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India keen to restart talks to amend Dutch tax treaty to stop its misuse by companies India has asked the Netherlands to resume negotiations on amending their bilateral tax treaty as the government extends its efforts to plug loopholes in such accords to curb misuse. The Dutch tax treaty , which allows exemption from capital gains and a lower rate of tax on dividends, has led to the proliferation of holding company structures. The move follows the amendment of the tax treaty with Mauritius earlier this month, restoring India's right to tax capital gains on entities based in that jurisdiction. “The idea is to start talks again (with the Dutch),“ said a government official aware of the development. For India, it's one of the four treaties along with the Mauritius accord that offers capital gains tax exemption to investors, the others being pacts with Singapore and Cyprus. After plugging gaps in the Mauritius tax treaty, the government is keen on doing the same with the rest...

If the Narendra Modi government is successful in steering the goods and services tax (GST) Constitution amendment Bill through the Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session, what happens next? Can the government keep to the time-line of a rollout on April 1, 2017? There are three parties now in the Rajya Sabha opposed to GST passage, the Congress with 60 members and the Tamil Nadu parties, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Tamil Nadu sends 18 members to the Rajya Sabha and 16 oppose GST. A tacit agreement has been reached, say top government sources, that AIADMK (12 members) will either abstain or walk out during voting. The other elements of the agreement are yet to become public, on what will be the quid for the pro. With Congress's apparently inflexible objection, it is likely to be isolated on the floor of the House. Its loneliness is all the more stark after the drumbeats on the Modi government completing two years in office and ...

On completion of its two years in office, a euphoric Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has asserted that the goods and services tax (GST) Bill will be taken up in the monsoon session of Parliament and passed even without the help of the Congress. The government is banking on help from regional parties and rejigged numbers in the Rajya Sabha. Also bolstering the government's hopes was the support announced by the Trinamool Congress for the GST Bill, soon after its victory in the Assembly polls. With 55 members set to retire from the Rajya Sabha, 15 states will be electing Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Upper House. Incidentally, this does not include Assam, Kerala and West Bengal where Assembly polls were recently held. Uttar Pradesh (11 seats), Tamil Nadu (six) and Maharashtra (six), Bihar (five), Andhra Pradesh (four), Karnataka (four), and Rajasthan (four) are among the states that will conduct elections to the Upper House. The BJP has 15 MPs retiring and stands t...

To safeguard investors' interest, capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) might soon ask credit rating agencies (CRAs) to make greater disclosure about suspension and subsequent withdrawal of ratings, and periodic review of the criteria used for ratings. The move follows Amtek Auto's default on its loan repayment to JP Morgan Asset Management and the increasing number of defaults triggered by some recent, drastic downgrades by rating agencies. CRISIL, ICRA and CARE are some of the major CRAs that assign credit ratings for issuers of debt instruments. "Sebi is in the final stages of formulating new disclosure regulations on credit rating agencies, and might soon come out with revised rules," said a Sebi official, on condition of anonymity. "Rating agencies should be made more responsible and accountable. It is noticed that there is a lack of proper disclosures and conflict of interest between rating agencies and issuer com...

www.caonline.in News... 1.Krishi Kalyan Cess Payment Option under New Rule 7E - Notification No. 31/2016-Service Tax -dated (26/05/2016) 2.Due date for e-filing of form no. 61 for Q4 extended to 31st October, 2016 from 30th April,2016. CBDT Circular no. 14/2016 dated 18.05.16. 3.Ministry of Finance has released revised clarifications on implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS) on 26th May 2016. 4.Form DS-1 notified by Delhi Government vide Notification dated 19.05.2016 and applicable with effect from 01.06.2016 has been withdrawn vide Notification dated 27.05.2016. 5.The CBDT vide Circular No. 20/2016 dated 26th May 2016 has extended the due date for e Filing of appeals from 15th May 2016 to 15th June 2016. For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonlineofficial Or Subscribe on mail visit : www.caonline.in

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of listed banks jumped to Rs 5.81 lakh crore in March from around Rs 3 lakh crore a year ago. Corporate loans dominated the bad loan accounts in FY16, according to data from Capitaline compiled by Business Standard's research bureau. Analysts and bank executives said the asset quality review (AQR) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) across banks in 2015-16 helped get a realistic assessment of stress in the system. This led to a sharp rise in provisions for NPAs, denting bottom line at a time when interest income remained subdued. Now, banks face the challenge of net NPAs, for which provisions are yet to be made. Vibha Batra, head of financial sector ratings at ICRA, said banks might not see repeat of large-scale slippages like last year. They, however, have a daunting task of making provisions for bad loans in the coming quarters. There is also the risk the agriculture sector showing stress in 2017. Farming activity has been hit due to ba...

The finance ministry has begun consultations with business on the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR), to be implemented from the next financial year. To take the industry’s concerns on board, the ministry will come out with guidelines on these rules.  The ministry on Friday invited comments from stakeholders on the guidelines by June 30. “Several stakeholders and industry associations have represented that guidelines for implementation of GAAR be issued, so that there is adequate clarity in this regard. The general public and stakeholders are, therefore, requested to provide their inputs on the provisions in respect of which further clarity is required, from its implementation perspective,” the ministry stated. It also asked the stakeholders to avoid reference to hypothetical situations. “If the input relates to interpretation of a specific real world structure or arrangement, the structure should be such (which) commonly occurs in the sector and involves clarification of g...

The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) is exploring whether the present gold loan tenure of a 180- day maximum should be extended to a year or more. The central bank has twice met jewellers and banks active in gold loans on the issue. Those in the trade say they expect a decision very soon. Jewellers recently put up their case for a higher tenure. “ Gold metal loans are treated equally with cash credit or any working capital loans. Since these (latter) loans are reviewed and limits renewed every year, the same principle should be applicable to gold metal loans,” said Sanjeev Agarawal, co- chairman of the committee on gems and jewellery at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Banks usually take gold on lease from abroad and lend that to local jewelers -- globally, gold is available on leases of one to three years. And, the cost of alease globally is around one per cent; in India, it depends upon creditworthiness of a jeweller and banks charge interest of 3.5 to ...

The finance ministry has eased certain rules in reporting by financial institutions to comply with an agreement between India and the US for implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ( FATCA). Financial institutions had told the government it was difficult to take physical self- certification from the subscribers. Heeding to the complaint, the ministry allowed obtaining of self- certification through internet banking platform. The ministry also did away with the requirement of TIN number if a person is in a country where that number is not provided. There were also queries from financial institutions about valuation of custodial accounts maintained with depositories. The ministry clarified that valuation of securities might be done at the values regularly communicated by depositories to the depository participants and brokers. “Hopefully, this should help reporting of unlisted securities,” said Bahroze Kamdin, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells. FATCA requi...

Maharashtra imposes stock- holding limits on sugar to check prices from rising The Centre had not closed the option of lowering the import duty on sugar and would explore it to boost supplies, as and when necessary, a senior official said. He said a decision to this effect was taken at a recent meeting of the committee of secretaries, where it was decided to explore the option of lowering duties, whenever needed. The government imposes aduty of almost 40 per cent on raw sugar imports. This was raised from 25 per cent in April 2015. Sugar prices in retail markets have risen by Rs. 4- 7 per kg since April 2016 in anticipation of a shortfall in production due to last year’s drought. The output in the 2015- 16 sugar crop season ( October to September) is now estimated to be around 25.2 million tonnes, three million tonnes less than the previous year because of drought in the main growing regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Production is expected to dip further as new crop p...

www.caonline.in News... 1.Companies can now undertake CSR activities via trusts u/s sec.8 Companies / Societies established by company, either singly or jointly along with any other company. Notification no. GSR 540(E) [F.NO.05/12/2016-CSR-CELL], dated 23-5-2016. 2.RBI relaxes norms on payment of consideration on transfer of shares to a non-resident. In case of transfer of shares between a resident buyer and a non-resident seller or vice-versa. 3.Ministry of Finance issues The Income Declaration Scheme Rules, 2016, effective from 01.06.15. Notification dated 19.5.16 4.Income tax refund couldn’t be denied just because scrutiny notice was served; HC quashed CBDT’s instruction No. 1 of 2015 dated 13.01.2015. [Tata Teleservices Ltd. vs. CBDT]. 5.Extension to 27.05.16 of last date to file DVAT-16, DVAT-17 & DVAT-48 for Q4 of 2015-16.circular no. 7 of 2016-17 dated 23.5.16. For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonlineofficial Or Subscribe on mail visit : www.caonli...