Government grants full service tax exemption on taxable services provided to a Goods Transport Agency by their sub-contractors-Service Tax Notification No.1 Transporters strike hampers movement of cargo Daiichi to book an extra ordinary loss of 3.9 Billion Dollars arising from its acquisition of Ranbaxy Government releases Rs. 600 crore to regional authorities of DGFT for payment of pending claims of Terminal Excise Duty and Duty Drawback under deemed export scheme-Government also releases Rs. 200 crore to the Development Commissioners of SEZs for payment towards pending claims of CST in respect of supplies made to 100% EOUs Mobile Companies directed to freeze Cellphones without IMEI numbers Sensex hits 10275 Points Omar Abdullah sworn in as Chief Minister of J & K Farooq Abdullah offered Cabinet Ministership in Centre Anti-dumping duty on import of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) originating in, or exported from, Korea RP -Customs Tariff Notification No.1 Changes in Customs duty on specified goods-Customs Tariff Notification No.2 New Drawback Rates for Boots/half boots/shoes/sandals of leather-cum synthetic/textile materials-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No.1 Drawback Rates on several products hiked-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No.2 Government announces Second Economic Stimulus Package to boost recession hit Sectors-Exemptions from CVD on TMT bars and structurals, and from CVD and Special CVD on cement, withdrawn-Full exemption from basic customs duty on zinc and ferro alloys, withdrawn-Government restores DEPB rates to those prevailing prior to November 2008- DEPB Scheme extended till 31.12.2009-Duty drawback benefits on certain items including knitted fabrics, bicycles, agricultural hand tools and specified categories of yarn enhanced retrospectively from 1st September 2008-Accelerated depreciation of 50% provided for commercial vehicles to be purchased on or after 1.1.2009 upto 31.03.09-Click on the link below for details Home Loan Rates, Auto Loan Rates & Retail Loan Rates set to be lowered as RBI cuts Repo Rate by 100 BPS to 5.5 per cent and Reverse Repo Rate by 100 BPS to 4 percent with immediate effect -CRR also cut by 50 BPS to 5 per cent from 17th Jan-Banks get Rs 20000 Crore of liquidity CENVAT Credit of service tax paid on all input services up to the Port allowed to Exporters-Click on the link below for details As demanded by AIT; FinMin finally amends CENVAT Credit Rules to allow benefit of non-reversal of Credit on clearances to SEZ Developers-Central Excise Non-Tariff Notification No.50-Click on the lik below for details Anti-dumping duty on import of Flexible Slabstock Polyol, originating in, or exported from, the People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei and Brazil continued till 23rd July, 2009-Customs Tariff Notification No.138 Tariff Value for import of Brass Scrap is 3252 and for Poppy Seeds 4238-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No. 141 Exchange Rate for imported goods is Rs 48.20 Per US Dollar and Rs 68 Per EURO-Exchange Rate for export goods is Rs 47.40 Per US Dollar and Rs 66.35 Per EURO-Customs Non-Tariff Notification No. 140 Import of new vehicles having an FOB value of US $ 40,000 or more and engine capacity of more than 3000cc for petrol run vehicle and more than 2500cc for diesel run vehicles exempted from policy provision of Import Licensing Note No. 2-DGFT Notification No.74 CBEC clarifies the classification of 'Combined refrigerator freezer with separate external doors' would be under sub- heading 8418 10 and not under 8418 21-Customs Circular No.23 Procedure relating to sanction and pre-audit of refund claims-Customs Circular No.22 Anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of Sodium Hydroxide(Caustic Soda)originating in, or exported from, Korea ROK and the People's Republic of China-Customs Tariff Notification No.137 export of Staples in Strips entitled for Focus Product Scheme benefits on exports made w.e.f 1.4.2008-DGFT PN 120 export of specified products destined to specified linked markets entitled to benefit under Focus Product scheme for exports made w.e.f 1.4.2008-DGFT PN 121 Abatement from MRP for payment of excise duty lowered by 3 per cent on most of the products-Abatement on Auto Parts lowered to 30 per cent-Central Excise Non-Tariff Notification No. 49 excise duty of 300 PMT notified on cement clinkers-Central Excise Tariff Notification No.64 10% ethanol blended petrol exempted from excise duty Duty free import of capital goods and spare parts under EPCG-Customs Tariff Notification No.136 Anti-dumping duty on import of phenol-Customs Tariff Notification No.135 Authority for Advance Ruling rules looking at the nature of activities carried on or to be carried on by the liaison office of Ikea Trading (Hong Kong) Ltd. in India, no income would accrue or arise or deemed to accrue or arise in India in terms of section 5(2)(b) of Income Tax Act, 1961-AIT-2008-482-AAR Authority for Advance Ruling rules the swapping premium is profit derived from the business of providing long-term finance (computed under the head 'Profits & Gains of Business or Profession' before making any deduction under this clause) in terms of section 36(1)(viii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961-specified percentage thereof is eligible for deduction u/s 36(1)(viii) of the Income Tax Act in view of the fulfillment of condition for carrying this sum to the special reserve-AIT-2008-483-AAR HC rules to arrive at book profit we see no reason why current year's depreciation even though, not charged, to the profit and loss account though disclosed in the notes appended to the accounts cannot be deducted from the "net profit" In determining "book profit" for the purposes of Section 115J of the Act-assessee is entitled to seek deduction of current year depreciation from net profit to arrive at the "book profit" even though it is not charged to the profit and loss account, though disclosed in the notes appended to the accounts-AIT-2008-484-HC Definition of 'Charitable purpose' under section 2(15) of the Income-tax Act-Income Tax Circular No.11 Import of Trucks/Tippers/Dumpers and spares thereof, under EPCG Scheme by any other sector except for the mining sector is not permitted-DGFT Circular No. 48 transitional arrangements in respect of items whose import has been restricted, shall continue-DGFT Circular No.49 SION norms for export of Shea Stearine notified-DGFT PN 118 The appellant an international firm of solicitors resident in UK, has no office or fixed base in India-the income of the assessee is charged on hourly basis in India and utilised in India shall only be chargeable to Income-Tax Act as disclosed in the return of Income-AIT-2008-480-HC CBDT clarifies that any return of income for the assessment year 2008-09 filed electronically on 30th September 2008, in respect of which the electronic acknowledgement bears the date stamp of 1st October 2008, shall be treated as having been filed within the due date, i.e. 30th September 2008 Export of cement freely allowed from all Ports-DGFT Notification No. 73 Bombay HC rules it is only after enactment of Section 66-A w.e.f. 18.4.2006 that taxable services received from abroad by a person belonging to India are taxed in the hands of the Indian residents- In such cases, the Indian recipient of the taxable services is deemed to be a service provider-Before enactment of Section 66-A, there was no such provision in the Act and therefore, Union of India had no authority to levy service tax-Click on the link below for details Import of all pre-packaged commodities subjected to compliance of all the provisions of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977-Customs Circular No.21 Larger Bench of CESTAT rules in the case of provisional assessment under the Central Excise Rules, 2002 interest is required to be paid from the first day of the month succeeding the month for which such amount is determined-Interest is required to be paid even if the differential amount is paid before the order, under the Rule 7(3) of the said Rules, is issued finalizing the assessment-AIT-2008-473-CESTAT