Sreya Kanugula
Singapore court had been moved by the Centre against an award given to Vodafone by an arbitration tribunal, stated Mr. Pramod Chandra Mody, the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
Mr. Mody gave confirmation on the appeal made against Vodafone and further stated to the press that the Centre was also checking the Cairn order with relation to retrospective amendments to tax laws.
He also added that there was a case for appeal against the given award, elaborating that “How can the arbitration award be contrary to the law that is there? It is their interpretation and we believe there is a case against appeal…”
Mr. Mody also said that the bigger question remained : “Can a bilateral treaty take away the taxation rights of a jurisdiction?”
“So far, as Cairn is concerned, we are examining the issue and very soon we will come out with a decision on that,” he continued.
He also commented upon the tax provident fund and contributions of ULIP being set on an upper limit, which was mentioned in the recent budget proposal of 2021. In the proposal’s defense, he said that the move was ultimately “affecting only a select few.”
Mr. Mody also stated that this would eventually bring greater equity and tax structure simplification. He was optimistic about how the target for the collection of direct tax would be met on the rising tail of economic activity and that it would allow a “revamp” of the administrative structure for taxes.
A “paradigm shift” in the processes of the tax administration and transition from “territorial jurisdiction to dynamic jurisdiction” were also noted by him.
He called the entire procedure “a game changer” and also stated that “We have moved to consistency, objectivity, some sort of uniformity. End-to-end is faceless. The overall experience that the taxpayer is getting that he can go about his economic activity without bothering about tax.”
