Service tax return camp for ST-3 filings: three-day window provided for in-person half-year return submissions at CGO Complex.
A designated Service Tax filing camp will receive ST-3 returns from assessees of Division I and II for the half-year ending March 2009, operating daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM over the specified three-day window at 1st Floor, Block No.10, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi to facilitate in-person submission of the statutory returns.

Service tax enforcement shows intensified detections with increased recoveries and substantial year on year performance gains.
The Anti Evasion Branch of the Service Tax Commissionerate, Delhi reported intensified service tax enforcement in FY 2008-09 with approximately 245 detected violations, aggregate detected tax liabilities of the stated amount, and recoveries on part of those detections, reflecting marked year on year increases in detection and recovery performance.

Renting of immovable property is not a taxable service; only value added or ancillary services with rent attract service tax.
Renting of immovable property for business use does not amount to a taxable service absent value addition; only distinct value-added or ancillary services provided in connection with the rented premises are exigible to service tax, and administrative measures seeking to tax bare renting exceed the proper construction of the taxable service concept.

Clearing and Forwarding service requires active clearing; mere receipt, storage and onward delivery does not attract service tax.
The taxable Clearing and Forwarding Agent service requires performance of actual clearing; if consignments are cleared by the manufacturer and delivered to the agent, the agent's receipt, storage and forwarding to buyers do not satisfy the clearing component and therefore do not fall within the Clearing and Forwarding taxable category.

Service tax on re-rubberizing charges applies; material costs may be excluded if notification conditions are met.
Service tax applies to charges for re-rubberizing printing machine rollers as a taxable Management, Maintenance or Repair service; fees for removal, reapplication, vulcanisation and finishing are taxable. The value of materials sold in the reconditioning may be excluded from the taxable service value only if the supplier satisfies the conditions of the relevant notification; the ruling excludes analysis of cases where reconditioned rollers are stocked and sold at bundled prices.

Taxability of commercial property rental found incompatible with statute, removing service tax on renting premises for business.
Notification bringing renting of immovable property for use in the course of business within the ambit of service tax was held not to make such renting per se a taxable service. The court concluded the statutory provision does not, by its terms, treat ordinary commercial leasing as a taxable service, and that the administrative interpretation extending tax to rent was incorrect, rendering the impugned notification and circular ultra vires insofar as they authorised such levy.

Recovery of excise dues: distinct legal entities bar recovering predecessor liabilities from successor; Section 11 requires same-person offset.
A successor company is a distinct legal entity and Section 11 of the Central Excise Act permits adjustment only when the same person is both liable and payable; therefore dues of a predecessor cannot be recovered from amounts payable to the successor. In liquidation-related asset sales, proceeds should be deposited and the Official Liquidator will adjudicate claims, with the excise department entitled to file a claim for determination under law.

Reverse mortgage converts home equity into lifetime payments while preserving non recourse protection and lender revaluation rights.
Reverse mortgage loans allow senior citizens to convert residential home equity into lender secured advances payable periodically, in lump sum or as a line of credit, with repayment due on the last surviving borrower's death, permanent vacatur or sale. Eligible borrowers must own clear, self occupied property used as a primary residence; loans are based on market valuation with periodic revaluations, secured by mortgage, carry disclosed interest and costs, include a non recourse/no negative equity assurance, permit penalty free prepayment and a short rescission right, and may be foreclosed for specified defaults such as abandonment, failure to insure or tax nonpayment.

Treatment of spare parts as sale limits service tax liability where sales tax is paid on materials used in AMC.
Where an AMC supplies and replaces spare parts, those materials are to be treated as a sale of goods and, if sales tax has been paid on their value under a works contract classification, that value is excluded from service tax liability; the exemption framework and constitutional definition of sale support excluding material value from the service tax base, leaving service tax only on the portion of receipts attributable to non-material service elements.

SRTP authentication requirement added for service tax half-yearly returns, mandating preparer attestation when prepared by SRTP.
Amendment requires authentication by the Service Tax Preparer Scheme practitioner when the half yearly service tax return is prepared by such a practitioner; a new serial entry was inserted into Form ST 3 for SRTP authentication while the remainder of the form remains unchanged.

Trade deficit widens as exports rise modestly while imports increase, reshaping merchandise balance for April-February.
India's merchandise exports for April-February 2008-09 rose 7.3% in US dollar terms while February exports fell year on year; imports rose 19.1% cumulatively despite a February decline, producing a wider trade deficit. Oil imports were lower in February but higher cumulatively, non oil imports were down in February yet up for April-February, and rupee denominated values amplified percentage changes. The figures are described as provisional.