kadlerauday

Ref: Circular No. 108/02/2009/ST

What is the procedure to claim the Service Tax already paid during 2006 & 2007 under Section 65(105)(zzzh) , as there is a rule for claiming refund, only before 1 year from the payment of tax ? Builders were served notice to pay the service tax in the year 2005 by the Service Tax Dept.,

sakelkar

As I understand it, service tax is collected from builder/developer. So refund will only be made to the builder. Service tax is collected at zonal commissionerate.

You can try to figure out first whether your builder did indeed pay the tax in said time and then later also can try to find out whether any refund has been made to him by filing RTI to CPIO http://www.cbec.gov.in/info-act/cpio-capio/pune.htm

HTH

MANOJa

India will face shortage of over 26 million houses by 2012, which would lead to spurt in housing prices as demand-supply gap widens amid rising purchasing power of the middle class people, a consultancy firm has said. “With India back on a high growth trajectory, demand for commercial and residential space is likely to witness an upward trend,” consultancy firm Ernst and Young said in a report.
Demand for residential property is rising sharply because of growing young working population, increasing urbanisation, declining household size resulting in more nuclear families with growing household income and improved availability of loans. Co-chairman of FICCI Real Estate Committee Pranay Vakil said over $1.2 trillion investment was needed to meet the rising demand for urban development.
He said that the urban population in India would nearly double to 600 million in the next 15 years from nearly 350 million now, and this would put massive pressure on urban infrastructure, including roads, power and water supply. Dean Hodcroft, partner-head of real estate for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa at Ernst and Young, said India needed institutional reforms to attract more investments in infrastructure development projects.
He said the country’s macro-economic fundamentals were in great shape and it was poised to reap huge benefits of growth. “India needs to fix the institutions to attract more private investments, including foreign investments,” he said. Comparing the investment climates in India and China, Hodcroft said: “While it is easy for investors to get into China, it is extremely difficult to get out. In contrast, it took time for foreign companies to enter India, but exiting is comparatively much easier.” He noted that India was lower ranked in areas that were easy to fix.

MANOJa

India is ranked as the fifth most attractive destination for future real estate investments in a list topped by China, according to a latest report of FCCI and Ernst and Young. In the list of top nine attractive destination for real estate investments, China is followed by the US, UK and Singapore. “India ranks fifth on the overall index, as it scores better on the country economy development index and the real estate market index, but fairly low on the regulatory index,” the report released here said.
As per the report, there is no single clearance system for approval of investment in real estate sector in India. “In addition, the approval system is not time-bound and take up to two years,” it said. On China, it said: “Even amid cautious market sentiments and tightening of government policy, China remains attractive as an investment destination primarily due to its impressive economic growth record and favourable demographics.”

However, India has the potential to even overtake the Chinese attractiveness, “if government allows real estate investment trust (REIT) and real estate mutual funds (REMF),” said Dean Hodcroft, E&Y’s Head of Real Estate for India, Europe, Middle East and Africa here. Globally, REITs and REMFs have contributed significantly to the real estate finance and developers overseas have capitalised on the growth potential of the sector, the report said.
“However, this source of finance has not seen a similar response in India primarily due to policy issues and lack of clarity on government’s intention to promote such alternative source of funding,” it noted. Hodcroft observed that while global investors are wary of investing in China as they are concerned that Beijing can change the policy anytime, New Delhi should strive to make regulations more investment-friendly. “India has a strong macro economic story which needs to be supported by some regulatory changes like availability of liquid vehicle for investment such REMFs and REITs,” he added. Hodcroft said as much as $200 billion private equity fund is waiting to be invested globally and India has a chance to get more than its fair share.