Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April 21, 2017

Records of goods lost, stolen, gifted amust under GST draft rules

Entities will have to keep records of goods lost, stolen, destroyed and given as gifts or free samples under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, expected from July 1. Complying with the “accounts and record” draft rules, put in public domain on Wednesday, will add to the compliance burden of industry. “Every registered person …shall maintain accounts of stock in respect of each commodity received and supplied by him, and …particulars of the opening balance, receipt, supply, goods lost, stolen, destroyed, written off or disposed of by way of gift or free samples and balance of stock, including raw materials, finished goods, scrap and wastage thereof,” the rule said.Each volume of books of account maintained by the registered person should also be serially numbered. Excise,a production based tax, was to be subsumed under GST, which is a supply based tax.Every registered person manufacturing goods will have to maintain monthly production accounts. They will now have to ...

Major FPIs shift base after new tax pacts

More than 50 overseas investors moving to tax-friendly European nationsIndia’s new tax regime has triggered an exodus of funds from Mauritius and Singapore to tax-friendly jurisdictions in the Eurozone, including France and the Netherlands. According to sources, more than 50 foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), including well-known names like JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Sweden’s SKB, are in the process of shifting from erstwhile tax havens to newer, friendly jurisdictions like the Netherlands and France. The move comes after the government renegotiated tax arrangements with Mauritius and Singapore. Until the last financial year (FY17), all investments made through these countries were exempt from the short-term capital gains tax. Starting April 1, transactions originating in these countries will no longer qualify for the tax benefit. Mauritius and Singapore are the second- and third-most preferred routes for overseas investors investing in India. These two jurisdictions accou...

Panel to Review Misconduct Rules for Accounting Pros

Govt panel tasked with proposing amendments for speedy disposal of disciplinary cases The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has constituted a high-level committee to review disciplinary rules and regulations governing chartered accountants, company secretaries and cost accountants. The six-member committee, chaired by retired IAS officer Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, has been tasked with recommending amendments to “ensure speedy disposal of disciplinary cases“ and “strengthen the existing mechanisms“ followed by statutory professional institutes, a senior official at the ministry told ET. Other members include retired IRS and IDAS officers, an advocate of the Supreme Court and a joint director in the ministry of corporate affairs. The committee was constituted on April 10. It was to form on March 27, but was delayed to include more elaborate terms of reference, the official said.Some new points came up after the ministry prepared a letter to constitute the committee, the person said. ...

Friendly Advance Ruling Mechanism to Smoothen Ride Under GST Regime

All taxpayers to be able to ascertain tax liabilities beforehand India is planning a significant shift toward a litigation-free environment under the GST regime, creating a liberal mechanism that would allow all taxpayers to ascertain liabilities beforehand. The draft rules for advance ruling mechanism will allow all categories of taxpayers to approach the authority , unlike the existing system that restricts the facility to proposed transactions before the start of a business. The advance ruling infrastructure will also ensure that every commissionerate has an authority, with a joint commissioner level officer as a member. This is modelled after global best practices in which advance ruling is treated as a revenue function, and carried out directly by revenue authorities without being passed on to any quasi-judicial entity . “The efforts seem to be to reduce post-assessment disputes and, hence, money stuck in litigation, and also to bring certainty in taxation of supplies by a p...