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Its circulars prescribe threshold limits, due sanction from senior officers, procedures to be followed, monitoring disciplines and procedure for withdrawal of complaints The Central Board of Excise and Customs ( CBEC) has revised the monetary limits for arrest and its guidelines for prosecution in matters relating to offences punishable under Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax laws. Its circulars ( dated October 23) prescribe threshold limits, due sanction from senior officers, procedures to be followed, monitoring disciplines and procedure for withdrawal of complaints. In Customs matters, the CBEC says arrest in respect of an offence should be effected only in exceptional situations. These include unauthorised importation under baggage rules where the value of the goods involved is Rs.20 lakh or more; smuggling of highvalue goods such as precious metals, restricted items or prohibited items; wilful mis- declaration in description of goods, concealment of goods, where the va...

Updates Of the Day 1.ICAI Election Procedure - Each voter has only one vote for election to the council and one vote for election to the regional council. The voter, in order to cast his vote, shall place on his ballot paper the No. 1 (in arabic or roman numerals, or in words) against the name of the candidate for whom he desires to vote, and may, in addition, place on his ballot paper the number 2, or numbers 2 and 3, or the numbers 2, 3 and 4 and so on opposite the names of other candidates in the order of his preference. 2.UCO Bank invites applications from Chartered Accountants for employment in bank for 100 posts. Last date to submit application is 20th November 2015. 3.Modified version of AOC -4 is available on portal by which if intimation of appointment of auditor is not required under section 139 (5)(6)(7) then entering the SRN Z99999999 will work. 4.Last date of filing MCA forms AOC-4 (XBRL and non-XBRL) and MGT-7 have been extended till 30th November 2015 without additi...

Draft aviation policy proposes incentives to cut cost of flying; levy to help raise Rs.1,500 crore a year, compensate airlines for losses on flights to cities that have little or no air connectivity The government has proposed a 2% levy on domestic and international plane tickets to subsidize airlines so that they connect small and remote cities, and enable millions more to travel by air in the world’s fastest growing aviation market. A draft aviation policy unveiled on Friday said the levy, which would be imposed with effect from 1 April 2016, would help raise Rs.1,500 crore a year. The proceeds will help compensate airlines for losses on flights to cities that have little or no air connectivity. HT Mint, New Delhi, 31st Oct. 2015 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will start issuing sovereign gold bonds on November 26, 2015, with a tenor of eight years and an interest rate of 2.75 per cent, the finance ministry said in a statement. The bonds will be open for public subscription from November 5- 20, it added. “Government of India, in consultation with RBI, has decided to issue sovereign gold bonds. The bonds will be sold through banks and designated post offices. The borrowing through issuance of the bond will form part of market borrowing programme of government of India,” the ministry said. According to Sudheesh Nambiath, lead analyst ( precious metals demand), GFMS Thomson Reuters, South Asia and UAE, the scheme has been planned well, keeping longterm investors’ interest in mind. “ The pricing mechanism is attractive, giving time for decision making to invest at appropriate price levels. Investor response is going to be phenomenal given that it is agood alternative to holding physical gold at home, given...

Updates Of the Day 1.Congratulations to Hon'ble CA. Manoj Fadnis, President, ICAI who have been elected as Deputy President, CAPA. 2.Supreme Court has directed RBI to no fresh permission/ renewal of permission shall be granted by RBI/AD banks respectively till the policy is reviewed. 3.Adjustment of cenvat credit of education cess and secondary and higher education cess now allowed with the payment of service Tax.Notification no. 22/2015 dated 29.10.2015. 4.New MCA Form AOC 4 CFS would be available for filing w.e.f 1st Nov 2015 with new versions of form AOC 4 (XBRL) and AOC 4. 5.Date for filing of DVAT Form 09 has been extended upto 15.12.2015 vide circular No. 28 dated 30.10.2015. 6.It is mandatory to issue notice under section 143(2) subsequently to return filed under section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. [PR. CIT vs. Shri Jai Shiv Shankar Traders Private Limited., (Delhi High Court) 7.Hamdard eligible for exemption under section 10(23C) (iv) for business held in trust...

Updates Of the Day 1.MCA has granted relaxation of additional fees and extension of last data of filing of E-Forms AOC-4, AOC-4 XBRL and MGT-7 under the Companies Act, 2013 upto 30th November, 2015. 2.Extension to 16th November 2015 of last date to file DVAT-16, DVAT-17 and DVAT- 48 for Quarter-2 of 2015-16, circular number 27 of 2015-16. 3.The packaged, ready-made, off the shelf software are pure goods liable only to VAT. [High Court of Karnataka, Fin department of Karnataka vs IBM India Private Limited.] 4.Allegation against counsel of revenue prima facie constitutes criminal contempt of court. [Delhi High Court: CIT vs. M/s Escorts Ltd.] 5.Revenue not authorized to rewrite terms of agreement and adjudge commercial expediency. [Supreme Court: Mangalore Ganesh Beedi Works vs. CIT.] 6.A liaison office of a foreign company identifying suppliers and material is not a permanent establishment under Article 5 of India-USA DTAA. [Columbia Sportswear Company vs. DIT] (Karnataka High Co...

Offshore rupee- denominated bonds will attract a withholding tax of five per cent, and gains arising in case of appreciation of rupee against the foreign currency in which the investment is made would be exempted from capital gains tax, the finance ministry clarified on Thursday. The clarification comes in the wake of companies such as NTPC, IIFCL, and IRFC planning to issue rupeedenominated bonds in markets abroad, and after foreign portfolio investors had sought clarification on the tax treatment of the instruments, dubbed masala bonds, in a meeting with finance ministry officials last week. In the statement, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said the matter of taxation of income from such bonds under Income Tax Act, 1961 had been considered by the government. “As far as taxation of interest income from off- shore bonds in the case of non- resident investors is concerned, it is clarified that withholding tax at the rate of five per cent, which is in the nature of final...

Technology vendors met with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) recently to highlight the chinks in the regulator’s surveillance system. “Vendors have suggested that surveillance at Sebi be made more real time instead of the T+ 1 mechanism that exists today. At present, the regulator checks on the trades that have happened and not the order book, which could give a better clue on any possible manipulation,” said a person familiar with the matter, on condition of anonymity. At present, there is no way to detect if an entity is manipulating the share prices without actually carrying out any trades, added the person. “ It’s like an auction where an entity can drive up prices, forcing others to bid at higher prices,” he said. This is a problem worldwide including developed markets such as the US and the UK, which also track data on T+ 1 basis, say experts. The US SEC has recently invested in a new technology called MIDAS to better track real- time data. ...

The stock markets regulator has said companies need to file a five- sheet prospectus for Initial Public Offerings. IPO is the act of selling shares in a company for the first time. A prospectus is a document that gives information about a companys shares before they are offered for sale. The new norms will come into effect from December 1. Currently, the prospectuses that companies file for public offerings, including IPOs, run into 400 to 500 pages. Investors find them difficult. Sebi said " information as is material and appropriate to enable the investors to make an informed decision shall be disclosed in the abridged prospectus". Business Standard, New Delhi, 30th Oct. 2015

To enable Indians living abroad to access old age income security, the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday allowed non- resident Indians ( NRIs) to subscribe to the National Pension System ( NPS). “It has now been decided, in consultation with the government, to enable National Pension System ( NPS) as an investment option for NRIs under FEMA, 1999,” RBI said in a notification here on Thursday. NRIs may subscribe to the NPS governed and administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority ( PFRDA), provided such subscriptions are made through normal banking channels and the person is eligible to invest according to the provisions of the PFRDA Act, it said. The subscription amounts shall be paid by the NRIs either by inward remittance through normal banking channels or out of funds held in their NRE/ FCNR/ NRO account. RBI, however, said there would be no restriction on repatriation of the annuity/ accumulated savings. NPS was launched on January, 1 2004, with...

The largest employers’ organisation in the country urged the government on Thursday to consider applying amendments to the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, from financial year 2016- 17 and not retrospectively from April 1, 2015, as passed by the Cabinet earlier. The All India Organisation of Employers ( AIOE), an allied body to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( Ficci), argued that applying the amended Act from the start of the current financial year would prove a serious operational challenge to businesses. The main reason for this is that the enhanced amount has not been provided for in the balancesheet of companies in financial year 2014- 15, it said. The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, is applicable to all industrial units and other establishments, where 20 or more persons are employed on any given day during an accounting year. The labour ministry had last month proposed an amendment to the Act, whereby all employees earning up to Rs.21,000 a month be elig...