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Threshold for taxing agriculture income should be same as urban income, says Bibek Debroy Agricultural income should be taxed at the same threshold as personal income, Niti Aayog, the government's thinktank, has proposed in its draft three-year action plan. Farm income could be assessed for tax as a three-year average, Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy said at a press briefing on Tuesday, making a case for widening the taxpayer base. “There should be no distinction between urban and rural. The threshold for taxing rural agriculture income should be the same as urban income. However, rural agriculture income taxed could be an average of three years as it is subject to weather fluctuations,“ Debroy said, explaining the Aayog's proposal to expand the country's tax base. The government plans to do away with personal income tax exemptions, an exercise that's already under way for corporate income. However, taxing agricultural income would require an amendment to the...

With the goods and services tax (GST) being destinationbased, states might be unable to provide incentives to encourage local industry. At the GST Conclave in New Delhi, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Tuesday said, “States are wondering how to continue with promised benefits.  Any incentive has to be by way of the Budgets.” States offering the incentives might not even be able to collect taxes, he added. In interstate sale of goods, the destination states would collect the tax.  Some states currently offer incentives through refunds.  As the valueadded tax is originbased, some states pay back the producers, irrespective of whether or not goods move out of the state. Once the new indirect tax regime is rolled out, states may only be able to offer businesstoconsumer (B2C) incentives, but not businesstobusiness (B2B) ones.  Adhia gave the example of goods produced in Gujarat but consumed in Bihar.  “What right will Gujarat have to forgo the tax of Bih...

The capital markets regulator’s decision to exclude certain violations, including insider trading, from its consent mechanism has led to an unexpected surge in the   number of pending cases and a steep fall in incomes from out-of-court settlement processes.  The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is now saddled with an uphill task of clearing 7,000 cases after the decision to exclude insider-trading, front-  running, violating open-offer norms, and fraudulent and unfair trade practices from the scope of consent mechanism, a window available to settle disputes, by paying a   fee. Cases outside the scope of the consent mechanism are mostly settled through orders either under adjudication proceedings or as per section 11 of the Sebi Act, which   typically includes prohibitive orders such as debarment from the market or certain securities. Two people with direct knowledge of the status of cases pending with the regulator confirmed this, adding t...

The government is holding consultations with the Reserve Bank of India to prepare guidelines for the proposed fund being set up to provide guarantee to lower-rated bonds issued by infrastructure companies and bolster their ratings. “We expect that the guidelines will be finalised shortly and the proposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) will soon commence operations. Already, in-principal approvals have come from all participants,“ said a finance ministry official. The proposed firm may be called National Infrastructure Credit Enhancement. The SPV will be set up by the state-run India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL), and the other contributors are Life Insurance Corp, General Insurance Corp, and State Bank of India, the country's largest bank. Power Finance Corp and Punjab National Bank will also participate in the structure, which will provide credit enhancement to infrastructure projects. According to RBI data, more than 85% of corporate bond issuance in India ...

The government has extended the startups intellectual property protection (SIPP) scheme foraperiod of three years till March 2020 to help budding entrepreneurs protect   their patents, trademark and designs. Running onapilot basis initially, the scheme was in force till March 31 this year. It is now being "extended further foraperiod of three years", the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion said. It is crucial for startups to protect their intellectual property rights (IPRs) in this highly competitive world, it added. The Business Standard New Delhi, 25th April 2017

About 40 million subscribers of the Employees´ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can now make down payment and pay the equated monthly instalments from their EPF   accounts to buy houses. The subscribers will be able to withdraw up to 90 per cent of their accumulations in their PF account to purchase homes. The EPFO has amended the scheme by insertinganew paragraph —68 BD —to the EPF Scheme, 1952 Over four crore subscribers of the retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can now make down payment and pay EMIs from their EPF accounts to   buy homes. The subscribers of the EPFO will be able to withdraw up to 90 per cent of their accumulations in their PF account for purchasing homes. The EPFO has amended the scheme by insertinganew paragraph —68 BD —to the Employees´ Provident Funds (EPF) Scheme, 1952, to enableasubscriber to make down payment to  buy homes and pay EMIs through the EPF account,asenior official said. The official sai...

The Bihar Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, 2017, was passed by the bicameral state legislature on Monday, making Bihar the second state after Telangana to adopt the   new tax reforms.   With the lone exception of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist), all the political parties backed the Bills associated with the GST.  Bihar was also the second state in the country, after Assam, to rectify the constitutional amendment Bill.  The Bill, along with five others, was tabled in a special session of the state legislature on Monday.    Terming the tax reform as pro-poor and a development-booster, Commercial Tax Minister Vijayendra Yadav said  GST is the need of the hour. Crediting Chief Minister  Nitish Kumar for the smooth passage of the Bill, the minister said  Kumar had been a strong supporter of the new tax regime since the time it was conceptualised.    The Business Standard New Delhi, 25th April 2017

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Execution challenges for physical stores are expected to reduce after the implementation The Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will be a shot in the arm for the brick-andmortar retail industry, which has faced major competition from online e-commerce players in the past few years. Besides the uniform tax, the execution challenges for physical stores are expected to reduce significantly after the implementation of the GST, which has brought optimism for retailers to expand aggressively. “Today e-commerce companies get an advantage in terms of taxation,” said Kishore Biyani, chief executive officer (CEO), Future Group, which is present across all retail formats from supermarkets to fashion retail business. “The GST will create a great level-playing field and is definitely helping our new expansion plan,” he added. There have been some changes in the dynamics for brick-and-mortar stores in the past six months. The drying up of funds for some of the e-commerce players was a positiv...

In the run-up to the goods and services tax (GST) roll-out, the Central Board of Excise and Customs is set for a major revamp with resect to tax intelligence, information technology, risk assessment, post-clearance audit, taxpayer services, among others. The Board, which is being renamed as the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), will fortify and expand its intelligence wing - directorate general of GST intelligence -- to fight against tax evasion and clamp down on black money. “There are a lot of areas where maturity of the administration needs to go up. We are not able to perform in those (areas) due to lack of workforce and resources. The GST is one opportunity as it will free up manpower to concentrate on important areas like data analysis, intellectual property, risk assessment, etc,” said a senior government official. On the fear of redundancy, the official said the growth and promotions of officers would not be affected by the new tax regime. “New work will b...

Views sought on changing financial year to JanDec, simultaneous polls Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked states to work with the Centre as “TeamIndia” to introduce the goods and services tax (GST) in time. He also sought their   views on changing the financial year to January December (from April to March), as well as simultaneous general and Assembly polls. Chairing the NITI Aayog´s Governing Council meeting, which also comprises chief ministers, he sought their views on the threeyear agenda prepared by the body. This lays emphasis on reforms in governance and taxes, with higher spending on health and education. Its 15 year vision document envisages tripling the country´s real (adjusted for inflation) gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita income by 2031- 32. If GDP grows at this rate, every one should ideally have access to at least a two wheeler and an air conditioner in 15 years, the document says. The PM was also in favour of putting in place the...