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Until recently, a person didn’t need to file a return if his taxable income was below Rs 2.5 lakh. But this year onwards, it doesn’t solely depend on the taxable income. Now, if the taxpayer has exempted income like long-term capital gains that crosses the basic exemption limit of Rs 2.5 lakh, he needs to file returns mandatorily. For example, if an individual redeems equity mutual funds (MFs) worth Rs 3 lakh held for over a year and has no other income. The gains from the investment are tax-free. The entire income, therefore, is exempted from tax. But even in such cases, the taxpayer needs to file return mandatorily. “Taxpayers may not be aware of such minor changes in the regulation but these can lead the authorities to issue a notice,” says Kuldip Kumar, partner and leader personal tax, PwC India. The government latest norms to capture details of your income and assets have made things more tedious. And, a small error or omission of information can prove costly in the future. Li...

GST Council says states will get exclusive control over all dealers up to a revenue of Rs1.5 crore—addressing the issue of dual control over small traders In a big step towards the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), the centre and the states on Friday reached a consensus on most contentious issues under the new indirect tax regime, raising hope that they would be able to agree on the last remaining issue, the tax rates, by next month. The GST council, at its first meeting, agreed on a revenue threshold of Rs20 lakh below which the traders will be exempted from GST. This limit will be Rs10 lakh for the north-eastern and hill states. The council also managed to reach middle ground on sharing of administrative powers between the centre and the states. It decided that states will get exclusive control over all dealers up to a revenue threshold of Rs1.5 crore—thus addressing the issue of dual control over small traders. Given the lack of expertise among states to levy s...

GST provision requires any goods more than Rs  50,000 value to be registered online before movement   The GST provision, requiring any good more than Rs 50,000 in value to be pre-registered online before it can be moved, is likely to kick in from October after a centralised software platform is ready, a top official said.   The provision, called the e-way bill, would be implemented after infrastructure for smooth generation of registration and its verification through hand-held devices with tax officials is ready.   The information technology platform for the e-way bill system is being developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) along with GST-Network -- the company which has developed the  IT backbone for the new indirect tax regime.   The Centre has also decided to relax timeline provision under which the e-way bill generated by GSTN for 20 days for goods travelling more than 1,000 km. Earlier, this was 15 days. As per the pro...

A man looks for a book on GST at a shop in Coimbatore ahead of the roll-out of the new tax regime on July 1 More than lack of awareness, information overload after the roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) is making the transition to the new indirect tax regime tough, according to a top consultant dealing with clients across sectors. Classes and tutorials, both physical and online, to make people understand the tax system should have started months before the launch, rather than after, the consultant argued. Anita Rastogi, partner, indirect tax and GST, PwC India, said, “It was not a good first week…. We had expected turmoil but what we saw was much more than that.” Adding to the confusion were statements and notifications flowing out of several ministries and government departments, another person closely associated with the GST processes told Business Standard.A recent consumer affairs ministry notification saying old stocks can be sold with a new maximum retail price (MRP...

Net profit growth of Nifty companies likely to be lowest in nine quarters The goods and services tax (GST) is estimated to have taken a toll on corporate earnings for the April-June quarter of financial year 2017-18 (FY18) even before it was implemented from July 1. Brokerages have said earnings growth of the 50 Nifty companies in the June quarter could be one of the worst in the past nine quarters. The combined net profit of the 50 companies is estimated to decline by 2.6 per cent on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis — worst since the March FY-15 quarter when it contracted by 41.7 per cent y-o-y. In comparison, the combined net profit of the 50 companies was up 49.6 per cent in the March FY17 quarter, while it was down 2.1 per cent in the June FY17 quarter. The decline in profitability is likely to be led by slowdown in top line growth, inventory losses by oil marketers due to a sharp fall in crude oil prices and lower operating profit margins in the manufacturing sector. The analysi...

Global buyers are regularly calling suppliers in the buzzing town of Tirupur, India’s biggest knitwear hub that boasts Rs 25,000 crore exports every year. International callers, familiar with GST benefits, are very clear about what it means for them. “They want a cut in prices,” says S Sakthivel, secretary of the Tirupur Exporters Association. The knitwear industry is clear about long-term benefits, but Sakhtivel also has other callers: Exporters want details about tax implications for the industry that has numerous workers and units involved in different parts of the chain such as printing, embroidery, washing, dyeing etc, which are taxed at 18%, while jobs related to yarn and fabric enjoy a 5% rate. They are still coming to terms with the new system. “We are caught between buyers and suppliers not knowing what to do,” he rues although the industry is cautiously optimistic about GST. In the southern states, the optimism is shared by many. Several businesses in Kerala are hap...

The Union government has moved a proposal to make a budgetary provision for refunding its share of area based exemptions on indirect taxes given to certain states in the past. In last week´s meeting of thee goods and services tax (GST) Council, it was decided that ´all entities exempted under payment of indirect tax under any existing incentives scheme of central or state governments shall not continue under the GST regime and existing units shall pay tax under the GST regime´. Under the discretionary powers left to it by the Council regarding these incentives, the finance ministry has proposed to provide budgetary support for refunding its share in GST to such units to which exemptions in indirect taxes were granted, for promoting industrialisation. The units are situated in Jammu &Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and the north eastern states, In these states, some areas have been catagorised as excise free zones and units in those areas were eligible for expemptions. Acc...

Might make a recommendation to the ministry of corporate affairs The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is in favour of having at least one woman as independent director (ID) on the board of listed companies, said two people in the know, including a senior Sebi official. According to the Companies Act, 2013, all listed companies need to have at least one woman as a director on their board. While most companies have fulfilled this, some have done so by inducting family members of the promoters. And, women on India Inc boards are still low in number. “The thinking within Sebi is that there should be at least a fifth of women on the boards of listed companies in the next three years. To achieve this, the regulator plans to make a recommendation to the ministry of corporate affairs of making one independent woman director mandatory,” said a person with knowledge of the development, asking not to be named. The person said the recommendation could be made after a newly setup c...

The Narendra Modi government is set to take up three finance ministry related legislative matters in the coming monsoon session of Parliament .These are the Banking Regulation Act amendment specified in the ordinance to deal with non-performing assets,a bankruptcy Bill for financial firms, and passage of a new National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill. Officials told Business Standard that while the ministry´s load was relatively lighter compared to the Budget session, when the goods and services tax Bills were passed apart from the Finance Bill, the three legislation slated for the monsoon session were also crucial.It is scheduled to begin on July 12. The government has to amend the Banking Regulation Act after an ordinance was promulgated in May to give the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) the power to direct banks to initiate bankruptcy proceedings of defaulting companies and to take decisions on behalf of lenders while dealing with stressed assets. Two sec...

Automakers Nissan, Skoda and Isuzu Motors have reduced prices of passenger vehicles in India by upto Rs 2.4 lakh to pass on benefit of goods and services tax(GST) to customers.Tata Motors has cut prices of its commercial vehicles by upto 8.2 percent, while Bajaj Auto´s Austrian arm KTM dropped prices of its sports bikes in the country.Japanese automaker Nissan announced reduction in prices of its vehicles, including the Dats unbrand, by an average of three percent in the country. The company sells a range of vehicles under Nissan and Dats unbrands, ranging from hatch back Redi Go to SUV Terrano, in Indian market. Czech car maker Skoda reduced prices of Superb model range by upto 7.3 percent in Mumbai, resulting in a price benefit of up to 2.4lakh. Hyundai Motor India also said it has reduced prices of its vehicles by upto 5.9 percent to pass on GST benefit to customers. Business Standard New Delhi, 07th July 2017

Seeking to send a stern message, the income tax (I-T) department has initiated a plan to take strident action against tax evaders. This is to ensure they are prosecuted without requiring the assessment to get over. This follows an action plan drawn up by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) where an aggressive strategy was outlined to nab tax dodgers. The CBDT had circulated a strategy paper for the investigation team of the I-T wing, saying the taxman should prosecute tax evaders in large numbers to create a credible deterrence against the black money menace. “Filing of prosecution complaints in cases where evidence is strong does not require completion of tax assessment,” the department said in its action plan prepared for FY-18. “The department has tweaked its strategy from just raising tax demand to going the extra mile of taking them to courts,” said a senior tax official with direct knowledge of the plan. Typically, the tax department launches a prosecution or charge shee...