The Centre is likely to offer a sweetener to goods that go out of the exempted list for excise once the goods and services tax (GST) kicks in next year.
While identifying the list of products that will go out of the 350-item list, the Union finance ministry is looking at levying a lower rate of tax under the new regime.
The US has ended duty-free status for gold necklaces from India as the product was found to be sufficiently competitive in American markets.
“After assessing which products should continue to benefit from duty-free treatment under GSP (Generalised System of Preferences), the (US) President (Barack) Obama determined that five products from three beneficiary countries are now sufficiently competitive in the United States,” the US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said.
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).
This would enable company secretaries to set up Certified Facilitation Centres (CFCs) under the Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES) project, which will facilitate e-filing of returns and other documents by assessees of Central Excise and Service Tax.
Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat today said the state was examining the possibility of reducing Value Added Tax (VAT) on petroleum products to ease the prices.
The Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Department has been asked to examine the possibility of reducing VAT on these products, Kamat said.
The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) decided to extend about 50 per cent VAT or State General Sales Tax reimbursements for five years along with other incentives to the industries setting up base in Andhra Pradesh in accordance to the Industrial and Investment Policy 2005-10.
A meeting of the SIPB chaired by the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah considered the cases pertaining to 27 industries with a total investment potential of about Rs 18,138 crore having employment generation potential of 59,732.
Subsuming purchase tax in GST is next on the Centre’s agenda. The finance ministry is hopeful that states will agree to subsume purchase tax in GST after a long drawn battle to keep it out of the purview of the proposed indirect tax regime.
“We have to talk to four states – Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh – on purchase tax. We are very hopeful that they will agree to subsume it in GST,” a senior finance ministry official told
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