* SUPREME COURT*
->> Import of second-hand photocopying machines restricted only after October 19, 2005 by Notification No. 31 ; import in January 2005 not restricted : Atul Commodities P. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Customs. . . 675 ->> Power to amend Foreign Trade Policy exclusively vested in Central Government whereas power to clarify vested in Director General of Foreign Trade : Atul Commodities P. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Customs. . . 675 ->> Appellants adopting dilatory methods disentitled to relief of waiver of pre-deposit : Alex Enterprises v. Commissioner of Customs. . . 732 ->> Assessee not able to identify machinery for which goods had been used, not entitled to Modvat credit on such goods : Madras Cements Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise. . . 744 * HIGH COURT* ->> Exemption to goods to be used in project financed by approved international organisation : Assessee not entitled to exemption based on certificate issued in favour person who had placed order with assessee : Dee Development Engineers Ltd. v. Union of India (P&H) . . . 696 ->> Rejection of claim of Modvat credit after prescribed period of limitation justified : Rathi Ispat Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Meerut (All) . . . 724 ->> Equitable considerations are not relevant in interpreting the provisions of taxing statute : Rathi Ispat Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Meerut (All) . . . 724 ->> Where duty paid by suppliers on goods inclusive of packing material, assessee entitled to Cenvat credit on packing material : Commissioner of Central Excise, Commissionerate Jalandhar v. International Tractors Ltd. (P&H) . . . 730 ->> In order to suspend licence of customs house agent under regulation 20(2) of Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004, compliance with procedure prescribed by regulation 22 not necessary : Ocean Shipping and Clearing Agency v. Union of India (Cal) . . . 735 ->> Del credere agent not liable to service tax before amendment to Finance Act, 1994 with effect from June 16, 2005 : Commissioner of Service Tax v. Sreenidhi Polymers P. Ltd. (Karn) . . . 749 * CESTAT ORDERS* ->> Notification permitted refund of excise duty or additional duty of excise leviable under three specified Acts and paid either in cash or by way of deposit in personal ledger account ; assessee not entitled to refund of education and higher education cess payable under Finance Acts, 2004 and 2007 paid along with such duties : Commissioner of Central Excise, Jammu v. Jindal Drugs Ltd. . . . 701 * STATUTES AND NOTIFICATIONS* * Acts :* Finance Act, 2010 . . . 145 * CBEC Circulars :* Circular No. 913/03/2010-CX, dated 3rd February, 2010-Valuation of MS and HSD sold amongst OMCs-MOU-Withdrawal of instructions dated 14-2-2007-regarding. . . 76 * NEWS BRIEF* ->> List of tax-exempt port, airport services soon The finance ministry will soon put out a small list of essential services that will not be taxed at airports or ports, as it kicks off experimental enclaves of a comprehensive service tax regime that could be extended nation-wide later. This will only give marginal relief to consumers of services - travellers and businesses - as most of the services that are currently out of tax net will face tax. "We will tax even non-taxable services but spare some essential services such as medical, education, pollution control and emergency services such as fire fighting, special services provided at time of emergency landing from the tax," the official said. The change indicates the direction for the service tax regime as the country pursues a unified goods and service tax regime and a change from the positive list approach followed so far. Globally, governments follow a negative list approach-only services exempt from tax are mentioned explicitly and the rest face tax. The ministry is expected to issue the notification shortly, putting into effect the tax from June this year. Service tax is levied at the rate of 10 per cent. The budget 2010-11 had proposed to tax all services provided at port and airports. Strictly interpreted this means any service provided at an airport or port will be levied service tax even if that service in itself may not be taxable elsewhere. This would have brought essential services such as health and education provided, otherwise not taxed, under tax net at port or airport. "Exempting essential services within the airport will be a positive step towards implementing a jurisdictional service tax in right earnest. It is essential that the term 'service' be defined in the statute for proper interpretation of the definition of airport service," said, partner, Ernst & Young. Some other services that are provided and consumed at port and airport but are not generally taxed and also do not fall in the category of essential services will have to face tax, the official added. These include services such as short maintenance services. However, services consumed by exporters that are exempted from tax will continue to enjoy their tax-free status. Abatement available in some services such as transportation will also be available if such a service is provided at port or airport. [Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com, 19 May 2010] ->> FM vows payout boost in renewed GST push Finance Minister on Friday reached out to his counterparts in State Governments to energise talks on unified goods and services tax (GST), promising "robust compensation" to ensure timely roll out of this crucial indirect tax reform. "He communicated to us that he is prepared to go beyond it (the 13th Finance Commission recommendation of Rs. 50,000 crore compensation over next five years)," said West Bengal FM and chairman of the empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers. "A finance ministry representative communicated that the union finance minister has sent a message... he will stand by states during implementation of GST to protect any revenue loss," he said. However, a central government official said the offer for compensation was contingent to states accepting the Centre's suggestion of common threshold, common exemption list and uniform goods and service tax rate. The official, however, did not elaborate on what could be the likely compensation, saying it would depend on the agreed GST rate. The draft of the proposed constitutional amendments required for the implementation of GST will be sent to State Finance Ministers over the fortnight by the law ministry, he added. Constitutional provisions will have to be amended to empower the Centre to tax goods at the trade level instead of factory gate and states to tax services. States have to be compensated for any revenue loss on account of implementation of the proposed goods and services tax, which will replace most indirect taxes in the country, both at Central and State levels. The Centre has also assured States compensation on account of central sales tax loss for current financial year going beyond the agreed deal. This clearly indicates the Centre's willingness to go the extra mile to take states on board to roll out GST on the scheduled date of April 1, 2011. "The Centre has an open mind on this. They have asked us to suggest a scheme of compensation which can be deliberated upon for final view," he said. The CST, imposed on inter-state movement of goods, was cut from 4 per cent. to 3 per cent. in 2007-08 and then to 2 per cent. in 2008-09. States expressed mixed feelings on the fresh offer from Mr Mukherjee. Bihar deputy Chief Minister said assurance on compensation is a positive movement. But some non-congress ruled states remained sceptical. Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister expressed concerns on constitutional amendment leading to the creation of Finance Ministers council with Union Finance Minister as chairman and State Finance Ministers as members to decide on changing GST rate. Madhya Pradesh joined Punjab and Haryana to seek purchase tax on wheat outside GST. Similar views were also expressed by Chhatisgarh, which has imposed a purchase tax on rice. [Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com, 22 May 2010] *>> States, Centre yet to agree on GST structure* Though the Centre and States officially exuded confidence in meeting the revised deadline to roll out GST from the next fiscal, an agreement over the structure for the proposed indirect tax system does not seem to be so easy. While the States have proposed two rates for goods under GST on the grounds that necessary items should attract lower rate, the Centre has suggested one rate, saying a two-rate structure would pose problems. Opposing the Centre's proposal, Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister at a meeting of the empowered committee of State Finance Ministers on Friday said Centre's suggestion will burden the poor. "Almost half of the population do not get the required basic necessities of life. In this context, the suggestion of the Centre for a single GST rate for both the daily necessities and the luxuries defies logic," he said. Arguing that the empowered committee should stick to the rate structure proposed in the discussion paper, he said, "changes in the taxation policy which are likely to adversely affect the living conditions of the poor cannot be justified in the name of convenience of administration." Not agreeing with the suggestion of the empowered committee, the Centre had argued that a two-rate structure for goods is likely to result in inversions in the duty structure with raw materials and intermediates attracting higher rate and finished goods lower rates. This is will scuttle the very objective of the new indirect tax regime as the intention is to apply the lower rate to only necessities. Also, currently services are chargeable at a single rate. Adopting a dual rate for goods would generate a similar demand for services too. Both the Centre and the States have, however, agreed on the single rate for services. The Centre and States also do not agree on the threshold, the level below which tax would not be levied. The states have called for Rs. 10 lakh threshold for state GST and Rs 1.5 crore for goods under the Central GST. They also want high threshold for services under Central GST. But the Centre is for a uniform threshold for both goods and services for State GST and as well as Central GST. The earlier deadline for GST implementation was from April 1, this year. GST would replace excise duty, service tax at the Central level and VAT at the States end, besides local levies, surcharges, cesses. To expedite the process, the Centre had conveyed his willingness to provide more compensation to the states for meeting their revenue loss due to implementation of GST, than Rs 50,000 crore, suggested by the 13th Finance Commission. Finance minister had said in the budget that "it will be my earnest endeavour to introduce GST along with the DTC (Direct Taxes Code) in April, 2011." [Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com, 23 May 2010] *->> M.P. wants fuels excluded from ambit of GST* Madhya Pradesh has made a case for excluding not only petroleum products, but even other fuels from the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. "It is difficult to agree with the suggestion (Centre's suggestion) to include petroleum products within the purview of GST", Finance Minister of Madhya Pradesh, told the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST here on Friday. A copy of his speech at the meeting was made available to the media persons here. The Centre had in response to the first discussion paper on GST taken a view that diesel, ATF (aviation turbine fuel) and motor spirit may be levied to GST. The Empowered Committee had however suggested that crude, motor spirit (including ATF) and high speed diesel (HSD) be kept outside the GST. No view has so far been taken by the empowered committee on exclusion of natural gas from the purview of GST. Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister also told the empowered committee that purchase tax should not be subsumed in GST. [Source : www.thehindubusinessline.com, May 23, 2010] -- Me on net : > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> http://rajkumaratthenet.blogspot.com/ http://itronline.blogspot.com/ Virus Warning: Although the I have taken reasonable precautions to ensure no viruses are present in his email, sender (I) cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use of this email or attachment." -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Skorydov MyTaxAssistant Member Group" group. To post to this group, send email to skorydovmytaxassist...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to skorydovmytaxassistant+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/skorydovmytaxassistant?hl=en.
