Article
Equalization Levy - An approach to implement Digital Taxation Policy by India
By Harshit Khurana
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. The article in this issue of Direct Tax Amicus discusses at length the new Equalization levy which seeks to cover all those e-commerce transactions that seem to have some nexus with India. Deliberating on definition of ‘E-commerce operator’ the author believes that it not only covers operators who act as facilitators for an online transaction, but also ecommerce players who are resellers or manufacturers or service providers. Considering that terms ‘digital or electronic facility of platform’ is not defined, the author relies upon BEPS Action Plan 1 to hold that it seeks to cover transactions where the contract conclusion primarily relies on automated systems. The article however also states that one cannot rule out that tax authorities may apply the levy to every transaction where there is an element of digital dealing...
Circular
- TDS deduction when employee opts for concessional rate of tax under Section 115BAC
- Deduction of TDS/TCS when rates of surcharge increased by Finance (No.2) Act, 2019 with effect from 1-4-2019 – Clarifications
Ratio decidendi
- Redeemable debentures issued to a sister-concern cannot be equated to loan for the purposes of deemed dividend under Section 2(22)(e) – ITAT Mumbai
- Amount received on account of reduction in profit share in a partnership firm does not attract capital gains tax – ITAT Mumbai
- Refund cannot be withheld under Section 241A without the conditions mentioned therein being fulfilled – Punjab & Haryana High Court
- Salary, being taxable on accrual basis, is exempt from taxation in India if same is received by non-resident in India for services rendered outside India – ITAT Chennai
- Dividend income received under Section 115BBD is eligible for set-off against business loss – ITAT Mumbai
