The government has justified the proposal to tax the withdrawal of corpus from both NPS and EPF by citing international precedents. There is some logic in this argument. The government, actually, contributes to building your retirement corpus by way of tax foregone on the amounts contributed and on the income generated on the corpus during the accumulation phase. It does so because this enables...

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said he was hopeful that the much- delayed Constitution amendment Bill on goods and services tax ( GST) would be passed in the second half of Parliament’s Budget session, in April. He also expressed hope for the bankruptcy and insolvency Bill. In the first half of the Budget session, the key Aadhaar and Real Estate Regulation Bills were passed. Jaitley said the GST and bankruptcy Bills would give a major push to India’s reform process, in an otherwise weak global economic weather. “The current session of Parliament has already seen a landmark legislation passed two days ago. And I do hope to see another two being passed in the second part of the session,” he said at the end of the three- day Advancing Asia Conference, co- hosted by India and the International Monetary Fund. The GST and bankruptcy Bills are among key reforms for India, the progress of which is being keenly watched by the global investors. The constitution amendment B...

The Lok Sabha passed the Aadhaar Bill on Friday by a voice vote but not without some members seeking clarity about the data’s privacy and confidentiality, while one member expressed fear of the potential misuse of the Aadhaar data for “mass surveillance”. Welcoming the move, Nandan Nilekani, architect of Aadhaar and former chairman of Unique Identity Authority of India said, “ Aadhaar has got bipartisan support. It started in the UPA and the government used Aadhaar for direct benefit transfer for 30 million LPG connections. This ( NDA) government has the wisdom to take it forward and make it the central pillar of its subsidy regime. With the legal issue settled, it could be used for transforming government, as well as transforming business.” While moving the Bill for discussion and passage, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the primary focus was usage of money belonging to the Consolidated Fund of India to deliver targeted subsidies to only the deserving, which will help plug leak...

www.caonline.in News... 1.TPO may adopt CUP method for unexplained part of transactions. [Denso India Limited vs. CIT (Delhi High Court)]. 2.Petty charities in ‘golaks’ are not anonymous donations. [DCIT vs. All India Pingalwara Charitable Society (ITAT Amritsar)]. 3.Off shelf software payment is not royalty under India-Singapore DTAA. [M/s. Capgemini Business Services (India) Ltd. vs. ACIT (ITATMumbai)]. 4.Govt subsidy to reduce production cost eligible for 80IB deduction: SC. [CIT vs. M/s. Meghalaya Steels Ltd. (Supreme Court)] 5.Adjournment sought due to death in family is justifiable. [Zuari Global Ltd. vs. Principal CIT (Bombay High Court)]. 6.Revision cannot be done on mere different conclusion of CIT.[M/s Juhi Alloys Pvt. Ltd. vs. CIT (ITAT Lucknow)]. 7.No reassessment where no original assessment : SC. [M/s. Standard Chartered Finance Ltd. vs. CIT (Supreme Court)]. For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonlineofficial Or Subscribe on mail visit : www.cao...

www.caonline.in News... 1.Guidelines for implementation of transfer pricing provisions , replacement of instruction No. 15/2015. Instruction No. 3/2016 F. No. 500/9/2015-APA-II 2.Charges having no nexus with import not includible in AV of imported goods. [M/s Schwing Stetter (India) Private Limited vs. Commissioner of Customs (Imports) (CESTAT Chennai)]. 3.Sec 40(a)(iii): No specified period for TDS deposit in claiming salary expenses. [ANZ Grindlays Bank Ltd. vs. DCIT (Delhi High Court)]. 4.Reopening without alleging non-production of material facts is invalid [M/s. Apeejay Education Society & others vs. ACIT (ITAT Amritsar)]. 5.Reopening without disposing assessee’s objections, not valid.[M/s. Bayer Material Science Pvt. Ltd. vs. DCIT (Bombay High Court)]. 6.Adjustment of short / excess excise duty paid during assessment.[M/s. Tafe Motors & Tractors Ltd vs Commissioner of Excise, Jaipur (CESTAT Delhi)]. For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonlineoffic...

Once the income has been classified as either business income or capital gains, be consistent In a move that is likely to reduce litigations between investors and the income- tax department, the Central Board of Direct Taxes recently allowed investors to decide whether income from sale of securities is to be treated as business income or capital gains. Earlier, the assessing officer ( AO) was used to make this decision. So, if there were a large number of trades or profit- booking, the AO could classify it as business income and tax it at the highest rate of 30 per cent plus applicable cess. If the gain is classified as capital gains, there is no tax. Henceforth, if the assessee wants the income from sale of security after 12 months to be treated as capital gain, the assessing officer ( AO) cannot dispute it. An important caveat: Once an assessee has chosen a certain mode of tax treatment, he can’t change it in subsequent years. Says Suresh Surana, founder, RSM Astute Consulting ...

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a Bill to amend a 48year- old law to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars. The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which amends the Enemy Property Act, 1968, was passed by voice vote amid the governments assertion that the measure should not be seen from the prism of religion or caste. A demand by the Opposition for sending it to the Standing Committee of Parliament was also turned down. Business Standard, New Delhi, 10th March 2016

Merchant bankers want the market regulator to ease exit of companies that were once listed on regional stock exchanges and have now been shifted to dissemination boards of national stock exchanges. The companies were moved from regional stock exchanges because the bourses had stopped operating or were on the point of shutting. A dissemination board is a trading mechanism on national stock exchanges for shareholders of companies that were once part of regional stock exchanges that have now been derecognised or shut. The market regulator has given firms on dissemination boards time till October to get properly listed on national stock exchanges. "We want the regulator to ease the process of exit for companies that are a part of the dissemination board by doing away with the mandatory reverse- book- building process," said amerchant banker. At present, firms with paid- up capital of not more than Rs.10 crore each, and net worth below Rs.25 crore each, as on the last da...

Even with less than ideal design features, the state VAT pushed up revenues. The GST, with an improved design and a fully integrated IT system for both the Centre and the states, will fare better, writes the author in the concluding part of the series Revenue uncertainties have dominated discussions about the goods and services tax ( GST). This has been especially pronounced among the states which see the movement towards the GST as a leap in the dark. What then are the reasons to assert that the implementation of GST will lead to revenue buoyancy? One can look for answers in the earlier experience of the states which implemented the value- added tax ( VAT) in 2004- 05 when there was a similar air of “ revenue pessimism”. The table alongside indicates the trends in state VAT collections for the period 2001- 02 to 200809 ( covering both the pre- VAT and postVAT periods). One can see from the trends that 2004- 05 ( the year the state VAT was implemented) was an inflexion point wh...