CA Online

Proposed ban on cash transactions above Rs.3 lakh may hit luxury goods, jewellery sales, real estate You have just received cash as gift on your wedding and decide to buy that Rs.3.5 lakh Chanel bag you have been eyeing fora while. You walk into a treat a five- star hotel and pull outawad ofcash. Butthe sales person refuses to accept it and insists that you either pay by card or transfer money online. It could soon become a reality if the government accepts there commendations of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money headed by Justice MB Shah( retired) and ban cash transactions above Rs.3 lakh. This could impact sales of luxury goods, ranging from branded hand bags to cars and designer watches.“ No longer will people be able to walk into a luxury showroom and pay for these ultra expensive items by cash,” says Amit Maheshwari, partner, Ashok Maheshwary & Associates. Not only that. If you are planning a do, and wanting to pay the decorator, cook, make- upartist, music...

Government is expected to cross the Rajya Sabha hurdle in getting the crucial GST bill passed during monsoon session, but the other important bill that has been on the PM's priority list -the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) bill -looks set to get stuck as the Congress decides to move an amendment to it in the RS. The bill, passed in the Lok Sabha in May, is meant to unlock nearly Rs 42,000 crore that has been lying unspent for years. This amount, deposited by user agencies which divert forest land for non-forest purpose, is supposed to be utilized to mitigate impact of diversion of the forest land through afforestation. “Yes, I am moving the amendment for sure (on party's behalf)“, said Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh. The Congress had made its intention clear in May when Ramesh had written to the then environment mini ster Prakash Javadekar, listing its objection to the bill in its present form. Javadekar had, however, said that the...

The Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal's Mumbai bench has held that a taxpayer can't be denied investment-related tax benefits if he doesn't get timely possession of a house in which the reinvestment was made, due to a builder's fault . The I-T Act provides for benefits relating to capital ga ins tax, where sale proceeds of any asset other than a house (section 54F) or sale proceeds of a house (section 54) are reinvested in a residential house property in India. There is no capital gains tax if the purchase price of the residential property in which the reinvestment is made exceeds the sale proceeds. In other cases, the capital gains, and thus the tax outgo, is proportionately reduced. There are conditions to be eligible for such tax-breaks. The original asset (or house) that has been sold must have been held by the taxpayer for more than three years (long-term capital asset). Also, the residential house property in which money is being reinvested has to be purchased within...

www.caonline.in News... 1. SEBI has notified the amended the Securities And Exchange Board Of India (Listing Obligations And Disclosure Requirements) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2016 to introduce regulation  relating to ‘Dividend Distribution Policy’. 2. Today (15.07.16) is Last Date to file TCS return by all Deducters in form 27EQ for Quarter ending June, 2016. 3. Time limitation of 6 years is also overruled by Section 197(c) of Finance Act, 2016. Now, AO can open the case of any year. 4. The Government of India has given Relaxation of time schedule for making payments under the Scheme the Income Declaration Scheme 2016:  (I) a minimum 25% of the tax, paid by 30.11.2016; (ii) further 25% by 31.3.2017; and balance on or before 30.9.2017. 5. The income tax department will start sending notices to settle over 300,000 pending tax disputes starting September-2016. 6. CBDT has clarified in Q No. 6 of Circular 27 of 2016 dated 14th July, 2016  that the tax rate will ...

Tax payer to get immunity only for unaccounted assets declared, not on tax amount The income-tax department has said the tax payment for unaccounted assets declared under the black money scheme cannot be made out of any undisclosed income, making it clear that the money used to pay tax must be white. A tax payer will get immunity under the scheme only in respect of unaccounted assets declared and not on the tax amount, which adds up to 45%, in case it is paid out of unaccounted wealth, the department has clarified through a fourth set of `Frequently asked questions“ on Thursday. It explained the issue by way of an example. Suppose a person declares Rs. 100 lakh as undisclosed income, being the fair market value of undisclosed immovable property as on June 1, 2016 and pays tax, surcharge and penalty of Rs.45 lakh (30 lakh + 7.5 lakh + 7.5 lakh) on the same out of his other undisclosed income. Effectively, this means that on a total undisclosed income of Rs. 145 lakh, the person ...

CASH CHASE In its fifth report submitted to the Supreme Court, the Special Investigation Team on black money has proposed a cap on cash transactions and restriction on cash holding with individuals as well as industry up to Rs. 15 lakh The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has recommended banning cash transactions of Rs. 3 lakh and above and restricting cash holding with individuals and industry to Rs.15 lakh to curb illegal wealth in the country. The SIT, headed by Justice MB Shah (retired), submitted its fifth report to the Supreme Court on methods to curb black money in the economy, an official statement said on Thursday. The panel said that large amount of unaccounted wealth is stored and used in the form of cash. “Having considered the provisions which exist in this regard in various countries and also having considered various reports and observations of courts regarding cash transactions the SIT felt that there is a need to put an upper limit to cash tran...

Searches homes of informer who has contacts with CBDT chief The Income Tax Department, which generally bandies about search and seizure action to unearth undisclosed income, is unusually quiet about an operation it carried out last month. On June 2, the I-T department raided the residential premises of a technology consultant, Pritin Sanyal, in New Delhi and Lucknow. The documents it came across during the searches included one with the names of four senior income tax commissioners and their future postings, including at the investigation wing in Delhi, said tax officials in the know. As the searches were underway, a Russian girl who was present at Sanyal's upmarket Safdarjung Enclave residence, slashed her wrist, prompting the tax officials to lodge a police complaint and inform the Russian Embassy. Three more searches were carried out later at the residences of some accomplices of Sanyal in Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. The case becomes curious because Sanyal was an inf...

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday indicated corporate tax rate would be brought down further to attract investors. He also assured investors that the government will maintain stability in tax policies. The finance minister has already underlined the need to bring down the corporate tax rate from the current 30% to 25% over the next four years. The corporate tax rate in China is 25%, while in Singapore it is 17%. In the US, it is over 35%. “We have been trying to maintain stability of tax policy…and one of the efforts is that corporate tax must be brought down to globally competitive rates because assesses world-over will be watching. Why should investors invest in jurisdictions where they have to pay higher rates?” Jaitley said while speaking at a Ficci function. The minister also said that quoting t he Permanent Account Number (PAN) for transactions beyond a particular limit would be gradually made mandatory, a move that is expected to reduce generation and circulati...

The Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT) on Thursday directed the income- tax department to “ expeditiously” issue refunds worth Rs. 5,000 for past three assessment years to provide immediate relief to taxpayers. The CBDT issued directions in this regard and said pending refunds of Rs. 5,000 in cases that have not been selected for scrutiny for assessment years 2013- 14, 2014- 15 and 2015- 16 should be issued fast and within this financial year. Business Standard New Delhi,15th July 2016

Retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organisation ( EPFO) has relaxed the provision that requires furnishing of universal account number ( UAN) for the settlement of claims like provident fund ( PF) withdrawal for all those who left membership before January 1, 2014. The EPFO had made it a must to provide UAN on claims in December last year. " The decision to relax this condition of providing UAN for claim settlement was taken after considering difficulties being faced by those members who were not alloted UAN," an official said. Business Standard New Delhi,15th July 2016

The finance ministry on Thursday extended the deadline for payment of tax and penalty under the scheme to disclose previously unreported money, allowing this to be done in three instalments by September 30 next year. The ministry also clarified that black money declarants using the window cannot pay tax from undisclosed income. Earlier, the declarant had to pay tax, cess and penalty by November 30. Now, the first instalment of 25 per cent under the Income Declaration Scheme- 2016, will have to be paid by November, to be followed by another 25 per cent by March 31, 2017. The remaining amount will have to be paid to the exchequer by September 30, 2017. The extension of time for payment was based on feedback, that it was too short a time to pay tax, cess and penalty The income tax department also came out with a fourth set of clarifications on the scheme. There were earlier reports that payment could be made out of the undisclosed income, without including this in the income dec...