Corporate tax rate differential for domestic companies introduced, with tiered surcharge rules and specified cess treatment applied.
The Finance Bill revises company tax by setting a lower rate for domestic companies meeting a specified turnover threshold and a higher standard rate otherwise, while maintaining the existing rate for non-domestic companies. Tiered surcharge rates apply differently to domestic companies and to companies other than domestic companies, with marginal relief available. Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess remain generally applicable, but are not levied on tax deducted or collected at source for domestic companies and other residents under specified entries; both cesses still apply to salary TDS and to non-residents and non-domestic companies.

Rate of income-tax for local authorities remains unchanged; surcharge applies and marginal relief available for high-income local authorities.
Rate of income-tax for every local authority is preserved at the level specified for the prior assessment year. Surcharge is imposed on local authorities whose income exceeds the high-income threshold, levied at a specified percentage, and marginal relief is provided to mitigate abrupt liability increases near that threshold.

Firm income-tax rate continues unchanged, with surcharge for higher-income firms and marginal relief available.
The rate of income-tax applicable to every firm continues at the same level as for the preceding assessment year for assessment year 2018-19. For firms with total income exceeding one crore rupees, a surcharge is levied at twelve per cent, and marginal relief is available where applicable.

Co-operative society tax rates remain unchanged for the assessment year; surcharge applies to higher incomes and marginal relief provided.
Rates of income-tax for co-operative society taxpayers remain the same as in the prior assessment year under the First Schedule of the Finance Bill, 2017. A surcharge applies to societies with higher income and marginal relief is provided to mitigate surcharge impact at threshold points.

Income-tax rate structure revised for salaries, advance tax and special cases with senior citizen slabs and surcharge.
Part III of the First Schedule to the Finance Bill, 2017 prescribes the income-tax rates for deduction at source from salaries, advance tax computation and charging of income-tax in special cases for financial year 2017-2018. Tiered progressive rates apply to individuals, HUFs, AOPs, BOIs and specified artificial juridical persons. Distinct nil-tax thresholds and slab treatment are provided for resident individuals aged sixty to less than eighty and for those aged eighty or more. A surcharge of ten per cent applies within a defined high-income range and fifteen per cent above the higher threshold, with marginal relief available.

Punctuation in statutory entries limits tax conditions, so excise levy applies only to specifically linked goods.
Punctuation in statutory entries must be given effect; a colon and conjunctions in the schedule create a break separating "leather cloth and inferior or imitation leather cloth ordinarily used in book binding" from other goods, so the condition imposing additional excise duty in lieu of sales tax applies only to the latter group. Historical layout of the entry corroborates this limited reading, and absence of argument before the Tribunal does not estop application of the statutory construction.

Withdrawal of anti dumping duty: Designated Authority lacks power to grant retrospective relief; rescission is prospective.
Designated Authority lacks power to recommend retrospective withdrawal of an anti dumping duty following a mid term review; where domestic producers ceased production and the authority recommended rescission, the government's rescission preserved prior acts, and the tribunal held no rule permits retrospective relief in review proceedings, so withdrawal operates prospectively.

Importation of services: subject to GST under reverse charge; potential double levy with customs needs exemption.
Importation of services falls within the definition of Supply and is subject to GST under the reverse charge mechanism, creating potential overlap with Customs duty where transactions importing goods are contractually treated as services. Administrative or legislative clarification is needed to prevent concurrent levies, either by Customs exemptions for imports characterised as services or reciprocal GST relief where Customs duties apply. The draft also raises uncertainty about personal use exemptions limited to taxable persons and suggests extension or harmonisation of exemptions for non taxable persons.

Scope of supply under GST includes consideration-based transactions, importation of services, and specified free supplies.
The statutory definition of supply under the Model GST Law comprises three categories: supplies for consideration in the course or furtherance of business (sale, transfer, barter, exchange, licence, rental, lease or disposal); importation of services regardless of consideration or business purpose; and specified supplies made without consideration as listed in Schedule I. Clause (a) targets domestic, consideration-based transactions; clause (b) treats importation of services as separately taxable; and clause (c) assimilates certain gratuitous transactions into the tax net via Schedule I.

Classification of floating vessels as immovable property may exclude their sale from GST law taxation.
The tribunal held that ships and vessels afloat are not 'goods' but are akin to immovable property because they cannot be severed from the waters; ships are goods only before launch, during breaking up, or when specifically the subject of a sale. As immovable property lies outside the GST domain under the constitutional allocation, this classification raises the question whether GST would apply to sale or supply of floating vessels-a point pending higher judicial scrutiny.

Adjustment of excess service tax permitted as alternative to refund under liberal interpretation of procedural rules.
A liberal reading of Rule 6(3) of the Service Tax Rules, 1994 permits adjustment of excess service tax paid against future liabilities when facts show an excess payment, rather than restricting the assessee solely to a refund claim, consistent with constitutional limits on taxation and the Revenue's concession of excess payment.

Foreign tax credit conversion uses telegraphic transfer buying rate on the last day of preceding month.
Foreign tax credit is determined by converting the currency of the foreign-tax payment at the telegraphic transfer buying rate applicable on the last day of the month immediately preceding the month in which that tax is paid or deducted.

Foreign Tax Credit documentation: verified income statement plus certificate and payment or deduction proof to claim credit.
Foreign Tax Credit eligibility requires a verified statement of foreign income and foreign tax paid in the prescribed form, plus a certificate or statement specifying the nature of the income and tax deducted or paid issued by the foreign tax authority, the person who deducted the tax, or signed by the taxpayer, accompanied by a tax challan or online payment acknowledgement for payments and proof of deduction where tax was withheld.

Foreign tax credit allowed against MAT/AMT like normal tax, but any excess over normal provisions is ignored.
Foreign tax credit under Rule 128 of the Income tax Rules, 1962, is allowable against tax payable under MAT or AMT in the same manner as under the normal provisions; any foreign tax credit available against MAT/AMT that exceeds the credit allowable under normal provisions is ignored when computing MAT/AMT credit.

Foreign tax credit: credit limited to lower of domestic tax and foreign tax; treaty excess is disregarded.
Rule 128 of the Income tax Rules, 1962 limits Foreign Tax Credit to the lesser of domestic tax chargeable on the doubly taxed income and the foreign tax actually paid, and directs that any foreign tax paid in excess of the tax payable under the applicable DTAA be ignored for credit computation.

Foreign Tax Credit denial: no credit for domestic interest, fees or penalties and for disputed foreign taxes.
Rule 128 restricts Foreign Tax Credit by disallowing FTC against interest, fees or penalties payable under the Income-tax Act, and by excluding any foreign tax (or part thereof) that is disputed by the assessee.

Foreign Tax Credit requires evidence of settlement, proof of payment and an undertaking within six months of dispute resolution.
Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) is allowed for disputed foreign tax only if, within six months from the end of the month in which the dispute is finally settled, the assessee furnishes evidence of settlement, evidence that the tax liability has been discharged by the assessee, and an undertaking that no refund in respect of that amount has been or will be claimed.

Foreign tax definition determines FTC scope: DTAA-covered taxes apply, otherwise income-tax-type foreign levies qualify for credit.
Definition of foreign tax for Foreign Tax Credit under Rule 128: where a DTAA exists, foreign tax is the tax covered by that DTAA; where no DTAA exists, foreign tax is the tax payable under the foreign country's law in the nature of income-tax as defined in the statutory explanation, including excess profits tax or business profits tax charged on profits by central or local authorities.

Foreign tax credit proportionate allocation ensures foreign tax relief is apportioned when income is taxed across multiple years.
Foreign tax credit under the Income tax Rules operates on a proportionate allocation principle when the same income is taxable in more than one year; the credit entitlement must be apportioned across the years in which the income is offered to tax so that relief for foreign taxes corresponds to the portion of income taxed in each year.

Foreign tax credit allowed when foreign tax corresponds to income offered or assessed to tax in India in the same year.
Foreign tax credit is available to Indian residents for tax paid in a foreign country or specified territory, and is allowed only in the year when the corresponding income is offered to tax or assessed to tax in India, creating a temporal link between domestic taxation of the income and recognition of the foreign tax credit.