Section 115BAA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is a reduced corporate taxation scheme introduced for domestic companies vide the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019 (w.e.f. AY 2020-21). Once opted for, the domestic company would be taxed at 25.17% (effective tax rate inclusive of surcharge and cess) during the lifetime of the said company in respect of its total income.

After the recent introduction of exemption to Sovereign Wealth Funds in respect of certain income earned from India, the issue as to whether such entities are subject to tax, in the first place, has been reignited.

Section 132(4A) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 empowers an Assessing Officer to presume that anything that is found in searched premises belongs to the occupant of such premises. However, this power to presume is not absolute in the hands of the Assessing Officer, in that the presumption is rebuttable.

OECD’s plan to build a ‘Unified Approach’ for taxing digital economy has been testing the patience of the consumer/ user facing countries since long. India was one of the first countries to implement a digital tax levy called the ‘Equalization levy’ in 2016, and now in 2020 it has broadened the scope of the levy.

Finance Bill, 2020 has proposed to relieve corporates from paying distribution tax on dividends (‘DDT’) and proposes to go back to the old school ways of taxing such dividends in the hands of the shareholders. The Bill has also proposed re-introduction of Section 80M of the Income Tax Act which was omitted vide Finance Act, 2003.

Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 after the amendment in 2016 also provides for confiscation of benami properties besides criminalizing benami transactions. The Rajasthan High Court recently deliberated upon the question as to whether the consequences of the Amendment Act were retrospective in nature.

The article in this issue of Direct Tax Amicus intends to discuss few crucial aspects concerning claim of and computing deduction under Section 36(1)(viia) of the Income Tax Act. Until 2017, only specified categories of banks were permitted to claim deduction qua provision for bad and doubtful debts.

The phrase ‘applied for charitable purposes in India’ under Section 11 of the Income Tax Act has been a subject matter of litigation in the recent past. Considering the position as it was prevalent prior to the amendment in the Income Tax Act, 1922 in 1953 (effective from 1-4-1952), period post amendment and after introduction of Income Tax Act, 1961, the author is of the view that it can be said that the mandate under Section 11(1)(a) is only to apply the income in India for charitable purposes

In international trade, Indian companies also avail carriage services provided by foreign shipping companies. The amount paid in lieu of shipping services to these foreign companies may be taxed if the income is accrued or received in India.

The article in this issue of Direct Tax Amicus examines some of the hurdles likely to be encountered by the taxpayers while claiming the deduction under Section 80JJAA of the Income Tax Act, 1961.