CA Online

Even as the government gets ready for Parliament’s winter session, which begins on Thursday, whether or not the constitution amendment Bill for implementation of the goods and services tax ( GST) will be debated and passed in the Rajya Sabha during this session remains uncertain. A meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be held on Tuesday to make sure the Treasury benches are on the same page. Strategy meetings will also be held for floor coordination and the sequence in which Bills will be brought in the two houses, besides an all- party meeting before the session. Among the Bills that are pending in the Rajya Sabha are the Child Labour ( Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012; the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013 ( as reported by a select committee of the Rajya Sabha); the Prevention of Corruption ( Amendment) Bill, 2013, the Anti- Hijacking Bill, 2014; the GST Bill ( the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2014) as passed by the Lok S...

Work in Progress Revamp of social security laws on the cards to help improve ease of doing business, build support for labour reforms Private sector workers need not stay on in their jobs for fear of losing gratuity benefits and working women can look forward to six months of maternity leave soon as part of the government's plan to consolidate all employee benefits. The government is looking at a complete overhaul of social security laws to substantially enhance benefits to the country's more than 400 million workers besides improving the ease of doing business in India, measures it sees as building support for other labour reforms in the works, said a senior official. The labour ministry is finalising the social security code that would amalgamate half a dozen laws to simplify social security regulations besides allowing working women to avail longer maternity leave and make gratuity portable. The key laws that will be subsumed under such a social security code inclu...

Two of the government’s high-profile schemes launched with the aim to reduce demand for physical gold and rein in the current account deficit have so far yielded modest results, signaling lack of clarity and volatile prices of the yellow metal. According to traders and experts, while the schemes fare better than existing options for gold, wider involvement of jewelers and a clear communication on the tax structure could improve response as days go by. T he Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi two weeks ago, to monetise part of the estimated 20,000 tonnes of gold lying idle with households, has been able to bring in only around 400 grams of gold. The gold bond scheme, the first tranche of which closed on Friday, has raised about Rs.150 crore, according to people familiar with the development. Through sovereign gold bonds, an investor gets an annual interest of 2.75%, apart from the benefits of the market price of gold on maturity. “Currently ...

Chairman to be selected at next meet The proposed national goods and services tax ( GST) continues to face obstacles, as seen on Friday, barely a week before Parliament is to begin its winter session where the constitutional amendment to enable it is to come up. At a meeting of the empowered committee of state finance ministers ( EC) on the tax, there were clear divisions on the threshold above which a GST should apply. A committee chaired by the governments chief economic advisor, Arvind Subramanian, is to soon give its recommendation on the GST rate. The finance ministry has said a high rate would be counter- productive. At the EC meeting, many felt the rate could be fixed at 18 per cent. Some such as Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Delhi were agreeable to the Union government proposal for the threshold at Rs.25 lakh annual turnover of a company; others wanted Rs.10 lakh. " There was divided opinion," Delhis deputy chief minister and finance minister, Manish Sisodia, told ...

Draft schedule released by CBDT says sunset clause may not be extended The finance ministry has proposed a road map on making tax rates more competitive and proposed phase- out of most of the exemptions from the 2017- 18 financial year. This is in tune with this year’s Budget announcement that the corporate tax rates would be reduced to 25 per cent over the next four years from 30 per cent at present but would be accompanied by a corresponding phase- out of exemptions and deductions. The draft schedule for phasing out these exemptions was put in the public domain by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on Friday. It has invited comments within the next 15 days. The road map says profit- linked, investmentlinked and area- based deductions would be done away with for corporate and non- corporate tax payers. Provisions with a sunset date would not be extended or advanced. For incentives with no terminal date, a sunset date of March 31, 2017, would be provided for commencement of th...

Updates Of the Day 1.SEBI has issued circular for Investor Grievance Redressal System and Arbitration Mechanism. 2.Updated version of MCA XBRL validation tool-V3.0 available on MCA. 3.Use modified version of Form MGT-7 (Form for filing annual return by a company) w.e.f. 17th Nov 2015. 4.Delhi VAT- Form to be submitted by dealers conducting online sales and other amendments. 5.VAT Input Tax Credit is to be allowed till the date of publication of cancellation of registration in the official gazette. Appellate Tribunal, VAT in the case of M/s Shree Sidhi Vinayak Traders. 6.Today (20.11.2015) is last date to file DVAT-16, DVAT-17 & DVAT-48 for Quarter 2 of 2015-2016.Circular No.29 of 2015-2016. 7.Payment made in excess of Rs 20000/- should be allowed if made in business exigency. [ITAT Hyderabad held in Manikanta Concerns vs DCIT] 8.Adjustment of seized cash before completion of assessment permitted against self assessment/ advance tax subject to specific request made by asses...

Jaitley stresses need to implement labour reforms Calling upon state governments to simplify tax laws and ensure corruption-free processes for doing business, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that those adopting such policies would substantially gain in a climate, in which different states were competing with one another to attract investments. “States that ensure that a project is taken to the execution stage at a rapid pace after the signing of an MoU or agreement will attract private investments”, Jaitley said in his inauguration speech at the Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit – an investor conclave jointly organised by the Rajasthan government and the Confederation of Indian Industry. “Ease of doing business is not merely a slogan, but the need of the hour”, he said. Speaking in context of Rajasthan, the FM estimated that approximately 55% of the state government’s expenditure was “tied up” — largely on account of legacy issues. The state’s financial posi...

The new rate of service tax plus Swachh Bharat cess will be 14.5%. The recently imposed `Swachh Bharat' cess will not be levied on services that are exempted from tax or are in the negative list, the Central Board of Excise and Customs has said. The CBEC has issued clarifications in form of frequently asked questions to clear the air about the cess, which was announced in this year's Budget but levied only from November 15. “It is also proposed to have an enabling provision to levy `Swachh Bharat' cess at a rate of 2% or less on all or certain services if the need arises. This cess will be effective from a date to be notified,“ finance minister Arun Jaitley had said in his budget speech, adding that “resources generated from this cess will be utilised for financing and promoting initiatives towards Swachh Bharat“. Although the government has Parliament's nod to levy up to 2% as Swachh Bharat cess, it notified the rate at 0.5%. An official said the tax was noti...

The government is considering raising import duty on aluminium products by as much as five per cent, among other policy measures, to tackle unabated import of cheap products adversely impacting the sector. "Domestic industry is going through tough a time. Some firms have approached the Directorate General of Safeguards for a hike in safeguard duty. " If it doesnt happen, we in our pre- budget consultation with finance ministry will propose," Balvinder Kumar, mines secretary, told PTI. He said the government was aware of the situation the industry is going through and would take appropriate measures. When asked on the duty hike, he said, " We will propose to raise it to 7.5 or 10 per cent from the present five per cent." Sources said mining conglomerate Vedanta has approached the Directorate General of Safeguards, while Hindalco, flagship firm of the Aditya Birla Group, is going to. Last month, industry officials met Hasmukh Adhia in this regard. Domes...

A new scheme launched by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the National Manufacturing Policy aims to make acquisition of energy efficient technologies by Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises easier. Business Standard, New Delhi, 20th Nov. 2015

In the fortnight since the gold monetisation scheme was launched, only 400 gm gold has been deposited and with only one bank, as no other bank had tripartite agreements with hallmarking centres and gold refiners. Now, the finance ministry and the Bureau of Indian Standards ( BIS) are simplifying the administration of the scheme to get it moving. In contrast, the response to gold bonds and coins has been much better. A government source said retail investors had applied for Rs.100 crore worth of bonds and 6,000 gold coins had been sold. The gold monetisation scheme, bonds and coins were launched on November 5 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to reduce bullion imports and mobilise 22,000 tonnes of idle gold in the country. In a meeting with gold refiners and hallmarking centres on Thursday, finance ministry and BIS officials allowed refiners with only one year’s track record to sign up for the scheme. There were 18 gold refiners in the country in 2014 and their numbers have climb...