CA Online

1.  Service of assessment order by hand delivery to kitchen boy of Assessee Company is bad service–The Honorable Supreme Court in the case of Saral Wire Craft Pvt. Ltd. 2.  Amount received as compensation towards the damage to the land cannot be said to be a revenue receipt and not taxable. [Jagan Nath Prasad & Sons vs. ITO, ITAT – Delhi]. 3.  MCA vide its letter has directed RD North to shift its office from Noida to Paryavaran Bhawan, C.G.O. Complex, New Delhi. 4.  W.e.f. 01 September, 2015 all the appeals/ applications arising from the territories of the State of Uttar Pradesh for Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, shall be listed for hearing at Regional Bench, Allahabad. 5.  No denial of Cenvat credit availed on invoices issued in the name of unregistered premises. [CESTAT, Delhi: All spheres Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. vs. CCE, Meerut]. 6.  Procedure for filing applications under MEIS and SEIS by units located in SEZs and EO...

Executives whose spouses trade in their firms’ stock can’t use alibi on independence, not privy to insider info Executives whose spouses buy or sell their companies’ shares will not be able to offer the alibi that their husbands or wives are financially independent and aren’t privy to any inside information when they defend themselves against insider trading charges In a guidance note issued on Monday, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) clarified that under the Sebi (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015, a spouse is presumed to be an “immediate relative” unless the company official is able to prove otherwise. Sebi also said that this would be the accepted norm even if the spouse is financially independent and claims not to be consulting the husband or wife in taking trading decisions. According to a Sebi official, the clarification was issued as part of the guidance note as many such alibis had been offered in investigations of insider trading case...

Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday proposed to waive open offer obligations for companies in which there is an increase in voting rights of a stakeholder as a result of the expiry of call notice period and the forfeiture of partly paid shares. In a discussion paper, Sebi said, “Increase in voting rights of any shareholder as a result of forfeiture of partly paid-up shares held by some shareholders is passive in nature as the process is initiated due to non-payment of call money by defaulting shareholders.” Similarly, accrual of voting rights to the remaining shareholders, computed on pro rata basis, upon the expiry of call notice issued to the shareholders holding partly paid-up shares is also passive in nature, Sebi said. At present, if a member fails to pay any call, or instalment of a call, on the day appointed for payment, the company’s board may serve him a notice requiring payment of such amount, together with any interest ...

In its annual report, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said the efficacy of the monetary policy transmission mechanism needs to improve, as the pass- through of recent cuts in policy rate to the bank lending rate has only been partial. Though RBI has cut the repo rate ( at which banks borrow from the central bank) by 75 basis points since the beginning of this year, banks have been reluctant to reduce lending rates. According to RBI, the partial transmission reflects constraints under the existing base rate system. “ Identifying the impediments in passthrough and implementing an alternative method such as marginal cost- based credit pricing or identifying an appropriate benchmark for the bank lending rate will be apriority for the Reserve Bank,” the central bank said. The report also stressed how it was crucial to develop market- based benchmarks by developing the term segment of the money market. “Liquidity support may have to be progressively provided through regular auction...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has reconstituted its Takeover Panel, which looks into applications seeking exemption from the mandatory open offer that an acquirer needs to make to minority shareholders. The newly notified panel would be chaired by judge N K Sodhi, former chief justice of the high courts of Karnataka and Kerala and also the former presiding officer of the Securities Appellate Tribunal. Business Standard, New Delhi,28th August 2015

The Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT) has notified the procedure for financial institutions to register and submit information under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), under which the US and India would get automatic exchange of information on tax evaders from September 30. However, the procedures notified on August 25 came just ahead of the due date of filing information under FATCA by August 31. The procedure says the reporting financial institutions will have to register with the Income- Tax department by logging in to e- filing site with log- in ID used to file online returns in general. A link to register reporting financial institution has been provided under "My Account". The financial institution is required to submit details on the screen. A reporting financial institution may register different registration information under different reporting financial institution categories. Once the financial institution gets registered, it is required to ...

The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) has doubled the limit for cash withdrawal at point- of- sale ( POS) in Tier III to VI centres from Rs.1000 to Rs.2000 a day. This will be available for debit cards and open system prepaid cards issued only by banks. RBI said the enhanced amount will add to customer convenience and aid re- cycling of cash in these centres. Business Standard, New Delhi, 28th August 2015

In the second round of clarifications on the unaccounted money law next week, the government is likely to ask those holding such funds to make disclosures based on their income expectations from foreign bank accounts more than 10 years old, in case of unavailability of records. This will be part of about two dozen frequently asked questions ( FAQs) the Department of Revenue will issue on the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets Act, popularly known as the black money Act, as well as on a three- month compliance window under the law. “We are almost ready with the second set of FAQs and will be releasing that within the next four- five days. We were delayed, as we will be addressing more queries that came up based on an interaction session in Mumbai on Wednesday,” said a government official. Many people have enquired about the unavailability of old records with the foreign banks. On this, the official said, “ On the unavailability of old information, we cannot do anything much o...