CAduniya.com : CA India Blog

Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) increased to 5.11% for the week ended March 1, 2008 when compared with 5.02% in the previous week on higher prices of food items and manufactured products.

Inflation stood at 6.51% in the corresponding week of the previous year.

Prices of pulses, fruit and vegetables, condiments and spices increased during the week ended March 1. Prices of edible oil increased 2.1% during the week. The index for the fuel group rose 0.1% due to the higher price of turbine fuel.

The government revised the inflation rate for the week ended January 5, 2008 to 4.26% from the earlier reported level of 3.79%.

The Income Tax Department has put on its website the list of income tax refunds of all salary tax payers which could not be sent to the concerned persons for want of correct address.

Salary taxpayers who have not received refunds for assessment years 2003\04 to 2006\07 can click on the link below and query using the PAN number and assessment year whether any refund due to them has been
returned undelivered from the menu `undelivered salary refund management system’. If any refund has been returned undelivered due to change in address, then the taxpayer can enter the present address and the refund will be sent to the taxpayer at the new address.

The link to the website is as under:

http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/CCIT/refundsearch.asp

Simplification of tax administration has been high on the government’s agenda. Various measures have been taken by the government over the past few years.

These include introduction of PAN as the sole identification number for income tax transactions, electronic payment of taxes, electronic filing of income tax returns, and so on. The tax department plans to concentrate on more efficient and effective work.

In the current year, the tax-GDP ratio is at an all-time high of 12.5 percent. Direct tax collections touched Rs 3 lakh crores for the first time. The Department has been disposing off about 2.60 crore tax assessments every year. The cost of collections is already going down and stands at 0.74 percent of the total collections.

Addressing members of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce and Merchants Chamber, besides captains of industry, at an interactive session on ‘Direct Taxes: Policies and Prescriptions’, here on Monday, Mr R. Prasad, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Union Ministry of Finance, clarified that activities of Chambers of Commerce will not be brought under the tax net, under the new proviso to Section 2 (15) in the Union Budget.(As per the changes proposed in the Finance Bill with regard to direct tax provisions under Section 2(15) of the I-T Act, it is proposed that the concept of general public utility for a charitable purpose shall not apply if the job involved carrying on of “any activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business”.)  — March, 11th 2008

US Dollar Gains From 5-day Low Versus Indian Rupee [USD/INR]

3/12/2008 1:03:32 AM The US dollar gained ground against the Indian rupee after hitting a 5-day low of 40.1050 at about 8:00 pm ET Tuesday. Currently, the dollar-rupee pair is trading at 40.33, compared to yesterday’s North American close of 40.2250.

Rules for advance pricing arrangements are likely to be introduced in India with an eye on reducing transfer pricing litigation between corporations and tax authorities.

An announcement to this effect is expected either in Budget 2008-09 or in the direct tax code that is likely to be introduced later.

Transfer pricing legislation was introduced in India in 2001 and has emerged as the single biggest source of courtroom battles between Indian tax authorities and companies, a large number of which are multinationals with operations in India.

Tax specialists and industry have been demanding clear-cut advance pricing mechanisms that will allow them to determine the valuation of related party transactions.

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