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The income tax department on Monday released rules for equalisation levy — a tax on online advertisements that would come into effect from June 1. Announced in the Budget for 2016-17, the six per cent levy — dubbed Google tax — is aimed at foreign multinational digital companies without a permanent establishment in India. This would make companies such as Facebook , Google, Yahoo and Twitter liable to be taxed in India for earnings above Rs 1 lakh from local advertisers. According to the rules notified by the income tax department, the assessees concerned need to deduct the levy and credit the amount to the central government. They can do it by remitting it into the Reserve Bank of India, any branch of the State Bank of India or of any authorised bank. “The equalisation levy made various players sit up and take note, especially since this is India’s first step to tax the digital economy. Now with rules in place, people need to start taking action, since the statement of specified...

Comments sought on six key questions & traffic management practices of telcos India's telecom regulator has rekindled the debate over a free and open internet by issuing a much-awaited paper that aims to define net neutrality and identify relevant issues, such as throttling speeds and regulating communication apps, that will form the basis of a policy on the subject. In a pre-consultation paper issued on Monday , the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) sought views from stakeholders on six key questions, including what should comprise the core principles and policy approach toward net neutrality in India. In addition, Trai wanted views on the “reasonable traffic management practices“ that carriers may need to adopt and in what manner these could be misused. This question covers a key aspect of net neutrality that's against any move by service providers to slow down or speed up access to websites. It also covers the issue of blocking or prioritising of data ...

Ban on large diesel vehicles a transient phase, says FM Keen on investments from Japan to boost economic growth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday met key ministers in the Japanese administration and wooed pension funds to partner in India’s infrastructure development. Jaitley, on the second day of his six- day visit to Japan, met Japans Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso to discuss investment opportunities India presents to the Japanese investors. He held wide- ranging talks with Aso to boost bilateral economic ties, official sources said. Jaitley also met Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Motoo Hayashi on Japan partnership in Indias growth story. He had separate meetings with Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Yasuhisa Shiozaki and with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Keiichi Ishii. Ishii assured to look into Japanese investment in transport and infrastructure sector in India, sources said. India is seeking investor...

Govt rolls back budget decision to apply 1% TCS on cash purchase of gold jewellery of Rs 2 lakh and raises threshold to Rs 5 lakh from tomorrow In a move that may boost demand for gold jewellery, the government has rolled back its budget decision to apply 1% tax collection at source (TCS) on cash purchase of gold jewellery ofRs.. 2 lakh and above and raised the threshold to the earlier RS.5 lakh with effect from June 1. The decision comes at a time when jewellers are finding it difficult to offload their inventory that piled up following a 42-day strike -in protest against imposition of 1% excise duty on gold and diamond jewellery -that ended unsuccessfully in mid-April. Bachhraj Bamalwa, director at All India Gem & Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) , said the increase in TCS threshold limit is “a major relief to those who would purchase wedding jewellery“. “. Rs.2 lakh was a very small sum for wedding jewellery,“ he told ET. Gold demand in the country hit a Gold demand in the c...

The rule, to be effective from June 1, will be for taxation of payments for international digital services by Indian businesses The government on Monday announced rules for equalisation levy -or `Google tax' for taxation of payments for international digital services by Indian businesses -that was introduced in the budget. The specified services covered by the levy include online advertising, provision for digital advertising space and any other service to be notified by government. The rules come into effect from June 1. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced the equalisation levy, emanating out of OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Sharing project, on payments made by busines ses for specific digital services to a non-resident entity not having permanent establishment in India. The idea is to indirectly tax internet giants for money they make from Indian advertisers, by imposing a levy on the payments these advertisers make. The levy was structured based on rec...

India, till now was classified as `developing' country, will now be called `lower-middle income' For decades, `developed' and `developing' have served as agreeable economic nomenclatures to classify countries based on their prosperity and standards of living. That's about to change, with the World Bank switching to more precise, though unvarnished, descriptions of economies. And India -which till now found a place under the common umbrella with other `developing' countries -will now be called `lower-middle income countrySouth Asia'. The more specific definitions are aimed at categorising economies which though `developing' in character, differ dramatically from one another. For instance, India, Mexico and Malawi may be hardly comparable even if a few economic and social parameters overlap. With economies becoming less and less homogeneous, the multilateral agency will group countries based on geographical coverage and income levels to capture the...

Study likely to focus on bank deposits, cash, insurance, PF, shares, gold & realty What do you do with your savings? Do you let your funds grow in fixed deposits, invest in the stock market, accumulate gold, or salt some money away for your retirement? The government wants to know. And it is set to launch a national survey to find out. “We need to have a direct estimation of household savings and there is no data on this at present,“ a government official privy to the development said, requesting not to be identified.“We do get data from the Reserve Bank of India and financial instruments, but there has been a thinking in the government for quite some time to have its own savings-investment data,“ he said. The move comes at a time when the government plans to strengthen its financial inclusion drive through the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana. The proposed survey marks a departure from the current practice of estimating household savings indirectly by deducting the numbers...