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The right to plan tax affairs is a fundamental right of every taxpayer. However, there are times when tax planning results in tax avoidance. To prevent this, rules have been introduced, both globally as well as in India, to ensure that appropriate taxes are levied. Though there were Specific Anti-Avoidance Rules (SAAR) in India through provisions in the Income-Tax Act, there were no codified General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) until they were introduced in the Finance Act, 2012, only to be deferred and then made applicable from April 1, 2017. Under the GAAR provisions, the tax authorities have the powers to regard an arrangement as an impermissible avoidance one if its main purpose is to obtain a tax benefit by taking recourse to arm’s length pricing, or if it results in abuse of provisions of tax laws, lacks commercial substance, or is carried out in a manner not ordinarily employed for bona fide purposes. In such cases the tax authorities can re-characterise and determine the tax...

After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned down its request to increase the weekly cash withdrawal limit for candidates contesting in the coming Assembly polls, the Election Commission (EC) of India has written back to RBI Governor Urjit Patel, expressing “serious concern about the cursory manner in which the issue has been dealt with”. In a letter on Sunday, EC asked RBI to realise the ‘gravity of the situation’, virtually charging the central bank with impeding the democratic process. One letter by the EC was in the context of the low withdrawal limits for candidates and asked these be relaxed. There are several bills that candidates in the election can only pay by cash. The EC has received a large number of complaints where candidates are facing constraints. This effectively means curtailing the candidate’s right to campaigning in a free and fair election, the poll body had indicated. Right to withdraw cash should not hamper the democratic process, it had said and asked RBI to a...

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley  may hike service tax rate to 16-18 percent from the current 15 percent in the Budget, due on Wednesday,asaprecursortothe GoodsandServicesTax(GST)rollout. The move,that will make flying,eating out,phone bills and a host of other services expensive, would be an attempt to take the rates closer to the proposed tax slabs for GST. GST,which will subsume central and state levies like excise duty, service tax and VAT, is scheduled to be rolled outfrom July 1. The tax slabs decided for the GST are 5,12,18and28 percent and taking service tax closer to one of the slabs is a logical move in the Budget,tax experts said. Tax experts say,Jaitley,who had in his previous budgethiked service tax rate by 0.5 percent to 15 percent,may raise the levy by at least one percent age point to 16 percent. Some others feel there could be different service tax rates with a lower 12 percent for basic services and a higher 18 percent for the rest. Business Standard...

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley  may hike service tax rate to 16-18 percent from the current 15 percent in the Budget, due on Wednesday,asaprecursortothe GoodsandServicesTax(GST)rollout. The move,that will make flying,eating out,phone bills and a host of other services expensive, would be an attempt to take the rates closer to the proposed tax slabs for GST. GST,which will subsume central and state levies like excise duty, service tax and VAT, is scheduled to be rolled outfrom July 1. The tax slabs decided for the GST are 5,12,18and28 percent and taking service tax closer to one of the slabs is a logical move in the Budget,tax experts said. Tax experts say,Jaitley,who had in his previous budgethiked service tax rate by 0.5 percent to 15 percent,may raise the levy by at least one percent age point to 16 percent. Some others feel there could be different service tax rates with a lower 12 percent for basic services and a higher 18 percent for the rest. Business Standard Ne...

In service and maintenance contracts, cost of parts and materials used are excluded for evaluating service tax, the Supreme Court has held in a batch of appeals from different states referring to companies retreading tyres. It reversed the finding of the excise appellate tribunal that it is the entire of the gross value of the service rendered that is liable to service tax. The tribunal had maintained that there is no sale or deemed sale of the parts or other materials used in the execution of the contract of repairs and maintenance. The court stated that several government notifications like those in 2003 and 2004 have made it clear that goods and materials sold by the service provider to the recipient of service are exempted. The only condition is that there should be documentary proof specifically indicating the value of the goods and materials, the court stated in its judgment in the leading case, Safety Retreading Co vs Commissioner of Central Excise. An assessee is liable to pa...

Finance minister Arun Jaitley could raise the service tax rate in the Budget to be presented on February 1, a move that will increase the cost of eating out, going to the movies or flying. Two senior government sources told Hindustan Times on Friday that the existing rate of 15%, which includes two cesses, could be raised by another 0.5% to 1%. “The government might want to increase the service tax so that the shift to GST is not abrupt,” one of them said, referring to a proposed a Goods and Services Tax that has missed several deadlines because of political wrangling. Jaitley has said he wants to roll it out by July 1. Service tax is a charge service providers collect from customers and then pass onto the government. There are some services provided by state and central governments that do not attract this tax. A rise in service tax could give the government some elbow room to offer cuts in personal income tax or spend more to revive private consumption that received a sh...

Income tax department has confirmed information about the black money deposited in the bank account in Madhya pradesh chhattisgarh(MP-CG) region after demonetisation in MP-CG region. Such pepole are given a chance to opt for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) to  disclose their black money,' Pricipal chief Commissioner (MP-CG) and Director General (Investigation) AK Jaiswal told Journalists in Indore. Business Standard New Delhi,28th January 2017

Former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar on Friday advocated a single rate for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as that would it simpler to administer. The GST Council has already decided on the fourrate structure for the indirect tax regime, besides a cess. Giving an example, he said it was better to first build a single-rate GST with a low rate, achieve full mastery of this, and then consider more complex possibilities such as high rates and multiple rates. Delivering the C D Deshmukh lecture, organised by the National Council of Applied Economic Research, Kelkar said policymaking was required to address market failure, improve efficiency and equity in the society. With regard to taxation, he said it should be stable and simple, giving investors confidence to invest. A task force constituted by the 13th Finance Commission, headed by Kelkar, had recommended that all goods and services should be taxed at the single GST rate of 12 per cent. It could be split as 5 per cent for ...

Wiser after the criticism faced in trying to amend the land acquisition law in 2015, the Narendra Modi government has revised its earlier plan for a parliamentary nod to its model land leasing Bill. Instead, the Centre is persuading state governments to enact it. And, has support from even Opposition party-governed states, such as Congressruled Karnataka and Left-ruled Kerala. The Bill in question aims at enabling farmers and farming groups to lease their land for cultivation through a legal document, without dilution of ownership. NITI Aayog, which drafted it, says the legislation could help release for cultivation 20 million hectares of fallow tract, where its owners fear land grab. The model Bill also aims to protect the rights of tenants in the event of a natural calamity, giving them access to compensation. Land is not only a state subject but also an emotive issue. Which was underlined for the Centre, at significant political cost, when it tried to amend the land acquisitio...

Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman Najib Shah on Friday raised concerns over the proposed goods and services tax (GST) on behalf of excise and service tax officials on the same dais where Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was present.  There is lingering fear among tax officials that their work will be reduced because of the division of the administrative turf proposed in the GST regime. The occasion was Customs day, but officials were not pleased with the way the Centre bowed down to states over the division of administrative control between the Union and state governments. The IRS Association earlier this week had decided to not to celebrate Customs Day at any place and wear black badges on January 30, Martyrs' day. Shah drew Jaitley's attention to “the rising disquiet in the cadre”, saying there were human resource issues in the service. Jaitley tried to pacify Shah, saying any such disquiet would come down as GST will create ample opportunities. “...

The implementation of Goods and Services Tax(GST) should driven early seven million small businesses to the formal digital economy and help them get easy access to loans,said Nandan Nilekani,the technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Infosys who wastapped by the government to runan ambitious identity-recognition programme, on Friday. The new unified taxation system,which is scheduled to be implemented latert his year, will bring in millions of unorganised businesses on one platform.This would effectively ,Nilekani believes,help the mget loan susing digitalised data. Business Standard New Delhi,28th January 2017