CA Online

GST rate on AC restaurants may come down to 12% from 18%: Report Eating out has always been an expensive affair, more so if you want to enjoy a drink or two along with it. By the time you end up calculating the added taxes, service charges and cesses levied on the delicious butter chicken and naan you just had, you end up spending half of your evening and a good part of your hard-earned fortune on what was supposed to be a fine, relaxed evening. Then came Goods and Service Tax (GST). For better or for worse, the government decided to levy a standard tax on goods and services. Eventually in case of restaurants, it all boiled down to 12 per cent GST for non-AC restaurants and 18 per cent GST for AC restaurants. In case of five-star hotels, the charge was much more - 28 per cent.Currently, if any part of a  restaurant has an air conditioner, 18 per cent is charged as the GST, the Central Board of Excise and Customs had clarified in their FAQ. That also meant that take a ways f...

The Aadhaar confusion Voluntary yet mandatory With the Supreme Court’s next hearing expected in November, one can wait for some more time before linking it to bank accounts and mobile numbers, say expertsIf you download the Aadhaar enrolment form from the Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI’s) website (https://goo.gl/zYVW76), at the top it states that “Aadhaar Enrolment is free and voluntary”. But, the government is going all out to ensure this 12-digit unique identity number becomes a necessity. Everyone, including banks, mobile operators, and even jewellers, want it. In the latter case, the government was quick to step in and clarify that there was no need to provide the Aadhaar or PAN card for transactions above Rs 50,000. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently hinted that Aadhaar might be needed for travelling abroad and buying a car as well. Meanwhile, banks and mobile operators are sending messages, which ‘request’ that you link it immediately, in rather int...

CBEC to test online processsing of trade documents To promote ease of doing business, the revenue department has decided to launch shortly paperless processing of document sat Chennai and New Delhi on pilot basis.In March 2016, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) had stated that it was in process of procuring IT infrastructure to captured igitally signed copies of the supporting trade documents. “Under project´Saksham´, the CBEC has upgraded its IT infrastructure, which would inter alia be used for introduction of paperless processing under Single Window Interface for Facilitation of Trade,” the Boardsaid. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 16th October 2017