TIOL-DDT 609
09.05.2007
Wednesday The anti-dumping duty on Zinc Oxide originating in, or exported from, the Peoples Republic of China, was first imposed by notification No. 115/2001 dated the 2nd November, 2001, which was further extended till 8.4.2007 by Notification No. 51/2006 -Customs dated the 29th May, 2006 The Designated Authority, on review, has recommended continued imposition of the anti-dumping duty against the subject goods, originating in, or exported from, the Peoples Republic of China in order to remove injury to the domestic industry and so the Government has now re-imposed anti dumping duty on the product for another five years from 7.5.2007. But what happens to the imports during the period, 9.4.2007 to 6.5.2007, when there was no anti dumping duty on the product?. The Designated Authority had recommended continuation of the anti dumping duty, not its re- imposition. This should have been done before 8.4.2007, but somebody was sleeping for a month and just woke up and issued the notification after a month! The Board should have a cell just to monitor the expiry dates of its notifications, so that, if necessary, they can be extended before they die. NOTIFICATION NO. 64/2007-Cus., Dated: May 7, 2007 What is happening to Education Cess? The amount collected through the Education Cess for the years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 (up to February, 2007) is (Rs.incrore) Financial Year | Direct Taxes | Indirect Taxes | 2004-05 | 1804.51 | 2514 | 2005-06 | 3213.75 | 4424 | 2006-07(uptoFeb.07) | 2982.00 | 3851 |
The proceeds of Education Cess utilized exclusively for the Sarva ShikshaAbhiyan (SSA) and Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM) of the Government after exhausting the funds provided to these schemes by way of Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) Allocations to States are not being made separately against the Education Cess. Financial assistance to them is released under individual schemes of SSA & MDM related to Elementary Education in accordance with the guidelines of such schemes and against their respective budgetary allocations. This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri M.A.A. Fatmi in a written reply in the LokSabha yesterday. Department’s Stay petition – Why? An Assistant Commissioner passes an order confirming Central Excise duty demanded in the Show Cause Notice. The most normal thing to happen! On appeal, the Commissioner (Appeals), quashes the order of the Assistant Commissioner. The Department appeals to the Tribunal and also files a stay petition. What is the effect of the stay petition? The Tribunal recently in 2007-TIOL-606-CESTAT-MUM, held, if the operation of the impugned order is stayed it would enable the department to recover the confirmed demand from the assessee, which cannot be normally ordered.
But has not the order of the Assistant Commissioner merged with that of the Commissioner (Appeals)? So if the order of the Commissioner (Appeals) is stayed, there is still no order to enforce. So the Departmental stay petitions are really an exercise in futility. But why are still stay petitions filed by the Department? There seems to be a strong urge to help the consultants collect some fees! Most often, the Department works overtime to help the consultants. ISRO required to pay Service Tax? Is ISRO required to pay Service Tax on Satellite launches? On 23rd April 2007, India entered the global commercial launch market with ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle PSLV-C8 successfully placing the 352-kg Italian astronomical satellite AGILE into orbit after lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here on Monday. ¶It is a 100 per cent success to the entire ISRO community. We have made a good entry into the launch business and hope we will have more opportunities in the near future,¶ a beaming ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said. As per newspaper reports ISRO charged Rs.49crores for launching the satellite. Will this “service” be charged to Service Tax under the category BAS/Business Support Services or will a new category be required? Film makers show case brands in films – Sale of space or time for advertisement – Service Tax payable? Well known brands of cosmetics, mobile phones, cars, tyres, beverages are being promoted in films by film producers/directors and they charge these companies for the exposure their products get in the films. The latest film “Metro” promoting Shaadi.com, the matrimonial portal is an example in this regard. Similarly, Ta Ra Rum Pum promotes General motors. Aren’t these subject to service tax? Ill gotten wealth – place of earning not relevant for jurisdiction – Customs Commissioner facing prosecution A Customs Commissioner is charged by CBI of amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. A case is filed in a Delhi Court. He challenges the jurisdiction of Delhi Court and the case reaches the Supreme Court which says that where he amassed his wealth is not really relevant and in any case he had a house in Delhi which earned him rent. V K Puri, a 1976 batch officer of Indian Customs and Central Excise Service, is charged with amassing properties around the country which were far in excess of his known sources of income.
The investigating officers, according to the chargesheet, worked out that his earning in the entire service period along with rents and interests could not be more than Rs 34 lakh.
Puri owned a plot of land with a double-storeyed house on it in Dehradun, a big flat in Delhi’s SaritaVihar, a plot of land in Indore, another plot in Bangalore apart from bank deposits and investments in his and other family members’ names.
Investigations revealed that Puri, a resident of Dehra Dun, inherited along with his brother and two sisters a house in that city. His assets grew remarkably during his Indore posting in 1988.
Explaining his acquisition of wealth, Puri and his wife furnished photocopies of 86 bills showing apparent sale of gold jewellery and silver utensils to Shree AmbikaJewellers to the tune of Rs 87 lakh between 1992 and 1995. Wherever the Puris had stayed during this period, they went to the small shop in Indore to sell their family silver and gold.
The investigators said that the ingenious gold selling ploy had almost foxed them. However, further probe revealed that the Puris had never filed any wealth or gift tax returns or made any declaration under the Gold Control Act about the jewellery they sold. Neither had the jewellery shop reported it to the tax authorities.
The CBI officials pointed out in the charge sheet that Shree AmbikaJewellers ¶is a very small firm dealing in artificial diamonds, silver, stone jewellery, and had never dealt in the sale or purchase of gold jewellery or silver utensils¶. Inspector Suman Kumar, who cracked the disproportionate assets case against Commissioner Puri, was awarded the CBI Gold Medal for Best Investigating officer for 2002 by the Prime Minister.
Picking up a clue from a bank account, Inspector Suman Kumar gathered information that Puri had deposited money in 170 accounts in 50 branches of 21 banks in five cities. He had also invested in immovable assets in Mumbai, Indore, Pune, Dehradun and Lucknow. See our Breaking News for the Supreme Court order. Refund of Service Tax on exports – Notification soon The Foreign Trade Policy had announced that Service Tax on exports would be exempted/refunded. We in TIOL had pointed out that this has to be done by the Finance Ministry and not Commerce Ministry. But the Commerce Secretary seems to be confident. He has announced in a meeting yesterday that the notification on refund of service tax on exports at post production stage would come in the next couple of weeks. “The notification will have the list of services on which tax would be refunded and the means of how it would be done,” he is reported to have said. No immediate interim relief for Central Staff The terms of Reference of the Sixth Pay Commission include examination of desirability and the need to sanction any interim relief till the time the recommendations of the Commission are made and accepted by the Government.The Government will take a decision on grant of interim relief to Central Government employees, after a recommendation in this regard is received from the Pay Commission. This was informed to the RajyaSabhaby Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of State for Finance, yesterday. Shake up in CBEC – New Chairman and mass transfer of Commissioners The Government is likely to announce the name of the new CBEC Chairman today and most probably a massive order of transfer of Commissioners is also to be announced today or in the next couple of days. Watch our columns. Until tomorrow with more DDT Have a nice day. Mail your comments to vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com |
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