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In a meeting on the coming Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will review the revenue department´s efforts to crack down on circulation of undisclosed money in the   economy. This is in the wake of the tepid response to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. The income declaration scheme, launched after currency demonetisation, elicited disclosures worth only Rs 4,600 crore. In the meeting, the PM will also review the department´s preparedness on the nationwide goods and services tax (GST), scheduled for launch on July 1 Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia will giveapresentation on the department´s performance over the past year and the plan for the current financial year (which began on   April 1). Also present would be the heads of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Board of Excise and Customs —Sushil Chandra and Vanaja Sarna, respectively. “The PM will go through our future strategy and give inputs,” said a senior official. The government aims to st...

Over 40 million member of the retirement fund body, Employees Provident fund Oganisation (EPFO) can now withdraw funds from their EPF Account for treatment of illness and purchasing equipment to deal with handicaps without medical certificates. The EPF Scheme 1952 is amended to do away with the requirement of submission of various certificates and proformas for seeking advance for treatment of illness and purchasing equipment requiredin case of physical disabilities. The Business Standard New Delhi, 28th April 2017

A parliamentary committee is examining whether the real estate regulation Act has been made weaker by states. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act or Rera, which comes into force from May 1, is supposed to protect the interests of the common man such as timely  delivery of property by developer. Various states, according to industry experts, have made certain changes in the Act such as not including existing projects or easing up punishment for non completion   of projects. “The committee is trying to ensure the spirit of Rera remains intact. States cannot make changes in Rera that would make it a too the less Act. It is important that developers that do not adhere to the norms are punished. That is why they are reviewing and based on our observation we will give our recommendations,” said a source close to the committee. The panel headed by Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Dilip Kumar Mansukhlal Gandhi has held one meeting on the issue and hopes t...

On cards is a GST compliance rating for industries so that traders and businessmen can be rated based on their track record Trade and industry will be assigned a 'compliance rating' based on their credibility with regard to timely deposit of taxes to the exchequer and filing of returns  under the goods and services tax structure. Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia has said a system of GST Compliance Rating will be put in place so that every trader or businessman will be rated based on their track   record. Once the rating is made public on the GSTN portal, a businessman can decide on whether to deal with another trader or entity who does not deposit tax with the  government and therefore, has a low compliance score. GST Network (GSTN) is the firm which is building the IT backbone of the unified tax, which is scheduled to go into effect from July 1. The GST Council in due course will approve the procedures to be followed for compliance rating and it will mostly de...

As part of its suggestions for a wide range of labour reforms, the NITI Aayog has argued for extending fixed term employment beyond apparel manufacturing to all sectors. It has also said that all enterprises, which are less than five years old with annual turnover of less than Rs 25 crore, be considered start-ups, thereby significantly reducing the labour compliance burden on them. The suggestions to streamline labour laws across the country are part of the Aayog’s three-year action agenda, the draft of which was shared with chief ministers in a recent meeting last Sunday. While the last economic survey had made a case for arming labour-intensive manufacturing in apparel and leather to add steam to India’s export growth, the Aayog has pointed out that streamlining labour rules is crucial for increasing the number of formal jobs in the economy. According to the fifth Annual Employment Unemployment survey conducted between April and December 2015, 83 per cent of all workers i...

The Centre has extend ed the last date for filing service tax return by five days to April 30, in a relief to lakhs of service providers.“The CBEC hereby extends the   date for submission of form ST-3 for the period from October 1 to March 31, 2017, from April 25 to April 30, 2017,“ the apex policy-making body of the ndirect tax   department said in an office order.Every registered service tax assessee has to file service tax return in form ST-3 on a halfyearly basis before due date to avoid  penalty.   The Economic Times New Delhi, 28th April 2017

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has movedastep closer to mandatory selling of hallmarked jewellery. Two weeks earlier, it issued draft rules which propose compulsory registration for jewellers with the BIS. Sources say it has been decided that “once jewellers´ registration with BIS is done, the next move will be to mandate that only hallmarked jewellery can be sold”. However, this would kill the business of online jewellery sales, as the BIS registration is given to physical premises. Various trade and industry bodies have made representations on this, including the Indian Association of Hallmarking Centers. There have been assurances that some way will be found to allow online sale of hallmarked jewellery. At present, 25,000 jewellers havealicence from BIS for selling jewellery. If the Draft BIS Hallmarking Regulations are implemented in the proposed form, “over 300,000 jewellery retailers/stores will have to individually register with BIS and  pay an annual...