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After demonetisation, which almost brought house sales to a halt, real estate developers are  grappling with the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (Rera) and the goods and services  tax (GST). “Real estate has gone through many down cycles since 1991. But I have never seen three  tsunamis together,” said Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of the Hiranandani group, one of  the country’s oldest and largest property developers. “This is the worst time in the careers of many developers. If you have rental income, you can  stay. Otherwise, it will be very difficult,” added Vijay Wadhwa, chairman of the Wadhwa group, a  Mumbai-based developer. “The law is very strict and developers cannot be lackadaisical in their  dealings anymore,” said Wadhwa. Life for developers, which are often criticised for opaque practices, has turned topsy turvy  after Rera came into force from May 1. Most developers in Maharashtra are focusing on completi...

   The government has collected over Rs 1.80 lakh crore in direct tax till July 15 in the current  fiscal, an increase of 21.4 pre cent year-on-year, "belying" fears of slowdown in economic  activities.  "The current growth rate is higher than the target rate of 15.32 required to achieve the Budget  Estimate," Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in the  Rajya Sabha.  The government aims to collect Rs 9.8 lakh crore through direct taxes in 2017-18.  The minister further said the current growth rate in direct tax collections is "quite healthy,  belying any apprehension of reduction" in the level of economic or commercial activities.  He said the government has taken several initiatives to boost economic activity in the country  and several measures were announced in the Budget 2017-18.  Replying to another question, Gangwar said the number of cyber crimes pertaining to cr...

Companies tweak strategies as every product sold needs to have notional value in new tax regime There's no such thing as free pizza -or `free' anything -under GST, it would appear. That staple of promotional schemes among consumerfacing packaged products and  foods services companies -buy one get one free -is being axed by many of them a month after the goods and services tax was rolled out. The move is necessitated by the GST fine print, according to which compa nies will have to pay additional tax on anything they give away as `free' to consumers and  stand to lose input cre dit when they classify a product sale as `free'. That's forcing companies to look for other ways to win over customers. “We are doing away with  buy-oneget-one-free offers and are switching to upfront discounting,“ said Mayank Shah, marketing head at biscuit maker Parle Products. “This is causing disruption but it's what is required under the goods and services tax.“ In a slowi...

Total customs revenues rise to Rs 26,500 cr as rollout of the new tax regime completes a month The collection of Integrated Goods and Services Tax from imports crossed Rs 20,000 crore in July — the first month of the roll out of the new indirect tax regime,  pointing towards a major jump in revenues. Total customs revenues in July 2017 stood at Rs 26,500 crore as against Rs 16,625 crore collected in July 2016. Collections have been quite robust,” a government official said. However, the official said IGST collections have also received a boost from the fact that there is a component of state GST as well in the tax. Besides, the government has done away with a number of countervailing duty (CVD) exemptions and not extended them under the GST regime that were available in the  previous tax  regime, such as that on some electronic products. The rise in customs revenues on imports should take care of any decline in GST collections because of any production-relat...

The income tax (IT) department on Monday extended the deadline for e filing of returns by five days, till August 5, after complaints were received that assessees were  not able to submit returns. The department had earlier ruled out extending the deadline for filing returns. The department also eased the timeframe for linking permanent account number (PAN) with Aadhaar by August 30. Assessees can for now simply quote their Aadhaar number  or enrolment ID. “In view of the difficulties faced by taxpayers, date for efiling of income tax returns for FY 2016-17 has been extended to August 5, 2017,” the  department tweeted. Last minute inundation and heavy traffic on the website of the efiling portal led to the extension. Assessees, particularly those with some discrepancies in their name or year of birth, or any other data on their Aadhaar and PAN cards, were not able to submit  returns. Besides, it was reported the site was down forawhile. “Some people for ...

The Goods and Services Tax Council is likely to consider lowering of tax rates for job works for  making garments to 5 per cent from 18 per cent,a source in the finance ministry has said. The  panel, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising representatives of all the 29  states, is likely to consider removing anomaly in taxation in cases where the intermediate goods  are taxed at the highest bracket than the tax on final output, the source said. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 01st August 2017

The last date for filing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the financial year 2016-17 will  not be extended beyond tomorrow's deadline, a top official today said.  "The last date for filing of ITRs remains July 31. There are no plans to extend this  deadline. The department has already received over 2 crore returns filed electronically. The  department requests taxpayers to file their return in time," the official said.  On reports of the e-filing website facing some glitches, the official said that no major  glitches have been reported with the department's e-filing website--  The department has also issued advertisements in leading national dailies in the last few  days stating that taxpayers should disclose their income "correctly" and file their ITRs on  or before July 31.  The linking of Aadhaar number with the PAN (Permanent Account Number) of a taxpayer has also  been made mandatory for filing of an ITR, beginning ...

In a move to sort out the procedural mess that exports have got stuck into after the roll-out of  the goods and services tax (GST), the Customs department has notified that currency exchange  rates for drawback purposes would be announced on a fortnightly basis, as was the case earlier. “Customs duty is payable only in the rupee, and GST norms had stipulated that foreign exchange  conversions should be according to the Reserve Bank of India’s reference rate, which is updated  on a daily basis. Traders had complained that it made processing large volumes of payments  difficult,” said Abhishek Jain, tax partner, EY. Now, traders can go back to paying the free-on- board (FOB) value of exports based on the rupee value according to the exchange rate notified by  the Customs department for drawback purposes, Jain said. For services exports, any generally  accepted accounting basis is allowed. The circular also allowed self-certification for higher du...

The IT department is considering setting up a centralised cell for scrutiny of income tax  cases as part of efforts to reduce a personalised interface between the taxmen and taxpayers  with a view to curb corrupt practices. The proposed cell will be on the lines of the Central Processing Centre that the department  currently has in Bengaluru for processing income tax returns. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 31st July 2017

The goods and services tax (GST) was not an “easy reform to implement” but it has evoked  “great” public support with the government deciding not to blink in the face of Opposition  to the new taxation measure, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday. “We have today reachedastage of history where there isagreat amount of popular support  behind reforms because people have become restless. They are not willing to be satisfied withasituation wherein India cannot reach up to its  potential,” he said in Chennai, while addressingaGST Conclave organised by various industry  bodies. “Ican say withareasonable expectation for the future that it (GST) was notavery easy reform  to implement. Occasionally, there are people who try and prevent any reform from happening.” Jaitley said  he had learnt in the last few years that one should not blink if convinced thatareform was  in the national interest. “If you pause, blink, go intoareconsidera...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has  produced “a big positive effect” on India’s economy and instilled “a new sense of  confidence” in the country. During his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ monthly radio address, he expressed satisfaction with the  implementation of the new tax regime in the country, saying the “lofty dream” of ‘One  Nation–One Tax’ has “finally” been fulfilled. “It has been one month since GST was implemented and its benefits can be seen already. I  feel very happy and satisfied when a poor person writes to say how because of GST prices of  various items essential for him have come down, and commodities have become cheaper,” he  said. One overriding priority for “every government” has been to ensure that there is no burden on  the plate of the poor on account of GST, he said. Using the GST app, one can know as to how much an item cost before the rollout of the GST  and how muc...