Indian Supreme Court Finds Taxation of Ocean Freight Unconstitutional

A recent decision in Union of India v Mohit Minerals Pvt. Ltd by a three-judge bench of the Indian Supreme Court has laid to rest a highly contested tax issue—whether Indian importers are liable to pay integrated goods and services tax (IGST) on the component of ocean freight paid for by the foreign seller to the foreign shipping line in a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) contract.

Against this backdrop, Kumar Visalaksh, Partner and Ajitesh Dayal Singh, Associate at Economic Laws Practice (ELP) have co-authored an article for Bloomberg Tax, titled ‘Indian Supreme Court Finds Taxation of Ocean Freight Unconstitutional’. In their article, the authors talk about the background of the dispute and analyze the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The dispute at heart is whether the realignment of constitutional provisions and the introduction of GST, whereby the central and the state governments for the first time were given a simultaneous power to legislate, has in any way led to a shift in the concept of “cooperative federalism” regarding taxation as enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

Read the detailed article here: Click here