Services Subject to Reverse Charge by Srinivas Kotni and Shikha Bardwaj
List of services subject to reverse charge .i.e. services wherein service tax payment liability is upon service recipient. It is to be noted that certain services are subject to partial reverse charge wherein both, service recipient and service provider are liable to pay service tax (please refer the table below to determine the respective liabilities of service recipient and service provider in case of services which are subject to partial reverse charge)
Enforceability of Exit/Put options under the SCRA, 1956 - by Srinivas Kotni and Ankita Singh
The Put options are essentially exit rights under investment agreements, such as those involving joint ventures as well as private equity and venture capital investments.Private Equity (“the PE”) Investments and Foreign Direct Investments in majority of cases comprise of an exit option
Service Tax Applicability on Lawyers, Law Firms and Legal Consultancy Services by Srinivas Kotni
The earlier Section 65 sub-clause (zzzzm) as amended by the by the Finance Act, 2011 defined taxable legal consultancy services
Taxation of services based on a negative list of services
In the Parliament, while presenting the Union Budget 2011, the Finance Minister proposed that: “Many experts have argued that it will be desirable to tax services based on a small negative list, so that many untapped sectors are brought into the tax net. Such an approach will be very conducive for a nationwide GST. I propose to initiate an informed public debate on the subject to help us finalize the approach to GST.”
Last date for Filing of Service Tax Return extended to 26th December 2011
The Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance vide Order No. 1/2011-ST dated 20th October 2011 has extended the last date of filing of half-yearly Service Tax Return for the period April 2011 to September 2011 from 25th October 2011 to 26th December 2011.The purport behind the said extension has also been clarified by the Department and it has been explained that since e-filing of Service Tax returns for all class of Service Tax assesses has been made mandatory for the first time1, it was felt that lesser time has been provided to the trade and industry to adjust to the requirement of e-filing and therefore the time has to be extended to 26th December 2011.
Corporate Lexport Indirect Taxation Budget 2011 Snapshot by Srinivas Kotni
Prepaid Payment Instruments - Article by Srinivas Kotni and Kavita Jitani
Meal cards, loyalty cards, debit cards, and other pre-paid cards of all hues have gained much public acceptance. The ease of their use has made them an instrument of choice for the vast majority of our people. Further, the increasing acceptance of meal vouchers and prepaid cards has made them as good as currency. This system for long was unregulated. The Reserve Bank of India, in order to check possible money laundering, issued guidelines under the Payment and Settlement System Act 2007
CBEC tightens norms for import of products having intellectual property rights protection
The new notification removes the apparent unitended anomaly of prohibiting import of infringing goods meant for trading only. Now even infringing goods imported for use or consumption in India will come under the prohibition, said Srinivas Kotni, Managing Associate, Lexport, a legal consultancy firm."
Corporate Lexport Indirect Tax-Budget 2010 Snapshot by Srinivas Kotni
Enforcement of intellectual Property Rights for imported goods by Srinivas Kotni
It is not uncommon to see that various products are quite often imported into/exported out of India by compromising the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) of the right owners. It may be a simple and oft repeated case of import/export of goods, which are infringing the trademarks of a legitimate right owner who has built the brand name and created global reputation by painstaking efforts over a long period of time, or those goods which have been imported/exported by infringing the patent rights of the inventor who has put in enormous research into the product