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Items outside GST’s purview can offset gains of this momentous reform Auto companies cut prices after the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) on July 1, but Maharashtra raised the onetime registration levy for new private vehicles by two percentage points. Meanwhile, cinema theatres across Tamil Nadu stopped screenings for four days to protest against a 30% local tax levied over and above 28% GST. The strike States could ramp up these taxes while GST settles Municipalities could impose entry taxes to take cities out of single market was called off on Friday. Elsewhere across India, transport department officials have emerged as enforcers of a new inspector raj on the roads after sales tax checkposts disappeared, undermining the beneficial, common-market effects of GST by imposing new barriers and levying penalties in the name of rules they have ignored for years. More such levies and actions by state authorities could spoil the State borders disappear but other inspec...

To protect online consumers, the government has made it mandatory for e-commerce companies from January 2018 to print not only the MRP (maximum retail price) on goods but also information such ad expiry date and customer care details. An amendment in this regard has been made to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, by the consumer affairs ministry last month. A six-month deadline has been given to the companies to comply with the new rule. “Consumers deserve the same protection online as offline. A six-month deadline has been given to the companies to comply with the new rule At present, only MRP is printed on the goods sold online Govt has asked the companies to declare additional details on the label If an online seller does not comply from printed on the goods sold online. We have asked the companies to declare additional details on the label,” a senior official in the consumer affairs ministry said. Along with MRP, the companies January 2018 it will face st...

By limiting the liability, the apex bank is trying to enhance customer confidence in digital transactions ‘Guilty until proven innocent’ — this was the situation that bank customers found themselves in when they reported any fraud. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its latest circular, seems to changing the rules to ‘Innocent until proven guilty’. And, this is a good news for customers. “The RBI’s latest provisions favour customers. Earlier, if your card was used somewhere; you had to prove you didn’t use it. Now, the onus is on the bank to prove that you used it,” says Navin Chandani, chief business development officer, Bankbazaar.com. The growing number of customer complaints regarding unauthorised debits from their accounts and cards seems to have impacted the apex bank’s decision. According to experts the new norms will go a long way towards enhancing customer confidence in digital transactions. The new norms include ‘zero liability’ and ‘limited liability’ for customers. The...

Until recently, a person didn’t need to file a return if his taxable income was below Rs 2.5 lakh. But this year onwards, it doesn’t solely depend on the taxable income. Now, if the taxpayer has exempted income like long-term capital gains that crosses the basic exemption limit of Rs 2.5 lakh, he needs to file returns mandatorily. For example, if an individual redeems equity mutual funds (MFs) worth Rs 3 lakh held for over a year and has no other income. The gains from the investment are tax-free. The entire income, therefore, is exempted from tax. But even in such cases, the taxpayer needs to file return mandatorily. “Taxpayers may not be aware of such minor changes in the regulation but these can lead the authorities to issue a notice,” says Kuldip Kumar, partner and leader personal tax, PwC India. The government latest norms to capture details of your income and assets have made things more tedious. And, a small error or omission of information can prove costly in the future. Li...

GST Council says states will get exclusive control over all dealers up to a revenue of Rs1.5 crore—addressing the issue of dual control over small traders In a big step towards the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), the centre and the states on Friday reached a consensus on most contentious issues under the new indirect tax regime, raising hope that they would be able to agree on the last remaining issue, the tax rates, by next month. The GST council, at its first meeting, agreed on a revenue threshold of Rs20 lakh below which the traders will be exempted from GST. This limit will be Rs10 lakh for the north-eastern and hill states. The council also managed to reach middle ground on sharing of administrative powers between the centre and the states. It decided that states will get exclusive control over all dealers up to a revenue threshold of Rs1.5 crore—thus addressing the issue of dual control over small traders. Given the lack of expertise among states to levy s...

GST provision requires any goods more than Rs  50,000 value to be registered online before movement   The GST provision, requiring any good more than Rs 50,000 in value to be pre-registered online before it can be moved, is likely to kick in from October after a centralised software platform is ready, a top official said.   The provision, called the e-way bill, would be implemented after infrastructure for smooth generation of registration and its verification through hand-held devices with tax officials is ready.   The information technology platform for the e-way bill system is being developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) along with GST-Network -- the company which has developed the  IT backbone for the new indirect tax regime.   The Centre has also decided to relax timeline provision under which the e-way bill generated by GSTN for 20 days for goods travelling more than 1,000 km. Earlier, this was 15 days. As per the pro...

A man looks for a book on GST at a shop in Coimbatore ahead of the roll-out of the new tax regime on July 1 More than lack of awareness, information overload after the roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) is making the transition to the new indirect tax regime tough, according to a top consultant dealing with clients across sectors. Classes and tutorials, both physical and online, to make people understand the tax system should have started months before the launch, rather than after, the consultant argued. Anita Rastogi, partner, indirect tax and GST, PwC India, said, “It was not a good first week…. We had expected turmoil but what we saw was much more than that.” Adding to the confusion were statements and notifications flowing out of several ministries and government departments, another person closely associated with the GST processes told Business Standard.A recent consumer affairs ministry notification saying old stocks can be sold with a new maximum retail price (MRP...

Net profit growth of Nifty companies likely to be lowest in nine quarters The goods and services tax (GST) is estimated to have taken a toll on corporate earnings for the April-June quarter of financial year 2017-18 (FY18) even before it was implemented from July 1. Brokerages have said earnings growth of the 50 Nifty companies in the June quarter could be one of the worst in the past nine quarters. The combined net profit of the 50 companies is estimated to decline by 2.6 per cent on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis — worst since the March FY-15 quarter when it contracted by 41.7 per cent y-o-y. In comparison, the combined net profit of the 50 companies was up 49.6 per cent in the March FY17 quarter, while it was down 2.1 per cent in the June FY17 quarter. The decline in profitability is likely to be led by slowdown in top line growth, inventory losses by oil marketers due to a sharp fall in crude oil prices and lower operating profit margins in the manufacturing sector. The analysi...

Global buyers are regularly calling suppliers in the buzzing town of Tirupur, India’s biggest knitwear hub that boasts Rs 25,000 crore exports every year. International callers, familiar with GST benefits, are very clear about what it means for them. “They want a cut in prices,” says S Sakthivel, secretary of the Tirupur Exporters Association. The knitwear industry is clear about long-term benefits, but Sakhtivel also has other callers: Exporters want details about tax implications for the industry that has numerous workers and units involved in different parts of the chain such as printing, embroidery, washing, dyeing etc, which are taxed at 18%, while jobs related to yarn and fabric enjoy a 5% rate. They are still coming to terms with the new system. “We are caught between buyers and suppliers not knowing what to do,” he rues although the industry is cautiously optimistic about GST. In the southern states, the optimism is shared by many. Several businesses in Kerala are hap...