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Income Tax department said that the one-time Income Disclosure Scheme, which closes this month, has generated "a good interest" and the response of the taxpayers has been steadily growing. Under the IDS, launched by the government on June 1, black money holders can come clean by paying tax, penalty and cess totalling 45% of the undisclosed income. Hindustan Times New Delhi,16th Septeber 2016

Eyeing an April 1 roll out of the goods and services tax, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged that all steps be completed before then. Modi held a meeting to review the preparedness for roll out of GST on Wednesday. He said the GST Council would need to have intensive meetings to be able to make timely recommendations, including those relating to the model GST Bill, rates, and the goods and services that may be subjected to or exempted from the law. The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and senior officials of the Prime Ministers Office and finance ministry. “The Prime Minister reviewed the progress made on GST such as rules to be framed, establishment of IT infrastructure for both Centre and states, training of central and state officers and awareness outreach for trade and industry,” said a statement issued by the PMO on Thursday “The Prime Minister directed that all steps must be completed much before April 1, 2017,” it said. The first meeting of the...

The government is all set to overhaul the union budget from 2017. With this mission in mind finance ministry is likely to present the proposal to the Cabinet, when it meets next week. The proposal is to advance the budget presentation by a month to the last week of January from next year, move to “outcome-based budgeting” and merge the rail budget with it. “The PM has given a go-ahead to the proposals and finance ministry will get it cleared by the Cabinet at the earliest,” said an official in the finance ministry who did not wish to be quoted. He added that the urgency is keeping in mind that there are barely four months to go if the budget has to be presented in January. Though the budget is presented in February, several tax proposals kick-in only from June after Parliament passes the annual finance bill in May. Income tax changes come into force only after the finance bill is passed, but these are retroactively implemented from April 1. “By advancing the budget all the co...

Some smaller firms missed deadline citing practical difficulties Most listed companies that are part of the BSE 500 index managed to file results for the quarter ended June under the new Indian Accounting Standard or Ind- AS, the extended deadline for which ended on Thursday. However, some outside the top 500 failed to file their numbers within the stipulated deadline citing “ practical difficulties”. Starting with the June quarter, all listed companies, with the exception of some in the banking, financial services and insurance ( BFSI) space, had to provide financial statements under the Ind- AS format. Ind- AS, a fair valuationbased method, is in consonance with the globally adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) format. Ind- AS changes the way companies report revenue, valuation of financial instruments and joint ventures, among others. Companies have to file their quarterly results within 45 days. However, the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( S...

The Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) has been facing issues in recovering the amount invested by people in unauthorised collective investment schemes ( CIS). Special courts were to be set up for swift adjudication in such cases. So far, only four have been constituted According to sources, these courts have received 700 cases from various other criminal courts, all pending. One of the primary reasons for such a delay is that a majority of unauthorised CIS schemes have deployed the money in purchasing land or property in various parts. As land is a state subject, it comes under state and local laws. For instance, laws on land ceiling, agricultural and tenancy rules, town planning laws and development regulations are administered by various state executive bodies. “Initiation of enforcement proceedings by Sebi for disposal of land/ properties and realisation of monies is marred by operation of local laws and the bureaucratic approaches that come with it,” said Tejas...