CA Online

The government has notified a 2.57- time hike in basic salary of 10 million government employees and pensioners following the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations. The recommendations, which will cost the exchequer annually Rs.1.02 lakh crore, were notified in a gazette on Monday. The minimum pay in central government with effect from January 1, 2016 will now be Rs. 18,000 per month, up form Rs. 7,000 per month. At the highest level of Cabinet secretary, the salary would go up from Rs.90,000 a month to Rs.2.5 lakh. There shall be two dates for grant of increment — January 1 and July 1 every year — instead of the existing July 1 only. Employees will be entitled to only one annual increment on either of these two dates, depending on the date of appointment, promotion or grant of financial upgradation, it said. The Union Cabinet had last month accepted the recommendation of Justice A K Mathur headed panel in respect of the hike in basic pay and pension but a deci...

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill that allows a child below 14 years to be employed if he or she is his/her family. In all other cases, employing a child below that age can lead to an imprisonment of up to two years. The Rajya Sabha had passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016, on July 19. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Varun Gandhi criticised the Bill, saying, "It's not leniency, but lunacy," while Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the amendments were "historic". The amendment prescribes no punishment for a first-time offender parent but there is provision for penalty for repeat offenders. Gandhi wanted to know how the authorities would determine whether the parent violating the law was a first-time offender or a repeat one. He demanded the list of hazardous industries be expanded to construction activities also under the child labour laws. Business Standard New Delhi, 27th July 2016

The draft model goods and services tax ( GST) law that has been put in the public domain represents the collective consensus between the Centre and the states. While the law has many redeeming features, especially in the area of input credit, it has not gone far enough in the area of dispute resolution. One of the common grievances that taxpayers have in India relates to delays in the dispute resolution system. It is argued rightly that justice delayed is justice denied. This argument has three aspects: •When does a disagreement between the department and taxpayers take the form of a " dispute" in a legal sense; •Once the dispute arises, how does one resolve it expeditiously with a degree of finality; •When disputes involve principles of assessment ( matters relating to principles of classification, valuation, etc) how does one ensure that such decisions taken are uniformly applied all over the country Flowing from the above, we can broadly outline the features of a wor...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has decided not to proceed with the final regulations on crowdfunding, according to people in the know. In a discussion paper floated two years ago, Sebi had proposed a framework to enable domestic start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to raise capital from multiple investors through crowdfunding. Divergent views from the market and lack of interest for its recently launched start-up platform have discouraged Sebi from issuing final guidelines on crowdfunding, said a source. Also, the market feedback given to Sebi was that there might not be enough takers for the regulator’s proposed framework as it was ‘too restrictive’, the source added. Sebi’s discussion paper had defined crowdfunding as “solicitation of funds (small amount) from multiple investors through a web-based platform or social networking site for a specific project, business venture or social cause”. Typically, crowdfunding involves a large group of indi...

With the income-tax (I-T) department planning to issue 700,000 letters to individuals who have done high-value transactions without declaring their permanent account number (PAN), many individuals may face scrutiny. The I-T department has zeroed in on transactions, which included cash deposits of over Rs 10 lakh in a bank account and sale or purchase of immovable property of Rs 30 lakh or more over the past seven years (since 2009-10). The department gets data of high-value transactions under the annual information return (AIR). Amit Maheshwari, partner, Ashok Maheshwary & Associates LLP, says the first thing to be taken into account would be whether the I-T returns have been filed or not. If returns have been filed, the next question would be on the source of income and whether tax has been paid or not. For this, one should keep the necessary documents safe and ready. For example, if one has purchased a property of over Rs 30 lakh, but funded the initial down payment through...

The labour ministry has moved a step closer to doubling incremental employee provident fund investments in equity to 10% in spite of opposition from central trade unions. An expert committee set up by the finance, audit and investment committee (FAIC) of retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has favoured such an increase. The government has now asked FAIC to take a decision. Once approved by FAIC, the labour ministry will present the decision before the next board meeting of EPFO for information, following which the new rate of investment will be notified. “It is the government's right to decide on EPFO's investment in equity and whether trade unions agree to it or not we may go ahead with the increased investment as proposed by the expert group,“ a senior government official told ET on condition of anonymity . The panel set up by FAIC has suggested doubling the investment in exchange traded funds (ETFs) to make it a meaningful contribut...

www.caonline.in News... 1. Result of the Chartered Accountants Intermediate (Integrated Professional Competence) Examination held in May, 2016 is likely to be declared on Tuesday, the 2nd August 2016. 2. Invitation for Empanelment as Concurrent Auditor with UCO Bank. Last Date to Apply is 10-08-2016.https://apps.ucoonline.in/conc_audit/home.jsp 3. Interest on investments of Service Co-operative Banks eligible for deduction u/s 80P (2) (a) (1). 4. Comvat assured date of filing of Q1 Return extended by 1 month Circular to follow. 5. L.G. appoints 26.07.2016 as the date on which DVAT (Amendment) Act, 2016 come into force. 6. Last date to file Income Tax Return is 31.07.2016. 7. CBDT releases draft rules for prescribing the manner of determining amount received by the company in respect of shares formulated u/s115QA. Press Release of 25.7.16.