CA Online

Revenue Department today said officials will not reopen the past assessments of excise and service tax of assessees even if their turnover in the current period increases on account of digital payments in the wake of demonetisation. In a circular to excise and service tax chief commissioners, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said there are "apprehensions" that an increased turnover because of use of digital modes of payment may lead to demands for the earlier period. "It is, hereby, clarified that in indirect taxes, past assessments will not be reopened for this reason alone," the CBEC said. Ever since the demonetisation announcement on November 8, in order to curb generation of black money the government has been taking steps to encourage people to shift towards digital mode of payment while making financial transactions. "By adopting a digital mode of payment, no financial transaction would remain undisclosed and consequently an enhanc...

It is virtually a race against time for India Inc as the April 1 deadline for the Goods and Services (GST) Tax rollout stares at them. While companies have appointed consultants to advise them on GST, nothing much has moved beyond that especially with small and medium enterprises. Large companies, however, say they can meet the April 1 deadline. Conversations with multiple tax experts reveal that not more than 40-50 per cent of large companies are ready for a GST rollout on April 1. “Manufacturing companies in categories such as consumer goods, auto, auto ancillaries etc were conscious of GST early on and did begin their groundwork in time. But, the services sector such as banking, insurance, media and entertainment are not quite ready for an April 1 rollout,” says Sachin Menon, partner and head of indirect tax at KPMG.  Retail majors such as Future Group and Shoppers Stop say that they have kicked off the process of being GST-compliant and can meet the April 1 deadline. Ni...

India needs to invest more in public health care and build a robust health delivery system in all aspects, including infrastructure and human resources,with special focus on rural areas, Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to India, told PTI ,on Sunday. According to Bekedam, though India has made enormous progress in the health care sector in the recent past, still “60 million people are in poverty through paying health care bills mainly because of the country’s low investment in health, inadequate financial protection and high out-ofpocket expenditure.” PTI CBDT plans drive to sensitise taxpayerof e-initiatives. Business Standard New Delhi,12th December2016

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assured people on Wednesday that it has no plans to permanently put a cap on withdrawal limits, asserting that the money belongs to the people. Addressing the media after the fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review, RBI Governor Urjit Patel said there will be restrictions only during the transition process resulting from demonetisation. “The money in the bank is yours,“ said Patel. “There are some controls on withdrawal, but only during this transition phase.“ The RBI had put a limit on withdrawal from automated teller machines and bank branches post demonetisation.Customers, for instance, can withdraw Rs.2,500 per day from ATMs that are recalibrated and Rs.2,000 from those yet to be recalibrated. They can withdraw up to Rs.24,000 from bank branches in a week. However, withdrawal limits for farmers have been fixed at Rs.25,000 a week. The central bank governor said that large quantities of currency notes in various denominations are in supply a...

Regulators often overstate the seriousness of the work they do to defend every measure adopted in regulations, however flawed As we move toward the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) in India, corporations are forming task forces to assess the impact and update systems to conform to the proposed taxation structure. Of course, modifying IT systems is a priority and should be completed before the GST is implemented but we at Bain believe that the GST legislation provides an opportunity to consider a strategic and zerobased revamp of the entire inbound and outbound supply chain. After recent discussions with CEOs of top companies, it has become increasingly clear that left to operational executives, businesses will simply conform to GST requirements. It is imperative, however, for the leadership team to view this as a transformational opportunity with possible implications in the competitive environment. Companies should not simply seek to gain short-term cost redu...

Without doubt, the roll-out of GST will turn out to be the most significant and far-reaching indirect tax reform that India has ever seen. It is going to impact almost all industries and businesses, some more than others. In the process, it will create a common Indian marketplace and reduce the cascading effect of taxes. To put it succinctly, GST will subsume all indirect taxes and create just one rate for the entire nation. In view of the importance of this legislation, it makes sense to be fully prepared for it. Here is a list of 10 steps that corporate entities can take to implement GST in a hassle-free manner. 1. Upgrade ERP systems: In order to evaluate new tax structures, other cost implications, companies need to upgrade their ERP systems. This is essential to accommodate the complexities of calculating GST. 2. Get a fix on which software modules need to be changed: As GST will have more of an impact on data management and taxation, organizations need to look into their ...

Don't rush into a new tax without being prepared Given the virtually stalled progress on the goods and services tax (GST), it is increasingly unlikely that the government would be able to kick off the new tax by April 2016. The best bet would be to target September and work towards that goal in right earnest. The government had shown the good sense to keep the option open to initiate the new tax at a date later than the original target of April 1, with the finance minister having gone on record to say that April 1was a very tight deadline. Now that many state governments and their finance ministers are busy putting out the fires lit by demonetisation, they are unlikely to focus on the business of getting GST going. Most countries that have adopted a value-added tax like the GST had given their economic entities at least 12 months, after notifying the rules, to gear themselves up for compliance. Indians are, of course, from a different planet and can do the same task in half the ti...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday said it will soon put to circulation Rs100 notes in the market with enlarged identification features. “The Reserve Bank will shortly issue Rs100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, without inset letter in both the numbering panels,” RBI said in a release. The notes with ‘2016’ printing year will be similar in design with the existing Rs 100 notes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005 having ascending size of numerals in the number panels, bleed lines, and enlarged identification mark, on the obverse. More news on demonetisation The RBI said it has already put to circulation Rs1 00 notes with the ascending size of numerals in the number panels but without bleed lines and enlarged identification mark. These notes will remain in circulation concomitantly with the notes being issued now, it added. “All the banknotes in the denomination of Rs100 issued by the central bank in the past will continue to be legal tender,” ...

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will soon make third-party audits mandatory for food companies to ensure food safety, the authority’s chief executive Pawan Kumar Agarwal said. “We are working on the regulations and final guidelines will be notified soon,” Agarwal said without disclosing further details. He was speaking at a programme organized by lobby group Confederation of Indian Industry here on Tuesday. Some food companies in India voluntarily hire laboratories to inspect safety of their products but it is not mandatory yet. Such audits are common in most developed countries where self-regulation is the norm. “We need to move towards self-regulation to ensure safe food for every Indian household. With the current strength and infrastructure, FSSAI alone would not be able to ensure surveillance at every corner. Surveillance is a big area. We are taking up surveillance in a few commodities. As we speak, the surveillance on honey and milk is going on,”...

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has removed the so-called two-factor authentication for online card transactions involving sums up to Rs2,000, in a move aimed at simplifying and encouraging electronic payments. The move will likely help cab aggregators, online movie ticket sellers and even e-commerce marketplaces. Currently, any online transaction involving a card requires users to first enter card details on the merchant’s payment gateway, wait for a one-time password (OTP) to be sent to their mobile phone, and then use this number to complete the purchase. To be sure, discarding two-factor authentication for purchases up to Rs2,000 is an opt-in service, which means that customers will have to specifically opt for it. RBI said that card network providers and banks will have to inform customers about the availability of such services and take their consent. Customers opting for this facility will go through a one-time registration process requiring entry of card details and...

Once notes are cancelled, Reserve Bank can pay the amount to the government as dividend The government may issue an ordinance to provide clear legal support for extinguishing the demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes that are not returned by December 30. The government wants to amend the Reserve Bank of India Act to this effect and ordinance route may be opted for as Parliament would not be in session immediately after the last day of surrender.The ongoing winter session of Parliament -disrupted by protests as it has been -ends December 16 and the budget session will start only late January . An ordinance will pave the way for cancelling the said currency once the amount of money returned becomes clear on December 31.“We could look at it (an ordinance),“ said a government official. Only when the unreturned currency is cancelled can it be made available to the government, possibly via a dividend paid by RBI.Once this is done, the government could consider the amount so recovered...