TIOL-DDT 2976
23 11 2016
Wednesday

- A Show Cause Notice was issued in 1968 and the case is still pending! This case will celebrate its Golden Jubilee soon.

- There are 204 cases pending with appellate commissioners for more than ten years.

The Union Minister of State for Finance Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangwar informed the Rajya Sabha yesterday:

The category wise details of the tax evasion by corporates pending in various Courts in India is not maintained centrally. However, the details of the pending cases filed by Income Tax Department in various Courts, including Income Tax Appellate Tribunals for violations of various provisions of Income Tax Act, 1961 which may also include the cases of Tax evasion are as follows:

Filed by Department as on 30.06.2016

Indirect Tax

Total No of cases against corporates pending in various forums as on 30/09/2016 is as given in table below.

To a specific question, which is the oldest among such pending cases and how old is the case, the Minister replied, "The details as regards the individual cases (case wise data) is not maintained centrally. Further, the disclosure of information regarding specific taxpayers is prohibited except as per procedure laid down under section 138 of the Income-tax Act, 1961."

Oldest case: The oldest case pending in Indirect Taxes is against Hindustan Motors in which the Show Cause Notice was issued in 1968 and the amount involved is 3 lakh rupees.

Banks Getting GST Ready

FINANCE Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha said,

The Public and Private Sector Banks are readying themselves to handle collection of taxes under GST regime and remitting it to Government Account with Reserve Bank of India. For this purpose, they are developing and making necessary changes in their Information Technology systems for integration with Reserve Bank of India and Goods & Services Tax Portal of Goods & Services Tax Network (GSTN).

Detailed protocols, for integration of the Banks' Information Technology Systems with RBI and GST portal of Goods & Services Tax Network, have been prepared and finalized by the Reserve Bank of India and Goods & Services Tax Network respectively in consultation with Government of India.

Exchanging Bank Notes in unauthorised manner is illegal - RBI

THE Reserve Bank of India in a Press Release yesterday states:

The facility for public to exchange the specified bank notes (old notes in Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000) for legal tender notes and allowing them to deposit into bank accounts in unlimited amounts is provided to enable members of the public in possession of these notes as on the date of the announcement to secure the value of these notes either through exchange or by deposit into their bank accounts.

It is reported that certain gullible persons are exchanging these notes on behalf of other; some are even helping them by depositing the hoarded cash into their own bank accounts. Even Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts are being put to use for this.

Members of public are cautioned that exchanging /dealing in Specified bank notes in unauthorised manner is illegal and liable to strict punitive action.

RBI Press Release 2016-2017/1283., Dated November 22, 2016

Service Tax -Online Information - Jurisdiction to LTU, Bangalore

YESTERDAY the Government issued a notification amending Notification No.20/2014-Service Tax, dated 16th September, 2014. The amendment reads as:

In the said notification, after the proviso, the following shall be inserted, namely:-

"Provided further that in case of online information and database access or retrieval services provided or agreed to be provided by a person located in non-taxable territory and received by a non-assessee online recipient, no officer specified in column (2) of the Table 3 and no officer subordinate to him, other than the officer specified in column (2) against S.No (23) of the said Table and all the officers subordinate to him, shall have the powers under Chapter-V of the Finance Act, 1994 (32 of 1994) and the rules made thereunder………"

What does this mean?

This means that the Principal Commissioner, Bangalore LTU will have exclusive jurisdiction with respect to online information and database access or retrieval services provided or agreed to be provided by a person located in non-taxable territory and received by a ‘non-assessee online recipient'.

All this is because - WITH a view to provide a level-playing field to Indian service providers providing taxable online information and database access or retrieval [OIDAR] services including electronic services in India, the exemption to such services provided in India by service providers located in foreign territory is being withdrawn with effect from December 1, 2016. Thus cross border business to consumer [B2C] OIDAR services provided by a foreign service provider to a person in India will become taxable from 1st December, 2016 onwards.  Also see Circular No. 202/12/2016-Service Tax dated 09.11.2016 and DDT 2968.

Notification No 50/2016-Service Tax, Dated: November 22, 2016

Customs - Further Rationalization of Revised Simplified Procedure for Fixation of Brand Rates

IT has been brought to notice of the Board that the requirement of original duty paying documents furnished with reference to the claim of drawback being endorsed (defaced) by the verifying officer with the extent of utilization for the brand rate application is a cause of delay in disposal of application as it is a tedious and time consuming activity in which officers replicate the efforts of the applicant and many times involves voluminous documentation being produced by applicant at the government office. 

The benign Board has decided that:

"in future applications made under the revised simplified brand rate scheme the requirement of submitting original duty paying documents for endorsing/defacement by verifying officer during post-facto checking stage shall be dispensed except to the extent of random cross-verification of not more than 5 per cent originals of the self-attested copies of the total duty paid documents. The random selection shall be based on dynamic and relevant risk parameters as indicated by the Commissioner."

CBEC Circular No. 54/2016-Customs., Dated November 22, 2016

Deposit of Old Notes in Small Savings Scheme

MINISTRY of Finance has received references from Banks whether currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000, discontinued with effect from 9.11.2016, can be deposited in accounts opened under small savings schemes.

Government has decided that subscribers of Small Savings Schemes may not be allowed to deposit old currency note of Rs.500 and Rs.1000, in Small Savings Schemes.

Government wants this to be complied strictly.

MoF, Department of Economic Affairs F.No.1/04/2016-NS., Dated November 22, 2016

Income Tax - Admissibility of Expenditure Incurred by a Firm on Keyman Insurance Policy in Case of a Partner

THE issue relating to admissibility of expenditure incurred by a firm on Keyman Insurance Policy premium in the case of a partner has been a contentious one. CBDT Circular no.  762/1998  dated 18.02.1998 clarifies that the premium paid on the Keyman Insurance Policy is allowable as business expenditure. However, in case of such expenditure incurred on a partner of a firm, the general approach of the assessing officers was to treat the expenditure as not incurred for the purpose of business and disallow the same.

CBDT now clarifies:

It is a settled position that in case of a firm, premium paid by the firm on the Keyman Insurance Policy of a partner, to safeguard the firm against a disruption of the business, is an admissible expenditure under section 37 of the Act.

Accordingly, henceforth, on this settled issue, appeals may not be filed by the department and those already filed, may be withdrawn/not pressed upon.

CBDT Circular No. 38/2016., Dated November 22, 2016

IRCTC Waives Service Charges (not Service Tax) on Rail Tickets

IN order to help passengers and incentivise online payments, Service charge has been waived off by IRCTC on booking of E-tickets and I-tickets from 23rd Nov 2016 to 31st Dec 2016.

IRCTC levies a service charge of Rs.80/- for SL,2S and Rs.120 for all other Upper classes plus service tax on I-tickets. IRCTC also levies a service charge of Rs.20/- (Second / Sleeper) and Rs.40/-per e-ticket in case of all other classes(1AC,2AC,3AC,CC,3E,FC) plus service tax irrespective of the number of passengers booked on an e-ticket.

This service charge is now waived till 31st December 2016.

But most of our famous newspapers reported this as waiver of service tax. This is how some of them reported the news:

1. Financial Express: Service tax waived for online train ticket booking till December 31.

2. Times of India: Service tax waived for online train ticket booking till Dec 31.

3. Hindustan Times: No service tax on train tickets booked through IRCTC till December 31.

4. Zee News: In a move to encourage cashless transaction following the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, the government has waived off the service tax for online booking of train tickets via the IRCTC website.

5. The Hindu Business Line was very expressive and authoritative when it reported: The government has waived service tax to encourage cashless transactions in the wake of the demonetisation exercise. Service tax will not be levied on tickets booked through the IRCTC website from November 23 to December 31, said a senior Railway Ministry official. Rs. 20 is levied as service tax on Sleeper and Rs. 40 on AC classes for booking tickets through IRCTC. Service tax has been waived to incentivise cashless transactions through online booking, the official added.

6. Business Standard: Railways waives off service tax for booking online tickets.

Obviously, they do not know the difference between service tax and service charge and thousands of well informed readers depend on these newspapers for enlightened news.

Incidentally, the old Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes can be used for purchase of tickets at railway ticketing counters till the midnight of November 24, 2016 unless, of course, the date is again extended.

Fauna Detector Dog - IRS Officer Dr Anees Presents Research Paper in WCO Seminar in Korea

AN International Seminar on Detector Dogs of Customs Administration in Asia Pacific Region was hosted by the Korea Customs Service along with the World Customs Organisation Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific (WCO RILO AP), from 15th to 17th November at Cheonan city, South Korea.  

Sixteen countries including India, Malaysia, China, Bangladesh, Japan Pakistan, Mongolia and Sri Lanka participated in the seminar. The seminar provided a unique opportunity for WCO member nations to interact with practitioners from various countries in the Asia Pacific and share experiences, and explore avenues from increased collaboration and coordination. Dr Anees, Assistant Commissioner in Delhi Service Tax presented his research findings on "Fauna Detector Dog, saviour of Indian Wildlife". The paper was widely appreciated. Earlier in 2014 NACEN had published a book on "detection dog - canine companion in Customs" edited by Dr Shreekumar Menon, Dr Anees and Dr Ani Bency Jacob.

Please also see DDT 2404 25.07.2014 

Until tomorrow with more DDT

Have a nice day.

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