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GoM suggests making GST inclusion in MRP mandatory Maximum retail price of goods must include the GST component to effectively address consumer  complaints that some retailers charge the new indirect tax on MRP of products, a high-level  panel of state finance ministers has recommended. The group of ministers, headed by Assam  Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has in its recommendation to the GST Council on easing  compliance burden on small and medium enterprises suggested that the government make it  amply clear in the present law that MRP is the maximum price of a product to be sold in  retail and charging anything above this is an offence. The Mint, New Delhi, 31th October 2017 

Customs duty on polyester fabric raised to 20% The central government has decided to increase the basic customs duty on polyester fabric to  20 per cent, from 10 per cent, with effect from last Friday. In the Goods and Services Tax regime, countervailing duty has been replaced with Integrated  GST and Special Additional Duty (SAD) has been scrapped. Polyester fabric attracted 10 per  cent basic customs duty, 12.5 per cent countervailing duty and four per cent SAD in the  pre-GST regime. After scrapping of the SAD and levy of five per cent GST on the fabric, the imported variety  attracted 10 per cent basic customs duty and five per cent IGST. This was a significant drop  and the domestic manufacturing industry had petitioned in alarm, to stop cheaper import,  especially from China. The industry had represented to the government and the GST Council to  increase the basic customs duty. P Nataraj, chairman, The Southern India Mills’ Associa...

E tailers  global warehouses may come under tax net Warehouses of e-commerce companies based in countries such as Australia, Japan, Italy,  Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia may not be exempted from paying the income tax in India  once the multilateral instrument (MLI) to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS)  comes into force. BEPS refers to the reporting framework mooted by the Organisation for Economic  Co-operation and Development (OECD) and signed by over 100 countries, including India, to  prevent exploiting gaps and mismatches in tax rules to shift profits by multinational  companies (MNCs) artificially to low-tax regimes. The representatives of 68 countries on June 7 this year signed an agreement (MLI) in Paris  to amend their tax treaties to bring them in alignment with measures to prevent BEPS.  However, there is still time for synchronising tax treaties with the multilateral  instrument. India has submitte...

Aadhaar linkage order burdens AMCs Asset management companies (AMCs) are feeling the burden of the Association of Mutual Funds  in India’s (Amfi’s) decision to make the Aadhaar citizen identification mandatory for  investment.  From January 1, Aadhaar details of customers, including existing ones, are to be mandatory  for investment in MFs. Insiders told Business Standard this was an order to Amfi from the  Union ministry of finance. "We just passed this on as an official communication to members,"  said an Amfi board member. He added no AMC was in favour, as this puts the onus on them to  link Aadhaar.  Most top officials preferred anonymity, as they did not want to be quoted against the new  rules of the game. Swarup Mohanty, chief executive officer (CEO) of Mirae Asset, says, "The task of getting all  investors to list their Aadhaar number with us is big. Failing which, the folios would enter  into a freeze zone and no ...

Last date for filing GSTR-2, 3 extended by a month GSTR-2 is the most important return for GST compliance since the availability of input tax  credit depends on it The government on Monday once again extended the deadline for filing the goods and services  tax (GST) returns for purchases and input-output transactions for July.  The last date for filing purchase return, or GSTR-2, was extended to November 30, from  October 31. That of input-output transactions, or GSTR-3, was put off to December 11, from  November 10.  “To facilitate trade, the last date for filing GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 for July 2017 has been  extended to November 30 and December 11, respectively,” a government tweet said. Archit Gupta, chief executive officer, ClearTax, said, “The earlier last date for filing  GSTR-2 coincided with the deadline for submission of audited income tax returns and as such  was putting a strain on some taxpayers.” GSTR-2 is the most impor...