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Regulator Asks MFs to Disclose Total Expense Charge on a Daily Basis Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday asked mutual fund houses to prominently disclose on a daily basis total expenses charged to customers for all schemes under a separate head on their websites as well as industry body Amfi website.  The fund houses need to disclose about name of the scheme, base as well as total TER, additional expense and Goods and Services Tax (GST) for regular and direct mutual funds plan in a prescribed format. The new directive will come into force with immediate effect, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a circular.  “AMCs (Asset Management Companies) shall prominently disclose on a daily basis, the TER (scheme-wise, date-wise) of all schemes under a separate head - ‘Total Expense Ratio (TER) of mutual fund schemes’ on their website and on the website of Amfi,” the regulator added.    It said that any change in the base TER (excluding additional ...

Rules Eased on Mandatory Scrutiny of Related Party Diamond Trade The customs department has relaxed a rule that required compulsory scrutinising of imports and exports of diamonds between related parties, a regulation that was followed strictly after the Nirav Modi scam.  In the past one week, customs commissioners have issued facilitation notices allowing diamond traders to forego the process even when they are dealing with related parties. The notices cited difficulty in valuing diamonds as the reason for this decision. During their probes into frauds in the gems and jewellery sector — there had been several such cases in recent years — investigators discovered that international trade with related parties were at times overvalued. This was mainly done by a few exporters to spruce up the balance sheets and borrow additional money from banks. According to regulations, the customs department gets a fair value of imports and exports through scrutiny conducted by a special valu...

  Services Activity Contracts for First Time in 3 Months in May Services activity contracted for the first time in three months in May even as business optimism touched the highest in over three years. The Nikkei-IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers’ Index declined to 49.6 in May from 51.4 in April.  India’s services activity contracted for the first time in three months in May due to stagnation in new orders even as business optimism touched the highest in over three years, a private survey showed. The Nikkei-IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers’ Index declined to 49.6 in May from 51.4 in April. A reading below 50 on this surveybased index shows contraction. “The performance of the service sector was disappointing in May, as output dipped into contraction for the first time in three months,” said Aashna Dodhia, economist at IHS Markit and author of the report.  Manufacturing PMI released by the agency last week had shown a decline in factory activity with the ...

  Govt planning to revamp GST AAR mechanism The government is planning to revamp the advance ruling mechanism under GST by setting up either a centralised authority or four regional authorities, in the wake of  the contradictory orders passed by Authority for Advance Rulings (AARs) in different states. Under the GST law, each state is required to set up AAR comprising one  member from the central tax department, and the other from the respective state. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 06th June 2018

Govt unable to crack GST e-wallet code as export refunds remain unpaid Traders had supported the e-wallet mechanism to battle the crippling liquidity crunch that had set in after GST was imposed Even as exporters and the government continue to argue over the amount of unpaid refunds under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, the much-awaited e-wallet mechanism remains a non-starter.Traders had supported the e-wallet mechanism to battle the liquidity crunch that had set in after the GST was introduced. Subsequently, a decision to adopt it was taken at the 22nd GST Council meet on October 6 last year, with an initial deadline for April 1. However, after the deadline was missed, the government extended the roll-out by six months. Earlier this year, Business Standard was the first to point out that little progress would derail the April 1 deadline. More than two months later, despite multiple meetings between top officials of the Ministries of Commerce and Finance, the progress wa...

GSTR1, e-way bills data to be matched to curb tax evasion   Move will also ensure supply of goods is done properly, says GSTN CEO To curb tax evasion, authorities will start matching details given in the Goods and Services Tax Return (GSTR) Form Number 1 with those given in the e-way bill. The matching will begin with returns to be filed for April as it is the first month when the tax authorities will have both GSTR1 and e-way bill data. In the meantime, tax authorities have issued notices to over 8,000 assessees for differences in sales figures of more than ?50 lakh in their GSTR1 and GSTR3B forms. Notices have been served on the basis of returns filed during August and December, 2017. Based on their response, a decision will be taken on how much tax and penalty they need to pay. “Matching process will ensure supply of goods have been done properly,” Prakash Kumar, CEO of GSTN, the IT backbone of unified indirect tax system, told BusinessLine. The logic behind matchi...