Solar power is an almost infinite energy source

Solar power needs funding focus

The ‘National Solar Mission’, expected to be released on November 14, 2009, is one of the eight missions identified in the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). Quite naturally, therefore, expectations within the solar power community are high that the mission document will provide the impetus the industry seeks, says Santosh Kamath, a director in the advisory practice of KPMG.

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Expenditures rise to meet income

How about a one-line code!

To all those who always felt incomplete only because of not knowing the income-tax law, the golden opportunity is soon to come, in the form of a fructified Direct Taxes Code, once the due process of Bill-turning-into-an-Act is over. The baseline has been drawn and we the novices and the tax experts are all on that, especially after Chiddu’s chiding of all the professionals who wanted to read the Code through the lens of the existing Income-Tax Act. Let’s get g oing, therefore.

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F for ‘finance charges'

The code, from A to Z

The best way to read anything is from A to Z. So, here is a quick guide to the new tax code.
First, A for ‘asset,’ and it means a business asset or an investment asset. What is business? It includes any trade, commerce or manufacture; any adventure, or concern of that nature; any profession; and any vocation.
Moving to C, let’s start with ‘child’, which, in relation to an individual, includes a stepchild and an adopted child of that individual. Relationship can be cultivated, you know; and ‘cultivation’ in the code includes any process ordinarily employed by a cultivator or receiver of rent in kind to render the produce raised or received by him fit to be taken to market.

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Small enterprises, especially the individually-owned, lack the resources to keep organised records of their economic activity

Presumptive taxation should not be viewed as retrograde Detaxification

A Budget proposal that has attracted a lot of attention, interest and excitement among small businesses is the presumptive taxation scheme. The Finance Bill, 2009 seeks to extend the scheme to all businesses with gross receipts not exceeding Rs 40 lakh; at present, the presumptive scheme is applicable to three businesses — civil construction, retail trade and transporters. Presumptive income taxation is employed primarily in economies where ‘hard-to-tax’ taxpayers form the majority of the population and administrative resources are scarce, observes Mr T. G. Suresh, a Chennai-based chartered accountant, specialising in direct taxes.

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'Evasion has become an art, though not a desirable one'

Top drivers of service tax

Born in 1994, and now aged 15, service tax is a healthy teenager, observes Mr S. Jaikumar, founder of Swamy Associates, Chennai. “With the developing of muscles (in the form of enforcement) I am sure it will grow stronger in the coming years,” he adds, during the course of a recent interaction with Business Line.

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'Cost reduction and optimisation of process are of prime importance to cope with today’s scenario'

Developing R&D thru tax regimes

India does have a beneficial R&D (research and development) regime from a tax perspective, says Mr K. R. Sekar, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Bangalore. He feels, however, that the R&D incentive regime can be made more robust and attractive by providing for higher super deduction, government grant for R&D, and extending the benefits to all industries.

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'The global economic meltdown has come with its own set of peculiarities'

Challenge of recession to aggressive transfer pricing

Across the globe, there has been a substantial increase in transfer pricing (TP) audits and disputes, observes Mr Rohan K. Phatarphekar, Executive Director & National Head, Global Transfer Pricing Services, KPMG India. What are the factors contributing to the rise in TP audits? Mounting fiscal demands on governments, compelling need to conserve tax base, constant competitive pressures to structure the business operations efficiently, and an increased collaboration between revenue authorities, reasons Mr Phatarphekar, during a recent email interaction with Business Line.

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Can transfer of shares of the overseas company or a SPV to a buyer abroad be regarded as transfer of an asset located in India?

An episode in Vodafone story

In the Vodafone case that was keenly watched for the past several months, almost since August of last year, the curtain is yet to fall, says Mr Pranav Sayta, Tax Partner and Tax Leader Transaction Tax, Ernst & Young. The ‘action’, if one may term it that, is set to move on to the Supreme Court of India, he adds, during the course of a recent email interaction with Business Line.

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