CA Online

The crackdown on black money is not over. With the scheme for voluntary disclosure of unaccounted for wealth now closed, tax officials have launched a drive to unearth hidden incomes and are looking at transactions carried out beyond a six-year ceiling under existing rules, sources said. “The tax department can scan transactions older than six years by invoking clause 197C of the finance act, 2016. This clause was introduced to crack down on black money,” said a finance ministry official, who did not wish to be named. An offender, depending on the amount or assets seized, could end up paying a tax as high as 75% and could also be jailed, sources said. Officials are scrutinising the records of those who they believe did not come clean and are hiding undisclosed wealth. While the I-T law allows a check of income of the last six years, the finance act, under which the disclosure scheme was brought in, and foreign undisclosed assets act allow authorities to inspect records olde...

The finance ministry will issue rules and guidance to address some concerns and ambiguity over mandatory reporting norms with respect to transfer pricing formultinational companies whose consolidated annual revenue is over Rs.5,000crore. The government is also steppingup administrative systems to plug possible data leakage,said a senior tax office rata conference on Friday. These rules and guidance will aimat clarity on the extensive data reporting and document ation required under the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)measures unveiled by the Paris-based OECD grouping in October last year,to address tax avoidance by MNCs.OECD is Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The concerns are on confidentiality of the data shared by companies with the tax author ities of various jurisdictions, beside the difference in accounting years and rules in differentcountries.The matter was discussed at the conference on Friday. Akhilesh Ranjan,a senior income tax officer,...

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said tax on environment-unfriendly products could be “distinct” from others in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to be rolled out next year. India ratified the Paris Climate Change agreement on October 2. “The indirect tax regime that we are planning, the rate of taxation on such products which are going to be environmentally unfriendly would be distinct from the normal rate of taxation. This is one of the proposals being discussed,” Jaitley said on the eve of the BRICS Summit that begins on Saturday. The GST rates are in the process of being finalised. The FM, who will attend the BRICS Economic Forum meeting, said the country has taxed coal and petroleum products in the past as well. “Resources have to be mobilised from all sources for climate financing so that sustainable development goals can be achieved in a much more concrete manner,” he said. Jaitley said the commitment from developed countries to fund climate change financing...

Several landmark judgments have improved the woman’s position in a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), such as one that ruled the eldest daughter, even if married, can replace her father as karta in an HUF after his death. However, a karta ’s wife or daughter-in-law cannot replace him. According to HUF laws, when a karta –or manager – of an HUF passes away, his eldest son automatically replaces him. But, cases where a karta only has daughter/s, or his children are minors, have been subjects of dispute. The position of a karta is a powerful one, for this person controls, and is also the custodian of, the finances of an HUF. “The karta borrows money on behalf of the family. He can spend money for the family without being accountable to the members, as all his actions are assumed to be carried out for the benefit of the family. The decisions of the karta are binding on other members,” says Hitesh Jain, senior partner at ALMT Legal. But, the karta cannot divide the estate disproportionatel...

The special investigation team(SIT)on black money has asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)to furnish the details of all those investing through participatory notes (P-Notes),according to sources in the know. This is the first time the government -constituted body has sought such massive amount of data,which includes the list of beneficial ownersand transfer trial sof investors taking the PNote route to invest in domestic equity and debt markets. The markets regulator,Sebi, which recently tightened the disclosure requirement for P-Notes, has already furnished the information to the SIT and the exercise would take a few more weeks to complete,sources added. The SIT wants to ensure that there gulatory changes made by Sebi are sufficient to curb misuse of tools,particularly with respect to end beneficiaries. The expert panel is concerned that the P-Note route coulds till be used by Indian companies to bring back unaccounted money, one of the officials who works...

Managements evading hard decisions, bank consolidation depends on resolving NPAs: Rai Banks Board Bureau chief Vinod Rai said little progress has been made on resolving bad loans as managements are reluctant to take hard decisions on recasting debt despite concerns that the rising burden of non-performing assets (NPAs) is holding back the economy. “We are not making much progress and I don't think we have anybody else to blame but the banks themselves,“ Rai told ET, adding that the government and RBI had created a conducive environment for lenders to clean up their books. The veteran bureaucrat, who was roped in by the government to oversee a planned transformation of state-owned banks, added that he doesn't see any prospects for consolidation until bad loans are sorted out. Rai, whose mandate is likely to get broader, said he now sees signs of recovery in the economy . But banks need to push sluggish credit expansion to spark private investment, which has been lagging ...

The Companies Act, 2013, has introduced important audit reforms. One of the important reforms is rotation of the auditor. All listed companies; unlisted public limited companies having paid-up share capital of Rs.10 crore or more; all private limited companies having paid-up share capital of ~20 crore or more, and all companies having public borrowings from financial institutions, banks or public deposit of Rs.50 crore or more are required to rotate their auditor. An individual cannot continue as an auditor for more than one term of five years and an audit firm cannot continue as an auditor for more than two terms of five years, that is a consecutive period of 10 years. The cooling off period is five years. The Companies Act allows three years for complying with the provision. Therefore, the provision must be complied by April 1, 2017. The objective is to enhance audit independence. This is expected to improve audit quality, resulting in improved financial reporting. Traditionally,...

Many stories appear in the media about those whose employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) made them millionaires when their companies got listed. A recent one is that of RBL Bank. The bank had issued ESOPs at exercise prices ranging between Rs 52 and Rs 120. A large number of ESOPs were exercised at an average price of Rs 59.40 a share. When the stock listed at Rs 274 apiece, the employees enjoyed a windfall. In India, Infosys popularised ESOPs in the 1990s. The company’s various schemes have created hundreds of dollar millionaires and thousands of rupee millionaires. While these stories paint a rosy picture, and are even inspirational, all of them don’t end equally well. How ESOPs work ESOPs are a motivational tool, given to employees to impart a sense of ownership. There are four stages in an ESOP scheme. The first is its grant. At this point, the company communicates to its employees that they are being given options that can be converted into shares at a predetermined price...

The Centre has warned employees of disciplinary action if they indulge in criticism of the government or its policies. The move comes after officers of Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) and All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers, among others, suggested changes in Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), a private company tasked with creating information technology infrastructure for the goods and services tax (GST), and composition of Revenue Secretary-led GST council secretariat. “Of late, it has been noticed that some associations or federations have commented adversely on the government and its policies. It may be brought to the notice of all associations or federations that if anyone indulges in criticism of the government and its policies, appropriate action (including disciplinary action) shall be taken,” an order issued recently by finance ministry said. It cited service rules that bar any government servant from making any a...

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016 proposes to set up new institutional pillars to support the insolvency resolution and liquidation processes. One such pillar is the industry of insolvency professionals. Insolvency professionals (IP) are expected to play a critical role in the timely and efficient insolvency resolution of firms and individuals. Two specific provisions pertaining to IPs in the new law have gone largely unnoticed: (i) not just individuals but firms can also get licensed as IPs (ii) those residing outside India can practise as IPs on Indian corporate and individual insolvencyrelated matters. Both these provisions can have important implications for the regulatory structure of the IP industry once the law is implemented. The regulation of professions in India has been a failure. Self-regulatory organisations in professions such as medicine (Medical Council of India), law (Bar Council of India) and accountancy (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Indi...

The Commerce Ministry has suggested to its finance counterpart that the exemptions given to exporters should continue under the new indirect tax regime, GST. The proposed procedure of paying taxes and then claiming the refunds by exporters under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) would cause hardships for them, said an official. Hindustan Times New Delhi,10th October 2016