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www.caonline.in News... 1.Cost of acquisition of asset declared under Income Declaration Scheme, 2016, where the income chargeable to tax is declared in the form of investment in any asset, the fair market value of such asset. 2.The benefit of concessional tax rate to Cos shall also be available to the companies engaged in research in relation to or distribution of article or thing manufactured or produced by it.It is also provided that once the option to avail of benefit of concessional tax rate has been exercised by the company for any previous year, it cannot subsequently withdraw the same or for any other previous year. 3.The processing of return is not necessary before the expiry of one year from the end of the financial year in which return is furnished, where a notice is issued for scrutiny assessment under Section 143(2). 4.Section 276C to provide that under reporting of income as per section 270A shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment under section 276C. 5.The ta...

Bill retains excise duty on gold jewellery, expands tax benefit for start- ups The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Union Budget for 2016-17, incorporating official amendments to the Finance Bill. It now goes to the Rajya Sabha for debate but that House has no power to reject it. One such is reducing the period of holding of shares of unlisted companies from the current 36 months to 24 months to qualify for long- term capital gains tax. The provision was absent despite Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announcing it in his Budget speech. Other amendments included extending the tax benefits for start- ups to limited liability partnerships, dropping a proposal to tax employer contributions to recognised provident funds in excess of Rs. 1.5 lakh a year and clearing an ambiguity on additional dividend tax. Penalty for concealing income has been changed from the existing 0300 per cent to 50- 200 per cent. Opposition parties raised the issue of not bringing non- taxation measures such ...

The government on Thursday said it intends to enter into cross- border treaties to confiscate foreign assets of wilful defaulters and recover dues of banks as the Lok Sabha passed a Bill that seeks to update existing laws in this regard. Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said the bankruptcy framework and normal procedure would continue in a parallel manner. Business Standard New Delhi,06 May 2016

The government relaxed norms for claiming duty benefits under the Merchandise Exports from India scheme ( MEIS) by exempting merchandise exporters from mandatory submission of landing bills. With an eye on boosting exports, which have declined for the 16th straight month in March, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade has notified that proof of landing, which exporters have long argued against, will not be required along the remaining 2,787 tariff lines. The MEIS scheme, introduced in April 2015 under the foreign trade policy, incentivises merchandise exports along a total of 5,012 items currently. Business Standard New Delhi,6th May 2016

Amid a surge in bad loans, the Lok Sabha on Thursday approved a Bill to overhaul century- old laws that regulate insolvency. The proposed Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code aims to slash the time it takes to wind up a company or recover dues from a defaulter. The Bill will become a law once the Rajya Sabha clears it. The proposed uniform law will streamline the existing insolvency process which depends on 11 separate laws. Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, while answering queries from fellow lawmakers, described the Code as “ transformational” and said it would help India improve its ranking in the World Bank survey on ‘ ease of doing business’. To a query on whether the new legislation would help in taking the overseas assets of wilful defaulters, Sinha said in this regard first cross- border treaties need to be put in place. “ We have to make crossborder treaties. We have to have an understanding with other nations that we are taking action on this defaulter. When we have...

RBI’sdraftguidelineswant60% ofagroup’sincomefromfinancialservices The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) on Thursday proposed granting on- tap universal banking licences to individuals, groups or entities and companies. However, the criterion for corporates will effectively rule out entry for business houses like Reliance, Tata and Birla, which had ambitions of floating universal banks. According to the draft guidelines, at least 60 per cent of a group’s income should come from financial services, as a result of which many large industrial houses are automatically excluded. “Corporate- promoted non- banking financial companies ( NBFCs) won’t be allowed to apply for the banking licence,” said Abizer Diwanji, head of financial services at EY. Apart from this, RBI said, to be eligible to apply, the corporate entity should have a minimum asset size of ? 5,000 crore and a successful track record of 10 years. The corporate group has to float the bank through a nonoperative financial ho...