The Finance Bill, 2020, has made substantial changes to the manner in which dividends are taxed. Presently, dividends distributed by a company are subject to dividend distribution tax (DDT) at an effective rate of 20.56 percent.
The government has taken a pragmatic approach by proactively taking several measures to reduce tax litigations across various tax jurisdictions up to the Supreme Court. In the last budget, the government introduced Sabka Vishwas Litigation Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2019 (SVLDRS) in a bid to reduce litigation in pre-GST central indirect taxes. The scheme was a huge success among assessees.
The biggest direct takeaway for startups from this budget was the deferment of the payment of income taxes payable upon exercise of stock options by their employees.
In MRF Limited v Metro Tyres Limited [C.S. (COMM) 753/2017 & I.A. 12770/2017], the Delhi High Court (Court) in an order dated 01 July 2019 interpreted the term 'copying' in context of the Copyrights Act, 1957 (Act) for cinematograph films. The Delhi High Court ruled that 'copying' of a cinematograph film will include substantial copying of material to the extent that it resembles the original film and not merely a physical copy of the film created by a process of duplication.
The Scope and ambit of the definition of an employee under the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provision Act 1952 (EPF Act) has come up time and again before the Courts in India. This issue often arises in situations wherein workers engaged by an establishment are working from home or are being paid on a piece rate basis.
Participation by International lenders and debt funds in the Indian market is tightly regulated by Reserve Bank of India's ("RBI") external commercial borrowing ("ECB") regime.
In its latest judgment on trade mark infringement, the Delhi High Court (Court) in the case of Suzuki Motor v Suzuki (India) Limited1, passed a decree under Order XII Rule 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) against Suzuki (India) Limited (Defendant), as the Defendant in its written statement had failed to specifically deny the facts in the plaint, thereby, deeming the averments in the plaint to have been admitted.
Two-sided markets are a common feature of our daily life - be it a dating club, the insurance services market or a two-sided online platform - which connect suppliers and customers and create value through an intermediary platform.
Recently, the Delhi High Court (Court), in the matter of Communication Components Antenna Inc (Plaintiff) Ace Technologies Corp. And Ors(Defendants), directed the Defendants to deposit a bank guarantee of approximately INR 550 million failing which the Defendants will be restrained from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale any models of antenna which infringe the Plaintiff's patent.
With an aim to discourage cash transactions and move towards a cashless economy, the first budget of Modi Government 2.0 has proposed to levy TDS @2% on cash payments in excess of Rs. 1 CR in aggregate made during the year, by a banking company or corporate bank of post office, to any person from one or more accounts maintained by the recipient.
