Vodafone case's influence in this year's financial budget

The budget session is just around the corner.

The landmark judgement by the SC in favour of the Vodafone telecom company should mean that this year's budget should incorporate a mechanism to prevent such severe loss to the exchequer or a direct ruling in accordance with the SC verdict, whichever it seems deemed fit...

Vodafone had filed a case against the government for demanding tax for shares bought by the company from the Hutchinson-Essar limited. This was a sensitive issue which was very keenly watched by the corporate world...

Will the budget revisit the supreme court ruling on Vodafone?

Revenue's wrong call

"The Supreme Court's judgment in the Vodafone case has long-term implications for tax administration and jurisprudence, especially when it comes to taxation of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. "

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Revenue's wrong call: Supreme court's acceptance of investment structures in offshore tax-havens as genuine tax planning devices, is a boost to tax planning through use of intelligent structures within the framework of the law so long as they are not outright sham structures conceived only to evade tax.

The judgment sends out an extremely positive signal to foreign companies and investors on the rule of law and the independence and fairness of the judiciary, and that certainty and stability are the cornerstones of any fiscal system. For its part, the government is unlikely to be a silent spectator!