CA Online

Most states await directions from the central government Madhya Pradesh may have taken one jump ahead of the other states in switching over to the January December fiscal year, but Andhra Pradesh too is preparing to follow in its footsteps next year. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is part of the BJPled National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has been at the forefront of supporting the Centre´s initiatives on many fronts, including the recent demonetisation drive. “The financial year has to be uniform in the country because the states will receive central grants as well as their shares in central taxes, which are calculated and released in specific financial years.Therefore, states will have to align their fiscal years to that of the Centre.Andhra Pradesh is ready to make January-December its fiscal year whenever the government of India wants to make the switchover,”a finance ministry official said. The April-March financial year is a r...

The Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Madhya Pradesh Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill-2017.Both Treasury and Opposition benches tried to grab credit for this new tax regime.The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition Congress adopted the Bill in the House, paving the way for the rollout of GST. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was present in the House when Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya moved the MP Goods and Services Bill, 2017, at the daylong special session.Earlier, both BJP and Congress tried to position GST as their own victory."The present version of GST Bill is a translation of the Bill proposed by the UPA government.It was Manmohan Singh who opened up the Indian economy that led to economic reforms in the country," senior Congress MLA Mukesh Nayak said. Business Standard New Delhi, 04th May 2017

Cabinet nod for amendments to banking Act to give more teeth to RBI The Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approvedanew framework for dealing with Rs 6 lakh crore worth of non performing assets (NPAs)  in the banking system. The framework includes the promulgation of an Ordinance to amend the Banking Regulation Act to give more teeth to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its oversight committees to act on behalf of banks while deciding on NPAs.The proposals are now awaiting the President´s assent. “We have taken some decisions regarding the banking sector.There are some modifications for which the President´s assent is required,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said at a post cabinet press briefing.“There is a convention that when some proposal is referred to the President, then details of it cannot be disclosed till it is approved.As soon as approval comes, details will be shared,” he added. The Cabinet also approved a National Steel Policy that ai...

Government on Tuesday asserted in the Supreme Court that Aadhaar was made mandatory for PAN card to weed out fake PAN cards which were used for terror financing and circulation of black money, while terming the concerns over privacy as "bogus". Business Standard New Delhi, 03rd May 2017

The goods and service tax (GST) council's rate fitment committee will deliberate for three days starting on May 4 to align all goods and services to different slabs. A member of the committee, which comprises central and state tax officials, said that the tax rate alignment will be more or less final at the end of the meeting. "We shall do this exercise in such a way that there is little work left to be done or time required to be spent by the council in giving its approval." The council is set to meet for two days from May 18 in Srinagar and approve the rates so that GST can be rolled out from July 1. Hindustan Times New Delhi, 03rd May 2017

As government turns the heat on black money, number of returns filed jumps substantially The number of people who filed tax returns surged by 95 lakh as the government turned the heat on black money with demonetisation and various other measures, two top government officials told ET. The figure was in a presentation made before Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of the revenue department's review on Tuesday . “There has been an addition of about 95 lakh new taxpayers,“ said one of the officials aware of the details of the presentation. The government has been looking to widen the tax net as barely a little over 1% of the population is said to pay income tax. As many as 5.28 crore returns were e-filed in FY16, a rise of 22% over the previous year. Some returns were filed in paper mode as well. The income-tax department had launched a crackdown against tax evaders as part of its war against black money . It identified 18 lakh persons who had made bank depo Rs 1,000 and 500 ...

Banks allowed these to take up private placements of equity in rival companies; conflict clause confined to specific sub-sectors To ensure success of its 2017-18 disinvestment target, the government is taking an easier approach towards investment banks participating in public sector undertaking (PSU) share sales. The department of public asset management (Dipam), the government body in charge of divestment, has allowed investment banks with PSU mandates to take up certain types of capital market offerings by rival companies in the private sector. The move comes after some lenders, including Deutsche Bank, raised concerns over the ‘conflict of interest’ clause applicable for the share sale mandate in seven PSUs, including Indian Oil and NTPC. Recently, the government floated a Request for Proposal, inviting i-bankers to manage share sales in these seven entities, in the power, finance, energy and metal segments. Sectoral players say the bankers were keen on applying for the mandate ...

At a time when fintech players and banks are vying to offer faster services to their customers, reduce paperwork, and move processes online for greater convenience, government bodies like the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) too have realised that they need to change with the times. The EPFO, which has traditionally been perceived as stodgy, has surprised long-time watchers with its customer-friendly initiatives in recent months. No certificates required for advances Earlier if you wanted a non-refundable advance from your EPF account, you had to produce a certificate to prove your need was genuine.If you needed money for medical treatment, you had to produce a doctor's certificate. If you needed it to finance a child's marriage, you had to submit the wedding card as proof. All such requirements have been done away. "You can withdraw money by just making a self-declaration.This is in line with the central government's policy of relying on people's s...

The government said the goods and services tax regime, likely to start in two months, will not increase the compliance burden on trade and industry. “Many people think that implementation of GST would result in increase in compliance cost.This is completely misplaced,“ revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia told netizens on Facebook. Industry has been apprehensive about GST increasing compliance burden. Adhia said that on the contrary, it would come down because trade and industry won't have to maintain separate books for central excise and value added tax. “With the rollout of GST, there would be a single tax and accounting for this will be very simple. It can be done through an offline excel form provided by GST Network. If someone uses this form for keeping records of purchase and sales, then he can use this for filing returns. Thus, compliance would be minimised,“ he said. Adhia, who is spearheading the implementation of GST, said the finance ministry is gearing up for the rollo...

Retail small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) have builtacase for deferment of implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) to September 1 on account of complexities involved to comply with the new setup.Agroup of retail businesses, including Max Standard Retail, SRS Group and VMart Retail, has written a letter to Finance Minister and Chairman of the GST Council Arun Jaitley to extend the GST deadline, which has now been set at July 1. The retailers sought extension, along with clarification for the industry, to absorb the change, the representation made to the finance minister said.Earlier, traders´ association, the Confederation of All India Traders, also pitched delaying the roll-out of the GST regime to September 1, as small businesses are not yet ready for it. Business Standard New Delhi, 02nd May 2017

The budget session of Parliament is likely to begin on January 31, advancing it by over three weeks, the cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs decided on  Tuesday. Finance minister Arun Jaitley will present the combined Union budget – including allocations for the railways and ending a 92-year-old tradition of presenting a separate railway budget – on February 1. Jaitley was present at the meeting also attended by home minister Rajnath Singh, parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Officials expect the move will allow for earlier allocation of funds for government schemes and projects and lead to their better implementation on the ground. In the past, funds were usually not allotted from the beginning of the financial year on April 1, creating a backlog and choking funds. Though the budget was presented in February, several tax proposals kick-in only from June after Parliament passes the annual finance bill in May. A...