CA Online

While rolling out the goods and service tax (GST) from the central hall of Parliament at midnight of 30 June 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the nation that the new indirect tax system will unify its divergent state economies with ‘one nation, one tax’ right from  Leh to Lakshadweep. About 18 months later, the biggest tax reform since India’s independence is still in a fluid state of continuous change as businesses, especially the small ones, struggle to cope with the rigours of a technology-driven and transparent tax system that has cast its net far and wide to bring at least 3.4 million new indirect taxpayers. Some of the concessions to small businesses announced earlier this month by federal indirect tax body, the GST Council, ahead of parliamentary polls due by April-May, raise fears about sacrificing some of the basic design advantages of GST over the previous regime— simplicity and uniformity. The changes imply that policymakers are still struggling to make the refo...

Mint Road appears to be going the extra mile to help strengthen India’s derivative platform that covers interest rate risks, seeking to make overseas participation in the local Overnight Interest Rate Swap (OIS) market operationally easier and viable.  “The central bank has asked offshore investors to write their views on the OIS. It is seeking suggestions to bring in operational ease,” one of the two people aware of the move told ET.  OIS volumes in India have been traditionally low, with a limited number of domestic banks, bond and fund houses using the platform for occasional hedges or trades. Operational complexities are reportedly blamed for the pronounced absence of offshore investors, and low trading volumes. An email query sent to the RBI remained unanswered until the publication of this report.  In India, OIS trading volumes averaged ?25,938 crore in November, compared with ?22,724 crore in March, showing an increase of 14%, data from the Clearing Corporation...

The income-tax department has drawn up a list of individuals who carried out high-value transactions in financial year 2017-18 but did not file income tax returns. “Analysis was carried out to identify non-filers about whom specific information was available in the database of the department,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement on Tuesday. “The sources of information include statement of financial transactions (SFT), tax deduction at source (TDS), tax collection at source (TCS), foreign remittances, exports and imports,” it said.  The Non-filers Monitoring System (NMS) aims to identify and keep a watch on people who enter into high-value transactions and have potential tax liabilities but have not filed their tax returns, it said. “Data analysis has identified several potential non-filers who have carried out high-value transactions in financial year 2017-18 but have still not filed income tax return for assessment year 2018-19 (relating to FY2017-18),...