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After a quick walk- through the CGO Complex in New Delhi, one can find the multi- storey block that used to house the erstwhile Company Law Board ( CLB), which has now evolved into the principal and ancillary benches of the newly constituted National Company Law Tribunal ( NCLT). Even though the official address of this new tribunal includes a further two floors of the same administrative building when compared to its predecessor, not much seems to have changed on the ground at least as of now. The walkways and courtrooms are still very much as they used to be and the atmosphere of the area seems blissfully unaffected. Even any signage of the new institution is conspicuously absent, for what is pitted to be the bold new future of company law litigation in the country — after a wait of 13- odd years. The tribunal is in many ways still work in progress. Several provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 that pertain to NCLT are yet to be notified. While the infrastructure remains the sa...

Individuals with taxable income in India above the basic exemption limit should file their returns by July 31 Though non-resident Indians (NRIs) earn their living abroad, their obligation to file tax returns in India doesn't end. With the July 31 deadline for filing returns barely a month away, NRIs need to gear up to file their return if they have income in India that exceeds the basic exemption limit. Determine tax residency status: An NRI first needs to determine his tax residency status, that is, whether he falls in the category of resident or non-resident Indian (NRI) for tax purposes. While there may be no ambiguity regarding the status of an NRI who has lived abroad for a long time, those who have moved abroad recently or have returned to India after a long stay abroad need to ascertain their residency status properly. Residency status for tax purposes is decided by the number of days of physical stay in India during a financial year. According to tax laws, an indivi...

Indians who work abroad invest their money back home. In fact, these remittances from non-resident Indians (NRIs) have allowed us to bridge the foreign exchange deficit caused by our unbridled love for gold. On its part, the government has also ensured that its remittance and tax laws facilitate investments in India. Investments made from non-resident external (NRE) accounts are fully repatriable. Interest on NRE accounts is also tax-free. NRIs have responded with remittances of Rs 3,50,000 crore ($48 billion) last year. However, the income tax (I-T) department creates many hurdles in taxing the remittances made to Indian NRE accounts on technical grounds. While some NRIs have access to professional advice and can avoid these, most others are caught. Consider the curious case of merchant navy personnel (called shippies in local jargon). They serve on Indian and foreign ships in international waters and are usually away for more than six months in a year. They are classified as no...

Making a case for increasing the taxpayer base, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the government's intention is to keep taxation rate “moderate“ and emphasised that tax department needs to start trusting the assessees. He also said all grey areas are being made clearer on taxation and the tax department. “Ease of communicating with tax department is going to continue. All grey areas, unclear areas I think by virtue of clarifications and notifications are now in creasingly becoming clear,“ Jaitley said. In the last few months, procedures have been simplified and the “assessees have never seen such an easy and friendly approach of the taxation department,“ he noted. His remarks also come against the backdrop of various initiatives being taken to ensure the tax system becomes more friendly towards taxpayers. Listing out various measures aimed at simplifying the procedures, Jaitley said dispute resolution mechanism has been put in place at the appeals stage with respect to t...

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) not furnishing annual income and expenditure statement for two consecutive years will face a penalty totalling 10 per cent of foreign contributions received by them or Rs 10 lakh, whichever is less, the home ministry has said in a gazette notification. A penalty equivalent to five per cent of the total foreign funds received in a year or Rs 5 lakh will be imposed for non-furnishing of annual return, after one year up to two years after December 31 every year. According to an official estimate, less than 10 per cent of nearly three million registered NGOs across the country file their annual income and expenditure statements or annual returns. Registration under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act of around 15,000 NGOs were cancelled by the government in the last two years for not furnishing annual returns. A penalty of four per cent of the total foreign contribution received during the financial year or Rs 2 lakh will be imposed for failu...

www.caonline.in News... 1. No TDS on commission paid outside India for services received outside India by Non-Residents.[DCIT vs. M/s Sess Resources Ltd. (ITAT Panaji)]. 2. Clarification issued by ICAI for preparation of consolidated financial statements. Holding company will have to consolidate partnership firm / llp if that partnership firm / llp is subsidiary or associate or JV. http://icai.org/new_post.html?post_id=12715&c_id=219. 3. No TDS u/s 206AA on some payments to non-residents without PAN if TIN & other specified details & documents furnished. Notification 53 of  Dated :24.6.16. 4. CIT cannot revise assessment for issues already examined by AO. [M/s. Rachana Finance & Investments Pvt. Ltd. vs. CIT (ITAT Mumbai) I.T.A. No. 2795/Mum/2014]. 5. Auditor’s opinion on Section 80P interpretation, cannot be a information for reopening u/s 147. [Jaipur Sahakari Kraya Vikraya Samiti Ltd. vs. ITO (ITAT Jaipur)].

The income- tax department will establish over 60 facilitation centres — Aaykar Seva Kendras ( ASKs) — in FY17, from Goalpara in Assam to Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh, as part of its efforts to widen taxpayer base. The ASKs help a person in conducting personal and business operation with the department, ranging from obtaining a new permanent account number to filing income tax returns. The Central Board of Direct Taxes. Business Standard New Delhi, 29th June 2016

There is a need to assess the resilience of reinsurance companies, with increasing concentration of contingent liabilities in some, says the Financial Stability Report. If major ‘ risk events’ happen simultaneously, these companies might come under heavy stress. Which could create big problems, including a risk of insolvency, for primary insurance companies, it said. Reinsurance is where primary insurance companies themselves buy insurance for the risks they cannot retain entirely with themselves, from one or more insurance companies ( reinsurers). There is only one reinsurer in the country, the General Insurance Corporation of India ( GIC Re), owned by the government. GIC Re reported a solvency ratio of 3.04 at end- March 2015 ( 2.73 a year before this). However, foreign reinsurance entities also do business here, though they have no branch presence. The report’s reference is to these, too. Many foreign reinsurers have applied to the sector regulator for a branch presence in...

Non- resident companies can now claim benefits of tax treaty by just providing personal details, including name, address and tax residency certificate, even without providing a permanent account number (PAN). The Central Board of Direct Taxes has come out with Rule 37BC, which gives relaxation to non- residents from furnishing PAN in India, while claiming tax deducted at source. It said in the absence of PAN, a nonresident can now provide the prescribed information and will not be subject to higher rate of withholding tax on payments made by Indian companies for interest, royalty,fees for technical services. Business Standard New Delhi, 29th April 2016 

Corporation tax collection grew a mere 2per cent between April 1 and June 18 year- on- year, indicating sluggish economic recovery. Corporation tax yielded Rs.55,000 crore in this period, a finance ministry official told Business Standard. Experts said poor corporation tax collection growth reflects persistently weak profitability and output, besides sluggish demand in the economy. While direct tax collections posted a 22 per cent growth at Rs. 1.2 lakh crore, it could be attributed to buoyant growth in personal income tax because of changes in the advance tax collection rules. Of the total direct tax collection, Rs.64,000 crore came from personal income tax, representing a growth of 48 per cent. The official said while 22 per cent growth in direct taxes was unusually high for Q1, corporation tax growth of 2 per cent was unusually low. “ Corporation tax growth in the first quarter has been unusually low. This indicates that all is still not well with the corporate side of econo...

Stressed companies are deleveraging fast and the number of ‘ weak’ companies in the economy is declining, according to the bi- annual report of the Financial Stability and Development Council ( FSDC), released by the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI). ‘Weak’ companies are those that have interest coverage ratio of less than one. Interest coverage ratio is profit before interest and tax divided by interest expense. Despite this, the risks to the banking system have “ worsened significantly,” the report noted, as companies may not be paying back loans fast enough. “ Risks to the banking sector have sharply increased since the publication of the previous stability report in December.” The report added that this was due to deteriorating asset quality and lower profitability. RBI conducted its asset quality review ( AQR) last year to make banks disclose bad loans and make provisions for them. This increased the quantum of non- performing loans and provisioning significantly in the Decemb...