Service tax scope expanded: wording amended to 'to any person' extending coverage under Finance Act reforms.
Amendments change recipient wording in notifications 18/2002, 33/2004 and 34/2004 so that services provided "to any person" replace references to services provided "to a client" or "to a customer," thereby broadening the taxable scope to implement services included by the Finance Act, 2008; the notification is issued under statutory authority and takes effect from 16 May 2008.

Service tax scope broadened by redefining who counts as the recipient, expanding taxable persons accordingly.
The notification amends the Table in Notification No.1/2006 to broaden the taxable persons by substituting "to the client" with "to any person" and replacing "client" and "customer" with "recipient of service", thereby aligning the charging provisions to cover services newly included by the Finance Act, 2008.

Taxation of cross-border services: services received in India treated as foreign-sourced where supplied tangible goods remain in India during use.
Amendment to rule 3 substitutes updated clause references to add newly specified services and inserts a proviso treating the specified taxable service received by a recipient in India as provided from outside India only if the tangible goods supplied for use are located in India for the period of their use by that recipient.

Export of services: amendment adds services and treats specified cross border services as export when goods remain outside India.
The Export of Services Rules are amended to expand the listed service clauses in rule 3(1) and to add a proviso treating a specified taxable service as an export of taxable service when the recipient is located outside India and the tangible goods supplied for use remain located outside India during the period of such use.

Service tax on foreign exchange: brokers may elect gross-transaction levy; option barred if consideration shown separately.
Rule 4A replaces "customer" with "any person" and rule 4B replaces "the customer" with "the recipient of service". Rule 6 clarifies that transactions with associated enterprises include amounts credited or debited to any account (including "Suspense account") as payment received, and adds an option for persons liable on foreign-currency exchange services to discharge service tax by paying an amount calculated on the gross amount of currency exchanged, except where the consideration is shown separately in the invoice, bill or challan.

Service tax effective date appointed as commencement for levy on new and amended taxable services under the Finance Act.
The Central Government, exercising powers under clauses (A) and (B) of section 90 of the Finance Act, 2008, appoints 16 May 2008 as the date on which the Act's provisions shall come into force, applying to the levy of service tax on newly specified services and amendments to existing taxable services, by Notification No. 18/2008 dated 10 May 2008.

Export Obligation Relief: licencees may obtain proportionate reduction when sector exports suffer a significant year on year decline.
Amendments permit proportionate reduction of a licencee's export obligation where a sector's exports have declined in the comparative year, by inserting a new paragraph into multiple Customs notifications; the Explanation is expanded to state that certain obligations remain over and above the licencee's average exports in the preceding three licensing years for the same or similar products. Textual substitutions also update port/location descriptors in specified conditions.

Concessional customs duty under EPCG: conditional exemption tied to fulfilling export obligations, installation proof, and compliance requirements.
Exemption permits import of specified capital goods under a valid EPCG licence at an effective customs duty of three percent and allows exemption of certain additional duties when claimed, subject to conditions: production of licence at clearance; prohibition on disposal until export obligation is met; execution of a bond with security to secure an export obligation fixed as a multiple of duty saved and to be discharged within prescribed block periods; installation and usage certification; prescribed ports and locations; and payment with interest for defaults, with provisions for extension, condonation and waiver in specified circumstances.

Approval Committee constituted for IT and ITES SEZ at Ulwe; specifies statutory ex officio membership and developer invitee.
Constitutes the Approval Committee for the IT and ITES Special Economic Zone at Village Ulwe under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, designating the Development Commissioner as Chairperson and specifying statutory ex officio members from central and state government departments and a developer representative as special invitee for administration and facilitation of the SEZ project.

Inland Container Depot designation: Ulwe IT/ITES Special Economic Zone deemed ICD under Customs Act, enabling customs applicability.
The Central Government, under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, designates the Ulwe information technology and IT enabled services Special Economic Zone developed by M Navi Mumbai SEZ Private Limited as an Inland Container Depot under the Customs Act, appointing an effective date in 2008 and thereby subjecting the SEZ to customs infrastructure, procedures and oversight applicable to ICDs.

Special Economic Zone notification: IT/ITES B SEZ established at Ulwe with specified pocket areas notified.
Notification designates a sector-specific Special Economic Zone for information technology and IT-enabled services-B at Village Ulwe, Panvel, Raigad, Maharashtra, following grant of a letter of approval under section 3(10) of the SEZ Act after satisfaction of section 3(8) requirements. The area notified under section 4(1) and rule 8 comprises Pocket 02 (10.94 ha) and Pocket 9A (27.34 ha), totaling 38.28 hectares, with a file reference recorded and a note on subsequent de-notifications.

Tax exemption under section 10(23C)(vi) approved for Geeta Bajaj Bal Mandir Sansthan, subject to statutory compliance.
Approval is granted to Geeta Bajaj Bal Mandir Sansthan, Jaipur for tax exemption under clause (vi) of clause (23C) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act read with rule 2CA of the Income-tax Rules, by notification dated 8 May 2008, effective for the assessment year 2007-08 and onwards, and subject to the society's conformity and compliance with the provisions of the cited clause and rule.

Removal of port restriction: betel nut imports from Myanmar exempted from prior port limitations with retrospective effect.
Imports of betel nuts from Myanmar under the Border Trade Public Notice are exempted from the previously notified port restriction provisions in Schedule I of the ITC (HS) classifications; this exemption is made effective retrospectively from 20.02.2007 and is issued under the authority of the Foreign Trade Act and the Foreign Trade Policy framework.

Customs exemption amendments expand designated ports to include Haldia and Dabolim, altering multiple notifications' port references.
Under authority of sub-section (1) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 the Central Government directs amendments to specified miscellaneous Customs exemption notifications: in each listed notification the phrase "and Vadimar" is substituted with "Vadimar and Haldia (Halida Dock Complex of Kolkata Port)" and the phrase "and Indore" is substituted with "Indore and Dabolim (Goa)", affecting the opening-paragraph conditions of those instruments.

Jurisdiction of Income tax authorities reallocated between commissioners, changing territorial assignments and taxpayer case allocation under amended schedule.
Amendment substitutes entries in Schedule I reallocating territorial jurisdiction among specified Commissioners of Income tax, defining for each commissioner the classes of taxpayers within their remit-residents with non business income, persons whose principal place of business is in the area (excluding certain companies), and companies registered with registered offices in the area-and tying all cases of those classes to the corresponding commissioner; the amendment is made under Section 120 and takes effect from publication in the Official Gazette.

Tax-free municipal bonds issuance window extended, allowing municipal corporations additional time to issue bonds under the specified exemption.
The Central Government amends the earlier notification so that the phrase "within six months time from the date of publication of the notification" is replaced by "from the date of publication of notification upto 30th September, 2008," thereby extending and clarifying the timeframe during which eligible Municipal Corporations may issue tax-free municipal bonds for the specified financial year.

Customs exemption amendments increase value thresholds and require Chartered Engineer certification for units not registered with Central Excise.
The Central Government, invoking sub-section (1) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962, amends notification No.154/94-Customs by increasing specified monetary thresholds in the schedule, and amends notification No.21/2002-Customs by adding verification from an independent Chartered Engineer for units not registered with Central Excise while retaining Deputy Commissioner of Central Excise verification for registered units.

Research deduction approval: organization allowed donor tax benefit subject to use for scientific research and audit compliance.
Schizophrenia Research Foundation (India), Chennai, is approved under clause (ii) of sub section (1) of section 35 as an "other Institution" from 1 April 2006, subject to conditions: sums must be used for scientific research; research must be carried out by faculty or enrolled students; separate books of account must be maintained and audited by a qualified accountant with the audit report filed by the income tax return due date; and a certified statement of donations received and amounts applied to research must accompany the audit report.

Anti-dumping duty on rubber chemicals imposed, specifying per-kilogram duties and targeted exporters and producers from specified countries.
Provisional anti-dumping duty is imposed on specified rubber chemicals (MBT, CBS, TDQ, PVI, TMT and PX-13/6PPD) under listed Customs Tariff headings, originating in or exported from the People's Republic of China and Korea RP, following preliminary findings that the goods were dumped, caused material injury to the domestic industry, and that the injury was due to dumped imports. The Central Government, invoking section 9A(2) of the Customs Tariff Act and relevant anti dumping rules, prescribes product- and exporter/producer specific duties per kilogram in Indian currency as set out in the Table; duties are effective up to and inclusive of 4 November 2008.

Input-output norms: allows self-declared or ad-hoc norms pending final fixation and ties capital goods duty relief to positive NFE.
Where no SION exist, limited generation of waste, scrap and remnants is permitted; units needing additional inputs or generating excess waste may use self-declared norms which a Development Commissioner will adopt as ad-hoc norms within three months pending final Norms Committee fixation, subject to later adjustment. For complex input situations the Norms Committee may refer cases to the Board of Approval. Clearance or debonding of capital goods requires assessment against the positive NFE criterion, with depreciation allowed at time of clearance and, if positive NFE is not achieved, depreciation permitted only in proportion to the achieved NFE. "Norms Committee" is defined as the DGFT body recommending Input-Output and value addition norms.