CA Online

Tax dept to engage with corporates to spur receipts Amid slowing growth in advance tax collections, the income-tax department is exploring enhanced engagement with the top 100 companies to facilitate compliance. A committee set up under the direct tax department to review assessment and scrutiny has identified “taxpayer segmentation” to improve collections. “The idea is to provide differential treatment to big taxpayers as they make up for the bulk of the revenue collection. The tax department is, after all, a 30 per cent stakeholder in corporate sector earnings. Stepping up engagement with them will help the department and the companies,” said a government official. The idea is to have a dedicated tax officer who will act as a one-point contact, keeping a close watch on a company’s quarterly results or performance, facilitating advance tax filing and helping estimate earnings for advance tax computation. Advance tax collection up to September 15 slowed to 11 per cent as against 14...

The smoother and easier way of transferring EPF money The process of transfer of Employees Provident Fund money is not smooth and according to VP Joy, central provident fund commissioner, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the delay is primarily due to the multiple bank accounts held by regional provident offices. “The transfer can take months because the money in the employees account has to be transferred from the bank account held by a regional provident fund commissioner’s (RPFC’s) office of the previous employer to the bank account held by the RPFC of the new employer,” he said. To reduce the turn around time of such transfers, EPFO has decided to discontinue the practice of multiple bank accounts and keep just one. This is likely to get operational by the end of this week. “We have now abolished individual State Bank of India (SBI) receipt accounts and have only one bank account for the EPFO. The money is tagged to the employee’s UAN and as she changes jobs, only...

GST Council set to consider measures to help exporters In a move to support exporters recovering from a prolonged contraction, the goods and services tax (GST) Council headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley is set to consider new measures for a quick refund of taxes paid by them.Measures for the swift processing of refund claims, which will be taken up at a meeting of the council on Friday, will improve the liquidity of exporters. An official privy to the discussions in the council said on condition of anonymity that the indirect tax body will consider the report of a panel led by revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia which examined ways to avoid blocking exporters’ funds. The panel set up by the council had sought exporters’ views in August. Exporters are likely to be allowed refunds without waiting for the invoice details of raw materials and other purchases, but based on the summary of all transactions and details of exports made. Exporters have made a series of demands includi...

Start-up launches slump to 800 in 2017 The number of new start-ups has now dropped steeply for two years in a row The number of new internet and technology start-ups launched in the first nine months of this year has slumped to 800 from more than 6,000 in all of last year, as start-up closures, the struggles of large internet companies such as Snapdeal and a slow-down in the growth of the e-commerce market took their toll on entrepreneurial activity. According to data from Tracxn, a start-up tracker, the number of new start-ups has now dropped steeply for two years in a row. Mint reported on 22 September that while some investors are again interested in backing new consumer internet start-ups, there is an acute shortage of such companies. The slump in new start-up formation is a worrying trend for the nascent Indian start-up ecosystem. It is a legacy of the go-go years of 2014 and 2015, when investors rushed to fund internet start-ups in the belief that the Indian internet ma...

Crucial year ahead for regulator It has been a hectic first year for the insolvency regulator, which hit the ground running. A year ago, when MS Sahoo went to work inasmall room in the building of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, there were not many to assist him. The board itself comprised only nominee members.The first whole time member would join only five months later.But, Sahoo had tight deadlines. The government wanted the entire corporate insolvency framework to be ready by December 1.Sahoo recalls how active participation from stakeholders helped him beat that tight 60day deadline.“This becameareform by the stakeholders, of the stakeholders and for the stakeholders,” he said in an interview. Today, the board is better placed than in those early days.It has already moved to a more spacious office in the Connaught Place area. Three whole time members have joined —Suman Saxena, who looks after research and regulation, Navrang Saini (registration and monitoring) ...

Composition scheme takes aquantum leap Availing of the benefits of a flat tax rate and easier compliance, the number of businesses opting for the composition scheme under the goods and services tax has gone up by 50 per cent. About 540,000 taxpayers have opted for the scheme under the new window of about 14 days till September 30, compared to one million as of August 16, the earlier deadline. The scheme is for specific categories of small businesses with a turnover of Rs 75 lakh and below.Anyone availing of the scheme cannot claim input tax credit.Such a dealer cannot issue a tax invoice. Hence, someone buying from a composition dealer cannot claim input tax on the goods bought. The number of taxpayers under the composition scheme, at 1.5 million, is about a sixth of the 8.9 million assessees under the GST. Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat account for half of the composition dealers. UP has the highest number of such dealers at 291,552, followed by R...

CBDT Opens Checking A/c on Rs  3Lcr Deposits Apex body chief tells tax officers to target unexplained deposits after demonetisation It could be taxing times for tax officials as well as those they turn their glare on. They have been told by the chief of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex body, to target and impose tax on Rs 3 lakh crore deposits which is estimated to be the quantum of unexplained cash parked with banks after demonetisation was announced. CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra conveyed the message in a recent video conference to senior officials of I-T department, according to two persons who attended the meeting. Identifying a sizeable slice of deposits as unaccounted cash will not on the sizeable slice of deposits as unaccounted cash will shore up overall direct tax collection also give the government a chance to showcase the success of demonetisation ly shore up overall direct tax collection in a slowing economy, but also give the government a chanc...

Sebi seeks update from bourses on clients Aadhaar nos Markets regulator Sebi has asked stock exchanges to submit a monthly progress report on collection of Aadhaar numbers by its members, according to a circular. This follows the governments amending in June the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules with regard to collection of Aadhaar number from clients. In a circular, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has asked all its members to update +the Aadhaar number of their clients to comply with the amended prevention of money laundering (PML) rules. "Sebi has asked the exchange to submit a progress report on the collection of the Aadhaar number by the members on a monthly basis. "In view of the same, members are requested to update the Aadhaar number of their clients, wherever provided, in the UCC (Unique Client Code) database of exchange," said the circular, dated September 27. On the basis of updation by the members in the UCC database, NSE wo...

Sebi mulls continuous listing norms for stricter oversight Sebi is looking to set up a working group to study the various aspects of creating a framework for continuous listing norms Working on ways to bolster its surveillance measures, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has plans to put in a framework for continuous listing norms for listed entities, according to a regulatory official. The move also comes at a time when multiple agencies and regulators are clamping down on suspected shell companies as part of larger efforts to curb the black money menace. Sebi already has strict norms for listed entities and are updated on a continuous basis. The person in the know said the regulator is looking to further strengthen the surveillance mechanism and weed out “paper- compliant companies”. In this regard, the proposal to float an agenda paper to introduce the “initial and continuous listing norms” was discussed during a recent meeting of the secondary market advisory...

Exporters seek e wallets & GST exemption Exporters have suggested the idea of instituting an ewallet mechanism for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and complete exemption for merchant exporters, who have been hit by an unavailability of working capital in the goods and services tax (GST) regime. In a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said the system may be instituted sinceasignificant number of firms are still disproportionately affected byacapital crunch. "Government may consider introduction of e-wallet for exporters in which, based on the preceding year´s exports and an average GST rate, ecurrency is credited to exporters´ accounts. Like a running account, money may be debited from the e-wallet when dutypaid supplies have to be undertaken and the amount may be credited when the proof of export is made available from ICEGATE," FIEO said inastatement to finance ministry officials. E...

Govt wants early warning system on shell companies: How it will work The term is used to refer to a company without active business operations or much of assets. This by itself isn't illegitimate but they could be used as a manoeuvre for financial operations of a suspect or illegitimate nature. Currently, there is no way to check shell companies systemically, an official said. Chartered accountants (CAs) do come out with qualified accounts of such companies but these come in a random way on the ministry's MCA21 portal. Qualified accounts refer to bits of information about which CAs have doubts or disagreement with the audited entity's management. After the hoped-for early warning system comes, qualified accounts would be flagged on the ministry's portal, helping it and other regulators to check on such entities. "We are yet to work out the nitty gritty of this system but are on the job," another official said. He said this would do away with the curr...