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A fortnight ahead of the start of the Budget session of Parliament, the goods and services tax (GST) Council will on Monday try to find the resolution to issue of administrative turf between the Centre and states, as well as definition of coastal states. Sources said shortage of time due to the coming elections in five states could come in the way of finding an early solution. Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu hoped a solution to both issues might be found out at the meeting. He will not attend the meeting but will send an officer to represent the state as he is going to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos. Uttarakhand’s Indira Hridayesh told Business Standard some solution to the administrative turf issue has to be found in consensus to implement the GST. But the Centre is not agreeing to states’ demand to give them sole control over assessees up to Rs.1.5 crore of annual turnover. It is almost clear that GST would not be introduced from April 1. Indust...

From April 2016, companies with a net worth of Rs.500 crore and above began re-stating their accounting numbers in IFRS-compliant Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS). This will be mandatorily extended to companies with a net worth greater than Rs.250 crore from April 2017. Ind-AS is largely based on fair-value accounting. This involves accounting for various benefits or costs that are unrealised or notional, leading to taxation on a notional basis. “Based on the Ind-AS conversion guidelines, companies will need to undertake a one-time adjustment of various accounting treatments in opening retained earnings,” says Nabin Ballodia, partner, tax, KPMG in India. The transition to Ind-AS provides certain options to corporates that could increase or decrease the retained earnings based on the choices made. “In general, this will increase the retained earnings of corporates because Ind-AS relies on the fair valuation concept whereas corporates have traditionally followed the historical ...

Your organisation might reject the Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) claim, if you had travelled on official holidays, like on a weekend, from this year. The Income-Tax (I-T) Act says the employee needs to be “on leave to be in any other place in India”. “Organisations which go strictly by the wordings of the I-T Act, allow employees to claim LTA only if they had applied for leaves,” says Alok Agrawal, senior director, Deloitte Haskins & Sells. The salaried class are likely to come under more scrutiny from employers this year. And, all perks like LTA, house rent allowance and interest paid on home loans will come under this heightened scrutiny. The government has made employers responsible for verifying whether the claims filed are according to the law. Earlier, companies went only by self-declaration of employees. The regulations were changed to counter the Supreme Court’s ruling that employers are under no statutory obligation to collect bills and details to prove the employees ha...

Individuals may see take-home rise while lower corporate tax rate could cheer cos The upcoming budget may bring cheer to both individuals and corporate taxpayers as the government looks to lift sentiment in the wake of demonetisation. The measures will be aimed at reviving demand and stimulating private investment to boost overall growth On the cards is a revamp of the income-tax framework for individuals to increase their takehome pay, thus persuading them to start buying more goods and services, and a reduction in the corporate tax rate to encourage companies to invest. “There are multiple proposals on the table,“ said a government official. “The government is keen on enhancing the purchasing power of people to boost demand.“ The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has estimated that the economy will grow 7.1% in the current financial year, slower than 7.6% last year, but this forecast didn't include the impact of demonetisation. Private estimates suggest the economy co...