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Chandra says authorities will need to submit before HC `satisfaction note' defending search  Income tax authorities will need to submit `satisfaction note' before a high court on why a search was carried out, CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra has said, allaying fears that income-tax officers have been given arbitrary powers to conduct raids. “There will be no arbitrary searches...no additional powers have been given for searches or seizure,“ Chandra told ET, refuting reports that the budget proposal to allow I-T authorities to initiate a search without disclosing the “reason to believe“ will lead to more intrusive tax administration. A proper procedure including permission from principal director general has been laid out for a search and no junior officer has powers to conduct one on his own, he said. Satisfaction note prepared for the search is shown in the court and it is provided to the court whenever it seeks it in a sealed cover, Chandra said. The note provides the justificat...

The RBI has constituted an inter-department Standing Committee on Cyber Security to continuously review security and analyse emerging threats to protect the Indian banking system from cyber attacks, the RBI stated in its sixth bi-monthly policy statement for 2016-17 announced on Wednesday . “With the need to be continuously vigilant in the area of cyber security , it has now been decided to constitute a standing committee on cyber security. It will be cross functional and have industry experts as well as the government representative (as members),“ said SS Mundra, deputy governor, RBI. The committee's main functions would be to review threats inherent in upcoming and existing innovations in the financial technology space, adoption of security protocols, checking interface with various stakeholders and suggest possible policy interventions to strengthen cyber security . The standing committee was constituted following the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Information Technolog...

The income tax (I-T) department is considering a proposal to further cut the instances of scrutiny of taxpayers’ returns as it looks to sharpen focus on tax evaders and provide respite to honest taxpayers. The department is looking to make the process completely based on information of possible tax evasion, said a tax department official, who did not wish to be identified. Less than 1% of around 40 million taxpayers are selected for scrutiny every year to determine whether all the income earned is reflected in their tax return. Taxpayers are at present selected for scrutiny based on a computer-assisted selection system or CASS. Typically those who have made high-value transactions are chosen for scrutiny. “The tax department has set up a committee to look into how we can reduce the number of scrutiny cases further. We want to reduce the number of notices that are sent out and ensure that scrutiny is absolutely informationbased,” said the tax official cited earlier. Currently, the tax ...

NEWDELHI: Defending the demonetisation move and listing out several measures undertaken by the NDA government to fight corruption and black money circulation, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the usage of cash only boosts parallel economy and thus it must be curbed. He said demonetisation was just a part of the several initiatives taken by the government to weed out black money. The fight against corruption and black money should not be seen as a political fight, Jaitley said, adding that the demonetisation move was primarily aimed at weeding out the ills of society. “It is no credit to any economy that you deal in cash… cash has a lot of vices,” he said in the Rajya Sabha, just before PM Narendra Modi’s address in the Upper House. Jaitley said most other countries are “less-cash” economies and people must be encouraged to adopt technology and move towards a digital economy. Taking a dig at Congress leader Anand Sharma, who said the government was not throwing any light on the statu...

Arch rivals  Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal have formed a united front for the first time to raise concerns over the coming Goods and Services Tax (GST), which they fear could hurt their businesses. The founders of Indian e-commerce firms Flipkart and Snapdeal,  Sachin Bansal and Kunal Bahl, will join Amit Agarwal, the India head of their fierce rival Amazon, which has been grabbing their market share, to voice their concerns on GST to the government.    They have sought help of trade body Ficci, with members who are from traditional sectors, whose business have been disrupted by the new economy firms. Joining these in the representation would be other players,such as Paytm, Grofers and Zomato,among others. Taking acue from old economy, established e-commerce unicorn shave finally decided to form a united front to discuss with the government.According to sources, interestingly, it was Ficci which,as a pre-condition,told the start ups that the only way the indust...

The six- member monetary policy committee (MPC) kept the Reserve Bank of India’s policy rates unchanged on Wednesday. And, shifted the policy stance to “neutral” from “accommodative”,as it wanted to keep the flexibility to move either side,hike or cut, considering the uncertain inflation landscape.   Bond markets were shocked by the pause and change in policy stance.Yields on the 10 - year government security jumped 32 basis points (bps) to close at 6.75 percent,the steepest climb in a day since September 29, 2013. According to credit rating agency CRISIL, the shift could “very well mark the end of the current rate cut cycle, which began in January 2015 — atleast in the near term.” Business chamber Ficci said a cut would have given a push to demand,which has been hit by demonetisation. Following RBI’s sixth bi monthly monetary policy review and the last for the financial year,at which all the six members voted in favour of a pause, the repo rate remained unchanged at 6.25 percent....

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which allows for digital payment of salaries or through cheque. The bill will now go to Rajya Sabha and following its passage in the upper House, the amendments will be notified. The move will enable employers to pay wages of less than Rs 18,000 a month by cheque or digitally to bank accounts, besides in cash, by doing away with the requirement of employees' written consent for the same. At present, wages can be given through cheque or transferred to a bank account only after a written authorisation from an employee. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 15, but it could not be taken up for discussion amid din over demonetisation. 08TH FEBRUARY, 2017, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, NEW-DELHI

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill,which makes holding of more than 10 old notes of Rs500/1,000 denomination punishable with a minimum fine of Rs 10,000,  with the government saying the aim was to check parallel economy using the scrapped notes. Piloting the Specified Bank Notes(Cessation of Liabilities) Bill,Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it will extinguish the government’s liability towards  scrapped notes and also eliminate the possibility of their being used as parallel currency. Jaitley said the volume of currency in India was extraordinarily large. 08TH FEBRUARY, 2017, BUSINESS STANDARD, NEW-DELHI

The government on Tuesday said show cause notices have been issued to 536 firms for non-compliance with corporate social responsibility (CSR) norms under the companies law. Under the Companies Act,2013, certain class of profitable entities are required to shell out atleast two percent of their three-year annual average net profit towards CSR activities in a particular financial year.In case of non-spending, the company concerned has to provide explanation to the ministry. 08TH FEBRUARY, 2017, BUSINESS STANDARD, NEW-DELHI

From April 1,chartered accountants (CAs), merchant bankers and valuers can’t escape responsibility for filing of incorrect information in certificates or reports attached with income tax returns of assessees.They will be fined Rs 10,000 for each such certificates or reports, according to a provision in the Budget for 2017-18. For this purpose,the Budget has proposed to insert a new section, 271 J,in the Income Tax Act. "Under Section 271J... we have entrusted responsibility with chartered accountants, valuers and merchant bankers who files audit, valuation reports and other things...," CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra said at a post-Budget interaction with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.“So,if they file any incorrect information in there turns, they are also liable for a token penalty of Rs 10,000.” The whole system is based on"alot of faith on CAs and assessees and they have to be more responsible", he said. While there are many provisions to penalise the d...

Model goods and services tax law, which is currently being vetted by the law department, is expected to be finalised by this month-end, said a senior finance ministry official. The law will pave the way for roll out of GST from July 1. 08TH FEBRUARY, 2017, BUSINESS STANDARD, NEW-DELHI