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Shareholders invited to deposit all or part of their holding in demat form in escrow account by Aug 22 Asia’s oldest bourse, BSE, has set up an escrow account to enable shareholders to tender shares for the exchange’s offer for sale (OFS), to culminate in an initial public offering ( IPO), with shareholders getting about a month for the process. Shareholders have to give a consent form, a notarised power of attorney and deposit their shares in an escrow account by August 22. They may offer all or part of their shares in the offer, if these are in dematerialised form and have been held for a continuous period of one year prior to filing of the draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), it wrote on July 5. Shares not sold in the OFS shall be locked- in for a year from the date of allotment/ transfer of shares in IPO. Venture capital funds, category1alternative investment funds or foreign venture capital investors registered with Sebi will be exempt. ...

To provide relief to telecom users on service quality, Telecom authority regulator of India (Trai) is considering seeking feedback from the public on introducing a new ombudsman mechanism to resolve their complaints. As things stand, the scales are tilted towards service providers as current rules do not allow a customer to approach courts for resolving such disputes. “The current system of complaint resolution is not effective. It is an unhappy situation,” TRAI Chairman R S Sharma told PTI. Sharma said the regulator plans to release a consultation paper in a fortnight to deliberate on the institutional arrangement should be adopted to improve efficiency of the consumer grievance redressal framework. He said the views on the same will be sought from people and an automated or technology-based platform could be explored. “We need to mull whether an automated system, say a technology platform, can be used. We will have to see how technology can be leveraged to resolve complai...

The government is looking for concrete and practical suggestions from the Congress on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, said Arjun Ram Meghwal, the newly appointed minister of state for finance and corporate affairs. Meghwal's comment to ET comes at a time when the government has revived attempts to convince the Congress to enable passage of the Bill in Rajya Sabha, where the ruling coalition is a minority . He expressed the government's willingness for negotiations on all objections, but also sought clear suggestions as to how proposals could be implemented. For instance, he mentioned demand for capping GST rate at 18% in the constitutional amendment Bill and what he sees as the practical problem of implementing it. “Let them tell us which country with a GST has written (GST) rate in their Constitution. How will it function, let them tell us,“ he told ET. “Whichever item, if (at some point) it is felt that its rate should be more than 18%, it will have to go into ...

With almost two months left for people to declare undisclosed income, the revenue department in an internal assessment has pegged a collection of Rs.10,000-15,000 crore through black money declarations, according to sources. The budget for 2016- 17 announced a four-month compliance window, allowing domestic black money holders to declare their unaccounted wealth, pay a tax and penalty total ling 45% and escape prosecution and harsher punishment. The window under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) 2016 opened on June 1 and will close on September 30. Tax and penalty at a total rate of 45% on the declared income is to be paid by November. Though response to the ongoing income declaration scheme is lukewarm as of now, the flood of queries about the disclosure has given the government confidence that the collection may be sizeable, sources said. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has recently asked his officers to address all the taxpayer concerns to encourage disclosure of black m...

www.caonline.in News... 1. TEXPROCIL members can also seek clarification on duty free import entitlement. 2. HC not to admit writ petition if assessee already participated in reassessment proceedings.[M/s. Amaya Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. vs. Income Tax Officer (Bombay High Court)]. 3.SCN cannot be issued to debtors until tax liability crystallise.[ M/s Quality Fabricators and Erectors vs. The Deputy Director, DGCEI, Zonal Unit Mumbai and Others (Bombay High Court)]. 4.No attachment of bank accounts without following proper procedures.[ M/s Kunj Power Project Pvt. Ltd. vs Union Of India (Allahabad High Court)]. 5. Benchmarking of brand royalty : aggregation is an appropriate approach.[Goodyear India Ltd, vs DCIT (ITAT Delhi)].

From 2017, traders can self-certify goods exported under EU's special Generalised System of Preferences scheme A section of Indian exporters will be able to certify goods headed for Europe from 2017 to the effect that they were made in India, a measure that will help reduce processing time as well as costs. This facility will be available to traders exporting goods under the European Union's special scheme called the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), a quota of sorts for each country at low or no duty. To ensure that the quota is utilised by the country it is allotted to, the shipments under this facility need to carry a certification that the goods were manufactured in that country. At present, exporters need to get this certification from accredited agencies. This takes time and involves a cost. “We plan to go ahead with the scheme because it benefits exporters. Now, exporters have to pay for getting the certificates issued from notified agencies. This adds t...

Funds with investments in Indian real estate and infrastructure plan to shift base to Mauritius to take advantage of lower tax after India renegotiated tax treaty with Cyprus About a fortnight after India renegotiated its tax treaty with Cyprus many private equity funds with investments in In dian real estate and infrastructure are looking to realign investments and shift base to Mauritius mainly to avail of a 2.5% discount in tax on interest income. These funds invested mainly in debt and are looking to set up new investment vehicles in a way that the income from Indian investments is taxed as per the India Mauritius treaty. This, say many industry trackers, could be the beginning of a flight towards Mauritius for the debt funds that have traditionally preferred Cyprus. This is also a result of the India Mauritius treaty that was renegotiated recently. As the things stand, the shift from Cyprus to Mauritius could save these private equity funds at least 2.5% in taxes paid in Ind...

Firms using analytics to identify best fits and shortlist quality candidates An organisation’s ability to identify, attract, and recruit the right talent when and where needed is the foundation for success. Getting the right quality talent, on time, has traditionally been an uphill task. Organisations typically turn to job sites, referrals, and head hunters to source candidates. The first method does not usually help when it comes to identifying the right fit and usually brings in candidates ‘actively looking for a job.’ Employee referrals and head hunting give better results – as they are most likely to engage ‘passive candidates’ who are a good fit. However, these are time consuming methods and come at a higher cost. A study by Aon Hewitt, conducted in 2015, showed that the time to fill a mid-level position ranges from 30 to 60 days, and is more than 60 days for senior level hires for a majority of companies. Organisations are, therefore, under pressure to look for new and in...

In the wake of the Cabinet clearing aRs. 6,000- crore package for the textiles sector recently, NITI Aayog is pushing for similar reforms in other labour- intensive sectors such as footwear, electrical and electronics engineering, besides light manufacturing segments such as umbrella, cutlery and furniture to generate mass employment. A NITI Aayog official said under- employment is a bigger problem for India than unemployment. Citing a survey on employment by the National Sample Survey Office, he said India’s unemployment rate was around three per cent but under- employment could be much more. He said the problem arises because small- scale industries, which have less than 20 workers, employ 73 per cent of the working population, but contribute only 12 per cent of the total output. While the package for the textiles sector included duty drawback for the garments subsector, the most notable feature was the introduction of the fixed- term employment. To encourage hiring, the gove...

The government has fixed December 31, 2016, as the deadline to multinational companies, including Vodafone and Cairn, to settle their tax issues that arose as a result of the retrospective amendments to the Income Tax Act. The two companies have so far not shown any inkling to opt for the government’s dispute resolution scheme, which opened on June 1. Tax experts say since the principle tax amount is large, a better deal might have to be negotiated for these firms to give up their right to appeal or seek remedy from courts, as the matter has already reached the international arbitration stage. Under the Dispute Resolution Scheme, the government has offered aone- time tax settlement, subject to firms agreeing to withdraw pending cases. In the offer, the government would waive the penalty and interest amount. The interest and penalty in both the Cairn and Vodafone cases are much larger than the original tax demand. In the case of Cairn Energy Plc, the Union finance ministry has i...

www.caonline.in News... 1. NIRC of ICAI is organising National Convention 2016 for CA Students on 14 & 15 July 2016 in Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi. For registeration      visit athttp://goo.gl/uq2TW1 2. Use revised e-form AOC-4  for filing annual financial statement to fill mandatory CSR details likely to be available on MCA portal by 3rd week of July 2016. 3. CBDT issued the following clarifictions: (i)    Issued revises format of issue of Income Tax notices u/s. 143(2). (ii)   Interest paid on deposits of NRs in IFSC banking units in SEZ not liable to TDS. (iii)  Ensure 100% entry of IDS Form 1 received in paper format. 4.Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.