An inquiry into the innate nature of a tax presupposes examination of an intricate web of variables, which on most occasions results into raging debates. For examples, whether a tax on service provider is a tax on service or a professional tax, whether a tax on capital value of assets is same as...

In today's world, the thrust to development is seen not only as a policy perspective but also as a national goal. 'Intellectual property' has come out as a critical variant of technology and the growth process ensuing thereon. Consistently being cited as an impetus to economic development and...

Taxability of supply is dependent upon the attributes of the transaction. Often the transaction is an amalgam of multiple considerations flowing between the parties. In such cases a question arises whether the transaction constitutes a single supply or multiple supplies form part of such...

In a recent decision Shields & Sons Partnership - C-262/16 the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ') has adverted to the nuances of composition scheme in the context of Value Added Tax models. This decision examines the rationale for introduction of such scheme, which is the administrative...

Taking cue from the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project, the Finance Act, 2016 made a significant change in the scheme of direct taxes with the introduction of ‘Equalisation Levy'. As the Finance Minister explained, the measure was “to tap tax on income accruing to foreign...

Generally 'privity' is a concept in contractual law. However a recent decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has employed the concept of ‘privity' of contract to opine upon the classification of the supply which makes it both interesting and rare. In this case [L.Č.' IK v....

Judicial advertence to tax avoidance cases in India has largely mirrored the English jurisprudence on the subject. Owing to the legislative aversion in drawing an all-encompassing anti-avoidance rules, the subject of tax-avoidance has largely been addressed by the judicial dictum which is far...

In a recent decision the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ') has examined the claim of a taxpayer alleging discriminatory and unfair classification by the tax authorities even though similarly placed goods were classified differently with a resultant lower tax-incidence.In this decision the ECJ...

Traditionally indirect taxes are linked with transactions in goods or services and understood as those taxes the incidence of which can be passed on to the buyer by the person required to defray the tax to the exchequer. Excise duties, customs duties, sales taxes, etc. are illustration of such...