Tuesday, September 9, 2014

< Tax Regime contd.

Update >
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FROM ACROSS THE BORDER

a parallel news (not unrelated) >
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TOP STORY | Politics

The Internal Revenue Service may have given thousands of confidential ... more


 


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Taxmann Daily
A Tax & Corporate Laws Daily

I-T returns and info provided to tax authorities are exempt from disclosure under RTI Act
Issue
Whether the Income-tax returns and other information provided to Income Tax Authorities by a taxpayer are personal and confidential in nature and, therefore, cannot be placed in public domain through RTI Act?
The High Court held as under-
1) Income-tax returns and other information provided to Income Tax Authorities by individuals and unincorporated assessees are confidential in nature and cannot be placed in public domain, as it would be exempt under section 8(1)(j) of Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act).
2) In cases of widely held companies, most information relating to their income and expenditure would be in public domain and, therefore, it is only confidential information that would be exempt from disclosure under section 8(1)(d) of RTI Act.
3) Information furnished by an assessee in income-tax return can be disclosed only where it is necessary thing to do so in public interest and where such interest outweighs in importance any possible harm or injury to assessee or any other third party. However, information furnished by corporate assessees that neither relates to another party nor is exempt under section 8(1)(d) RTI Act can be disclosed - Naresh Trehan v. Rakesh Kumar Gupta (2014) 51 taxmann.com 548 (Delhi)





itatonline

Coca-Cola India Private Limited vs. ITAT (Bombay High Court)

September 12th, 2014
Download: coca_cola_ITAT_remand.pdf
S. 254(1): Unnecessary remand by the ITAT causes prejudice and amounts to a failure to exercise jurisdiction

ACIT vs. M/s. Veena Developers (ITAT Mumbai)

September 12th, 2014
Download: veena_developers_strictures.pdf

S. 253: Filing appeals in disregard & willful disobedience to the law laid down constitutes gross abuse of power and deserves to be punished for contempt of court and by award of exemplary costs. Action not pursued in view of written apology of concerned officials

Allied >








  • Client confidentiality privilege - Only for lawyers & not for accountants - ...
  • Legal Binding / Judicial discipline and Contempt of Court - a reality
  • - See more at: http://taxguru.in/income-tax/taxation-law-intent-explicitness.html#sthash.IFwt0V0T.dpuf






    TG
     Taxation Law (s) – ‘INTENT ‘ vs Explicitness

    Nem Singh 

    itatonline

    Maruti Securities Ltd vs. ACIT (ITAT Hyderabad)

    In one’s honest and impartial perspective, an extremely disturbing question that instantly arises is THIS: Is it not nothing short of a tragedy , historically pervading the tax regime , that such a prima facie elementary proposition, or the like ones, were to be any longer rightly considered a matter for ‘controversy’ , further to be kept alive to eternity? More so, should regard be had to the fact that the selfsame proposition has been repeatedly taken to courts and the cited apex court’s judgments have left no room for the tax gatherer to obstinately pursue its own line of utterly misguided thinking. Is it not the duty and responsibility of the AO himself to “follow” (instead of leaving it to taxpayer to agitate, and the higher authorities, to do so) the settled judicial view, and abide by the unequivocally established principles even in the normal course of “performance of his duties”, also, while as expected of him, acting in “good Faith” or as “intended to be done under this Act”,- as envisaged in section 293 of the IT Act . The root cause for such unwarranted disputes is, one thinks, the cavernous gap in the tax gatherer ‘s understanding of the attendant simplistic concepts ; and the clearly differentiating factors between ‘income’ (not having to underline the prefix , -‘real’), “accrual” , etc. And in his obstinately indulging in blatant reluctance / refusal to recognize taxpayer‘s right to be taxed strictly in accordance with (not more / in excess) of what the law, and, wherever so, as elucidated by judicial opinion, says.
    It is no longer early, by any yardstick, that the foregoing aspects impacting the quality of tax regime and its good governance receive the utmost attention and serious consideration by one and all concerned, in the larger interests of the taxpayers’ community, in its inclusive sense.
    To know of related viewpoints, focusing on the afflicting idiosyncrasies attributable to the empowered authorities , the write-ups, –


    MONITORING OF IT LAW AND CURRENT (2008) 169 TAXMAN 14
    YEAR’S BUDGET
    LAW OF INCOME TAX — FETTERS ON      (2005) 147 TAXMAN 175
    POWERS-
    may make for a useful read.

    <>  Even where an assessee is following the mercantile system of accounting, it is only accrual of real income which is chargeable to tax, that accrual is a matter to be decided on commercial belief having regard to the nature of business of the assessee and character of the transaction. Accordingly, for the purpose of determining whether there has been accrual of real income or not, recourse is to be made to ascertain the nature of business and character of the transaction and the realities and peculiarities of the situations (Godhra Electricity 225 ITR 746 (SC), Excel Industries Ltd 358 ITR 295 (SC) & UCO Bank 237 ITR 889 (SC) followed)

    ref.  litigation policy requiring to be implemented / followed , - "a little more practically and a little more seriously".

    Poser: Does not the age old concept of 'accrual',  which has become , in a manner of speaking, outdated for long, owing to drastic, nay dramatic  changes, in social environments and the like; hence does call for a re-look at and suitable modification to fit into the today's context.

    KEY NOTE: The  latest of the rules/principles of interpretation of any enactment, enunciated by courts to serve as an aid  unto selves  for the said purpose has come to be repeatedly called to help ; that is, what is graphically called, - "UPDATING CONSTRUCTION". Perhaps, one thinks, time has come, nay is ripe,  for the legislature itself to employ the same gimmic, rather the norms / logic and rationale, to conceive of and bring about suitable changes as warranted in the extant laws. For, as may be readily understood, the exercise of making such changes ought to prove easier than conceiving of and bringing in any new code , by repealing and /or scrapping outright any extant law; especially, if it has, by and large, fairly stood the tests of times.      

    Add-on>


    It is a sheer but odd coincidence that like thinking as in the singular comment has come to be provoked by the reported development , -Repeal 72 obsolete laws, recommends law panel

     

    If perceived earnestly, and considered objectively, the task of repealing old /obsolete laws may have to be pushed to a second line of action. For, apparently, even in the normal course of events, more so for historical reasons, and with the efflux of time, if not all, most of those would have become redundant on their own, having lost the teeth to bite / not really in force or being enforced. Instead, one thinks, the law commission must first frightfully engage itself and come out, on a top priority footing, with constructively practical suggestions and effective solutions , to the governments, of the Union and the States, as to how best to breath in a fresh lease of life and give a hard push to implement and enforce more than one of those laws , not-so-old or obsolete, manly of the States, but nonetheless have been wantonly allowed to simply rest/remain discarded for long, as a ‘paper tiger’, within the bounds of the statute book. 

    One such instance is the law(s) having post -independence origin; being the special law(s) with a laudable objective of regulating the realty sector; to be precise, the business of construction and sale of multi-storeyed buildings /comprising indivisible but ‘independent’ units (flats/Apartments). The topmost need for doing so has been repeatedly underlined, of late explicitly dilated on, through material placed on devoted websites, but until now with no outcome worth a mention. 

    The reported recent developments and related fresh moves from the Housing Ministry are not noted to have any immediate solutions to offer, to the multiple woes of the gullible buyers' community, being the victims of the 'villainy' foisted and perpetuated for long.
    In short, the utmost need of the hour is to make every effort, sparing no pains, to strive and work out ways and means, to the end of all such laws , particularly those brought in on the statute book by our own elected men who have been in successive governance, in the  post independence era, if so compelled by using the proverbial ‘stick’ , instead of ‘carrot’ , to accomplish the desired outcome, with the sole aim of making life on earth much easier; in no circumstance,  complicate it any further verging on complicity.

    For an upright enlightenment in the deservedly  better or safer direction, and in turn to equip self to sharing useful  views with the rest for the common good, are to be found  enough feedback in the public domain; for instance, HERE >  ·  ·  Justice S. Rangarajan Memorial Lecture | Talk2Press talk2press.blogspot.com/2009/.../justice-s-rangarajan-memorial-lecture.ht...(Sep 27, 2009 - JUSTICE S. RANGARAJAN MEMORIAL LECTURE. Delivered by. HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE N. SANTOSH HEGDE,. LOKAYUKTA, STATE OF ...)



     

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