Highlights of the Union Budget 2024-25 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Service tax on AC class train fare will not be realised on tickets purchased before October 1 as railways modified its earlier decision on it.
The Revenue Department has extended the deadline by one month to November 25 for filing of service tax returns for the April-June quarter, as it has not been able to provide electronic return form in time.
Mauritius-based Hinduja group firm IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL) has informed the administrator of Reliance Capital that it is ready with its equity contribution of Rs 2,750 crore in cash to acquire the bankrupt firm, but it wants certain conditions to be met in accordance with the resolution plan before transferring the amount. IIHL has also filed an application with the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking directions for the administrator and the committee of creditors (CoC) to complete all pending activities to close the transaction and not let the lenders invoke the bank guarantees provided by the firm earlier.
Goods and services tax (GST) collections from mobile device companies, amounting to Rs 1.82 trillion between 2020-21 (FY21) and 2023-24 (FY24), have already generated more than five times the revenue for the government compared to the Rs 34,149 crore allocated under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile devices over six years ending 2025-26 (FY26). Currently, the GST on mobile devices stands at 18 per cent.
The finance minister clarified that indexation benefits offered until April 1, 2001 would be protected. This means older properties, including legacy assets, would benefit.
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Under the service tax law, certain services get exemptions.
The finance ministry is instead thinking of expanding the list of services on which the tax would be levied under the reverse charge mechanism.
The government said remittances from abroad will not attract service tax, putting to rest the concerns raised in view of new tax norms.
The government on Saturday came out with the modalities of the constitutional amendments to enable states to collect and appropriate service taxes, a Bill for which would be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament next year.
Investments in real estate have just got a bit costlier. Since April 2010, an additional amount in the form of service tax is being collected from buyers, on under construction properties. So what is this service tax and who is deemed to pay it?
The Central Excise Department said it has slapped service tax of Rs 6 crore on the Preity Zinta co-owned KPH Dream Cricket, which is part owner of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is all set to emerge as a major service tax payer to the central government with the amount expected to touch Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 crore) during 2003-04.
The finance ministry is considering meeting a key demand of truckers by easing procedural issues and raising the abatement on service tax.
According to sources in the Excise department, the Sahara Airlines, while submitting opinion of its Chartered Accountant on service tax, had allegedly backdated it to 2003 in which it was stated that Rs 1442 crore (Rs 14.42 billion) income from advertising services provided to its group company was not taxable under advertising services.
The country's gross GST collections hit a record high of Rs 2.10 lakh crore in April, growing 12.4 per cent year on year driven by a strong increase in domestic transactions and imports. GST collections breach landmark milestone of Rs 2 lakh crore, the finance ministry said in a statement.
In a relief for foreign firms giving loans to Indian subsidiaries, tax authorities have said goods and services tax (GST) will not be imposed on them, subject to some caveats. Additional fees, commissions, or related payments - over and above the amount charged as interest - on these loans will attract GST at 18 per cent, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has said.
Economic think-tank NCAER has said that service tax will go up by one per cent per annum in the next four years, following the government's decision to introduce goods and services tax from April 1, 2010.
No one appeared for Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines on Friday.
If states are to levy service tax, a combined GST will become a nightmare since a host of tax departments in each state will also have to be dealt with.
Of the two rate structures on the table, one suggests tax slabs of 8 per cent, 16 per cent, and 24 per cent. The other proposes tax slabs at 9 per cent, 18 per cent, and 27 per cent.
Each year, the service tax regulations are tweaked in order to make the tax levy more effective
An article on 'State of the Economy' in the monthly Bulletin also said the improvement in the outlook for agriculture and the revival of rural spending have turned out to be the bright spots in the evolution of demand conditions. Consumer price inflation ticked up in June 2024 after three consecutive months of moderation as a broad flare-up in vegetable prices halted the overall disinflation that had been underway, it said.
The finance minister also provided some relief to readymade garment manufacturers by raising the abatement available for levy of taxes on retail price of some branded garments and textile made-ups.
Hinting at the possibility of the Budget proposal for imposition of service tax on 25-bed hospitals and diagnostic check-ups being rolled back, the government has said it is willing to discuss the issue.
The Labour and Employment Ministry has requested the Finance Ministry to keep Employee State Insurance and Employee State Insurance schemes out of the ambit of service tax as they are social security schemes.
The 5per cent service tax (effectively on whole amount) on services on Private hospitals with 25 or more beds have central air-conditioning facilities and to diagnostic tests of all kinds make the health services costlier to the patients as the hospitals tend to pass the same to the patients.
'The expeditious enactment of labour codes and strategic measures to bridge the skills jobs gap are critical.'
All eyes will be on whether Sitharaman provides the much-expected tax relief for the middle class, leaving more money in their hands, as there is tax buoyancy