| Miles to go | 13-NOV-09 |
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| The release of the first discussion paper on the introduction of a goods and services tax (GST) is a welcome relief in that the country is now a step closer to the much-needed reform in its indirect tax regime. The 57-page document, produced by the empowered committee of state finance ministers and made public on Tuesday, however, leaves no one in doubt that the government will not be able to meet its target of rolling out GST from April 2010. Several legislative hurdles, at the Centre and in states, have to be cleared and a consensus on the key features of the new taxation system is yet to be reached among all the state finance ministers. For the finance ministry and the empowered committee, therefore, the task of putting in place a GST system has just begun. The tougher part of the battle lies ahead. |
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| Indirect taxes see 22% fall | 12-NOV-09 |
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| The green shoots visible in the economy failed to enhance government revenue with indirect tax collections — comprising customs, excise and service tax — falling almost 22 per cent to Rs 1,26,903 crore in the April-October period this year. It stood at Rs 1,61,954 crore in the corresponding seven months of 2008-09. The overall decline was led by a 32 per cent fall in customs revenue. |
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| Excise duty uppercuts software firms | 09-NOV-09 |
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| Retail consignments, worth several lakhs of rupees, of over-the-counter (OTC) or packaged software from majors like Microsoft and Adobe are understood to be held up at immigration checkpoints across the country due to anomalies over excise duty. |
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| Excise duty holds up software imports | 03-NOV-09 |
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| Retail consignments, worth several lakhs of rupees, of over-the-counter (OTC) or packaged software from majors like Microsoft and Adobe are understood to be held up at immigration checkpoints across the country due to anomalies over excise duty. |
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| North East industry to get excise duty breather | 29-OCT-09 |
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| There’s some good news for the industry of North-East as the union commerce ministry has agreed to have a relook into its March 2008 notification which had considerably restricted excise duty exemption of industrial units in the region. It is learnt that union commerce minister Kamal Nath had recently “assured” the Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, to look into the issue. |
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| 'EOU-made goods sold in DTA must pay 3.09 pc excise' | 20-OCT-09 |
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| Goods cleared from EOU to DTA suffer excise duty equivalent to customs duty payable on a like product, if imported. While calculating the duty amount, the customs tariff rate read with any exemption notification has to be reckoned. Benefit of any end-use-based exemption notification can also be taken, if the end-use conditions are satisfied. Therefore, only 3.09 per cent duty has to be paid on clearances by EOU, under EPCG scheme. In this connection, you may refer to DGFT Policy Circular no. |
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| FTP silent on refund of terminal excise duty | 12-OCT-09 |
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| The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has issued a very useful circular clarifying deemed export benefits for supplies against authorisations issued under the duty exemption scheme, but it needs to appreciate that it is a poor practice to try and make up for deficiencies in Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) provisions through Policy circulars. |
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| 'Key infra projects must not suffer excise duty' | 06-OCT-09 |
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| We are sub-contractors in a mega power project where the main contract awarded to the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor mentions our name and the main contract was awarded through the International Competitive Bidding (ICB) procedure. |
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| MS wants excise duty on packaged software | 29-SEP-09 |
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| Software giant Microsoft’s representatives will soon meet finance ministry officials trying to persuade them to impose excise or countervailing duty instead of service tax on packaged software. |
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| Industry recovers as excise up 22.7% in August | 25-SEP-09 |
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| In a clear sign of the strength of the industrial comeback, excise duty collection for August registered a 22.7 per cent increase over last month, raising the government's hope of meeting the indirect tax mop-up target for the year. |
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| More than one third of jet fuel price is taxes: Govt | 03-AUG-09 |
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| The government today admitted in Parliament that central and state taxes made up for more than one-third of the jet fuel price, corroborating the statement of private airlines which had threatened to go on a 'strike' over their demand for a cut in the levies. |
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