CA.
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Circular 9 of
2007 dated 20-12-2007 – Explanatory circular on Fringe Benefit Tax
arising on allotment or transfer of specified securities or sweat
equity shares
In terms of the
provisions of Chapter XII-H of the Income-tax Act, an employer,
being a company, is liable to pay Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) in
respect of the fringe benefits provided or deemed to have been
provided by it to its employees, directly or indirectly, during
the previous year.
The circular
contains, in detail, the Method of Computation of the value of the
fringe benefit, Determination of cost of acquisition for capital
gain purposes, and Period of holding, Recovery of FBT by the
employer from its employee, and Answers to Frequently Asked
Questions. (Refer 297 ITR 1(st)
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Circular No. 1 of
2008 dated 10th January, 2008
Clarification has
been issued regarding applicability of provisions of section 194-I
to payments made by the customers on account of cooling charges to
the cold storage owners. It is clarified that the provisions of
sec. 194-I is not applicable to the cooling charges paid by the
customers of the cold storage. However it is further clarified
that provisions of section 194-C will be applicable to the amounts
paid as cooling charges.
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Extension of date
for filing of TDS/TCS return for 2nd quarter – Order under section
119(2)(a) of the Income–tax Act, 1961 regarding extension of time
for filing of Tax Deduction/Collection at source – Returns for
the 2nd quarter and non-levy of penalty for delay in filing for
the same. dt. 28-1-2008
“The Central
Board of Direct Taxes hereby extends the due date for filing of
quarterly statements of TDS and TCS for the quarter ending 30th
September 2007 of financial year 2007-08 as per the provisions of
section 200(3) and proviso to section 206C(3) respectively, to
29th February 2008”.
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Authority for
Advance Rulings on Central Taxes Bill, 2007 (Bill No.99 of 2007)
The following
Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 7th December, 2007
A Bill to provide
for the constitution of an Authority for Advance Rulings on
Central Taxes as a substitute of the Authority for Advance Rulings
constituted under section 245–O of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and
the Authority for Advance Rulings (Central Excise, Customs and
Service Tax) constituted under section 28F of the Customs Act,
1962, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
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Notification
under section 80C(2)(xxii)
Notification No.
S.O.2227(E), dated 31st December, 2007.
NABARD Rural
Bonds specified for purpose of section 80C(2)(xxii)
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In exercise of
the powers conferred by clause (xxii) of sub-section (2) of
section 80C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the
Central Government hereby specifies the NABARD Rural Bonds of
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for
an amount of rupees Five thousand crores for the purposes of the
said clause.
-
The
notification shall come into effect from the 1st day of April,
2008.
PRESS RELEASE &
NEWS
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Enhancement of
the threshold limit for quoting PAN of deductee
All tax
deductors/collectors are required to file the TDS/TCS returns in
Form No.24Q (for salaries), Form No. 26Q (for payments other than
salaries) or Form No. 27EQ (for TCS). These forms require details
of all tax deductions with name and permanent account number (PAN)
of parties from whom tax was deducted.
It had earlier
been decided that Form No. 24Q with less than 90% of PAN data and
Form No. 26Q & Form No. 27EQ with less than 70% of PAN data will
not be accepted for the quarter ending on 30-9-2007 and
thereafter.
The said decision has since been reviewed. It has now been decided
to enhance the threshold limit for PAN quoting without which
TDS/TCS returns will not be accepted. The limit has been enhanced
to 95% from 90% in case of Form 24Q and to 85% from 70% in case of
Forms 26Q and 27EQ. The enhanced limits will be applicable for and
from the quarter ending 31-3-2008. These threshold limits will
also apply to all those TDS/TCS returns, which are filed for any
of the earlier quarters on or after 1-4-2008.
Tax deductors and
tax collectors are, therefore, advised to obtain correct PAN of
all deductees and quote the same in their TDS/ TCS returns.
Deductees are also advised to furnish their correct PAN with their
deductors, failing which they will not only have difficulty in
getting credit of TDS/TCS in their income tax assessments but will
also face penal proceedings under the Income-tax Act.
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Income tax code,
to be released along with discussion paper
The much-awaited
draft of income tax code, which is expected to simplify and
replace the existing law, is ready and will be released along with
a discussion paper, the Finance Minister said but did not put any
time frame for its release.
The discussion
paper would explain the reasons for writing the code, what are the
changes between the old law and the new law and the rationale of
these changes, he said.
Once the
discussion paper is ready, the code would be floated along with it
for wider consultations. (Source – Press Trust of India dated
1-1-2008)
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Tax return
preparers may also file service tax returns
Encouraged by the
success of the tax return preparers (TRPs) scheme for individual
income tax-payers, the Finance Ministry plans to introduce a
similar schemes for small service tax-payers from next fiscal.
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Tax refunds of
over Rs. 5 lakhs do not remain outside the scope of scrutiny
selection
The Finance
Ministry has issued instructions to field formations to ensure
that cases involving final refunds of over Rs. 5 lakhs do not
remain outside the scope of scrutiny selection.
“Certain cases
had come to the notice of the CBDT where the initial refund
determination was less than Rs. 5 lakhs but subsequently after
factoring in certain TDS or credit of tax paid, the final refund
was exceeding Rs. 5 lakh. Instructions have been issued to
Commissioners to ensure that such cases are brought to the notice
of DIT (Systems) so that they do not remain outside the scope the
Computer Aided Scrutiny Selection (CASS)”, a Finance Ministry
official said.
