Central Sales Tax | Form H Must Be Filed By Time Of Assessment To Claim Tax Benefit: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has recently held that dealers must submit Form H declarations by the time of assessment by the first assessing authority to claim a tax benefit on the last sale of goods preceding an export.The Full Bench clarified that the extended filing period available for Forms C and F under the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957, does not apply to Form H declarations.A three-judge Bench of Justice Battu Devanand, Justice Maheswara Rao Kuncheam and...

Karnataka High Court Refuses Relief in ₹22 Lakh Foreign Investment Case and Wealth Tax Return Default

The Karnataka High Court on 9 October dismissed two criminal petitions by Pradeep, a taxpayer, which sought to quash prosecution for allegedly failing to file wealth tax returns and to challenge the rejection of his discharge application in a separate case involving alleged false statements about investments worth approximately Rs. 22 lakh in two foreign companies. Justice H.P. Sandesh held that prosecution for failure to furnish wealth tax returns can proceed without a completed assessment...

Educational Institutions Must Prove Solely Charitable Use For Property Tax Exemption: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on 29 September held that educational institutions cannot claim property tax exemption merely because they are run by a charitable trust or enjoy minority institution status, and must establish that their premises are used solely for charitable purposes to claim exemption for each financial year. A Division Bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande dismissed a petition filed by Jai Hind Sindhu Education Trust challenging property tax demands raised by the...

Supplementary Deed Changing Payment Terms Not Fresh Conveyance For Stamp Duty: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Monday held that a supplementary deed that only changes the manner of satisfying an already agreed consideration cannot be treated as a fresh conveyance for imposing stamp duty.Justice Amit Borkar set aside a stamp duty demand of ₹21.08 lakh and penalty of ₹51.18 lakh against Om Shivam Builders Private Limited. The Court held that the Stamp Authority must first establish that a document contains a transaction chargeable to stamp duty before proceeding to value the...

Tax Classification Depends On Form Of Goods At Sale, Not End Use: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that a product must be classified for tax purposes in the form in which it is sold, rather than on the basis of what a consumer may later turn it into.“The tax authorities are bound to look at what is supplied and not at what is the 'end use' of the good,” a Bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Arun Palli observed while dismissing the Madhya Pradesh Commercial Tax Department's appeals over the classification of Cadila Health Care Ltd.'s 'GRD Powder' and 'GRD Mix'."The...

Municipal Commissioner Cannot Alter Property-Tax Categories Without State Sanction: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has ruled that a Municipal Commissioner cannot use a carpet-area cut-off to move commercial properties from one property-tax category to another without prior State Government approval.A Division Bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati quashed a March 27, 2015, office order issued by the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation, which treated shops and showrooms with a carpet area of more than 35 square metres as NU-1 properties. NU-1 properties carry a...

Madras High Court Says Precision Instruments Used In Manufacturing Eligible For 3% Sales Tax Rate

The Madras High Court has held that precision instruments such as Vernier Calipers, Depth Gauges and Cylinder Gauges used by manufacturers in Tamil Nadu qualify for a 3% concessional tax rate when sold against Form XVII declarations, even though the instruments are not consumed in the manufacturing processA Division Bench of Justice Anita Sumanth and Justice E. Manoharan observed that the benefit under Section 3(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 extends to “any goods” used in...

Stamp Authority's Delay In Deciding Stamp Duty Cannot Be Used To Refuse Registration: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that a delay caused by the Stamp Authority in adjudicating stamp duty cannot be used to deny registration of a document when the party seeking registration was not responsible for the delay.“A substantive legal right accrued to the Petitioners to have the document registered under the provisions of the Registration Act cannot stand defeated, merely on account of some delay, which is definitely not attributable to the party presenting the document for registration,...

'Agreement For Assignment' Label Cannot Bar Stamp Duty Refund For Failed Deal: Bombay High Court

On Tuesday, 29 September, the Bombay High Court held that refund of stamp duty cannot be denied merely because a failed property transaction was documented as an “Agreement for Assignment” rather than an “Agreement to Sale”. Justice Amit Borkar directed the Maharashtra authorities to refund Rs. 29.75 lakh paid by Solanki Tea Company Private Limited, holding that the relief available under the Maharashtra Stamp Act depends on whether the transaction intended through the instrument had failed,...

Education Cess Refunds Settled Under Earlier Law Cannot Be Recovered Due To Later Change In Law: J&K&L High Court

The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has held that refunds of Education Cess and Higher Education Cess granted under the law prevailing at the time cannot be recovered merely because the Supreme Court later overruled that position in Unicorn Industries v. Union of India.Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Shahzad Azeem observed that once a subsequent judgment overrules an earlier decision on a point of law, the earlier judgment cannot be reopened or reviewed on that basis. “Once there...

Deficit Stamp Duty, Interest Demand Must Be Raised Within Reasonable Time: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on 7 September held that a demand for deficit stamp duty and interest must be raised within a reasonable period, while clarifying that proceedings to determine deficit stamp duty need only be initiated within five years of registration. A Division Bench of Justices Abdul Quddhose and R. Rajesh Vivekananthan dismissed an appeal filed by the Special Deputy Collector (Stamps) and upheld the direction to release two documents presented for registration by K.K.V. Seetharaman...

Deficit Stamp Duty Demand Must Be Raised Within 3 Years Of Instrument Registration: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has ruled that the three-year limitation for recovering deficit stamp duty runs from the date a document is registered and not from the date the Registration Department initiates proceedings.A Division Bench of Justice Abdul Quddhose and Justice R. Rajesh Vivekananthan observed:“Therefore, as per second proviso to Section 33-A of the Indian Stamp Act, for the purpose of calculating limitation, the starting date for calculating the period of limitation, is the date of...