In a recent decision the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ') had a chance to examine characterization of a hire-purchase transaction as being one of the supply of ‘goods' or ‘services'. In this decision the ECJ has adverted to the innate nature of the hire-purchase transactions and the...

In a recent decision the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ') has ruled upon the scope and contours of Article 3(2) usually employed in Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (‘DTAA') / Double Taxation Conventions (‘DTC') to apply the domestic law meaning for interpreting expressions not...

Comparatively a recent entrant in the fiscal space, 'Service Tax' in India has garnered legislative and judicial attention more than its fair share. Given its contribution to the public exchequer and fueled by the consistent increase in collection, the legal and constitutional challenges to the...

In its decision rendered recently, the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ') in the case of Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs v. Brockenhurst College (C-699/15) has addressed an important issue relating to scope of exempt services and extending such exemption to “closely...

Section 90 of the Income Tax Act of 1961 has been the pivotal reference point to examine the applicability of Double Tax Treaties on determination of liability under the Act. The provision and understanding all along has been that in the event of conflict between the provisions of the Act and...

The reform process for the indirect taxation regime in India has been ongoing for some time, with the prevailing view being that simplification of tax regime and a principle-laden approach was an essential concomitant in the outlook of a developed nation. Much debate has ensued and during the...

The Government of India submitted the ‘Direct Taxes Code' Bill, 2010 the Parliament in August, 2010. The Code, expected to come into force from the next financial year i.e. 1st April 2012, is not just a regular amendment but replaces all the existing direct tax laws in India. The drafters have...

In an earlier article titled as ‘Service Tax on Lawyers: A levy short lived?' [Excise and Customs Reporter Vol. 191(4), pp. 55SF-60SF] I had an occasion to point out that the levy of service tax on individual lawyers was an experiment out of the various experiments conducted by the Government...

The history of ever expanding horizon of service tax law in India has extensive sub-chapters of its own. The levy being unique and unprecedented in the country, the Finance Act, 1994 has made a number of experiments for the levy and collection of service tax from various sectors. Sometimes owing...

In his paper titled ‘Dividend Distribution Tax – Some Nuances' published in 339 ITR (J) 52 the learned author has dwelled upon certain aspects of tax on distributed profits under Section 115O of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (‘1961 Act'). In 339 ITR (J) 52 the author referred contrary decisions...