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GoM on GST Network to meet on Wednesday A group of ministers( Go M ), headed by Bi h ar Deputy Chief MinisterS us hil Kumar Mo di, will meet on Wednesday to look into the technical issues faced by the goods and services tax network( GS TN ). This will be the sixth meeting of the Go M after being setup in September2017. The panel is likely to take stock of the functioning of the GS TN and also review the tasks assigned to the information technology(IT) behemoth Infosys for stream lining user experience on the portal. In 2015, Infosys won a Rs13.8 billion deal for developing and running the G ST N’ s back end office. TheGSTN, the IT backbone and portal for real time taxpayer registration, migration, and tax return filing under the G ST, had run into a snag when the first deadline for filing GS TR -3 B returns approached, forcing the Centre to extend the lastdate The Business Standard, New Delhi,  16th January 2018

I-T Dept may Go into Overdrive This Quarter The income-tax department will in all likelihood go into overdrive in the next three months with the Central Board of Direct Taxes — the apex body — alerting all senior tax officials that their performance is being “monitored at the highest level.” It will also give a renewed push towards imposing and recovering tax on .Rs  3 lakh crore deposit, which is suspected to be the quantum of unexplained cash parked with banks post demonetisation. “There will be searches, surveys, information verification, and follow-ups. Explanations on ‘cash in hand’ amounts are being sought from different kinds of assessees, and not just from large establishments and jewellers. We will be knocking on many doors even if our respective targets are met,” a senior tax officer told ET. This was broadly the message conveyed by the CBDT chief during a recent video-conference with tax officials.According to another person in the department, direct tax offices ...

Commerce Ministry panel's proposal to end MAT on SEZs under review The minimum alternate tax levied on special economic zones (SEZs) that hit fresh investments in the scheme is under review. A panel appointed by the commerce department had recommended removal of MAT for manufacturing units and zones to boost exports as well as job creation in the country. "The recommendations of the report are being examined," said a government official, who did not wish to be identified. A final call on the proposal will be taken in the budget keeping in view revenue implications and benefit that may accrue to the country in terms of manufacturing boost and jobs, the official said. Finance minister Arun Jaitley will present his fifth budget and the last full one of this NDA government on February 1. ET had earlier reported on the recommendations of the panel set up to review the SEZ norms. Tax experts said removal of MAT would boost business sentiment. "Ideally, MAT should n...

Govt sitting still on GST refunds Last week, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) brought to the government’s attention several issues in filing of GSTR-1 returns and enabling of transitional credit to assessees which could not file TRAN-1 returns due to system glitches. A follow-up to its representation of two weeks earlier ICAI said the GST Network system was not generating a summary within five minutes. Sometimes, it takes around 12 hours, due to which assessees are not able to proceed further. Though the latter are generating ‘a json’ file in the latest version of the offline tool, on uploading such a file, the system shows it as generated in the old version. In the B2B sheet, assessees round off the tax dues billwise but the system is finalising without rounding it off to rupees. Due to such system errors, assessees are finding it difficult to file before the due date. So, ICAI requested that assesses get relief by having the last date for filing of GSTR-...

FDI norms tweak: Joint audits to boost Indian entities Companies will now have to go for joint audits in caseaforeign investor insists on having an international auditor,amove that will provide a fillip to Indian audit entities. The government´s decision is seen as a significant step towards boosting the prospects of local auditing firms amid the back drop of Big 4 audit firms holding sway, especially when it comes to companies where there is overseas investment. Following extensive deliberations and an expert panel report related to audit firms, the government decided to tweak the auditing requirements with respect to companies having foreign investments.While relaxing the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy last week, the government said that there were no provisions in respect of specification of auditors that can be appointed by the Indian companies receiving foreign investments. Hence, it has been decided to provide in the FDI policy that wherever the foreign investor...

Sebi knocks at PMO door on NPA disclosure rules Regulator keen on implementing a revised proposal The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to look into its proposal mandating listed companies to make public disclosures within a day of loan defaults. According to sources, the market regulator is keen on implementing its initial proposal with certain changes. The new rule was to come into effect in October 2017 but got deferred due to hurdles in its implementation. A revised proposal was discussed on December 28 at Sebi’s board meeting, which decided to hold it further, saying it required more discussion. Sources said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Finance were not keen on the proposal as the move would require banks to make an additional provisioning of Rs 260 billion. Sebi, on the other hand, is pushing the proposal as it will benefit investors and lead...

GST Council may lower rates for farm gear, EVs The GST Council may take up rationalisation of the goods and services tax (GST) rates for a handful of items at its meeting next week These items include biodiesel buses, electric vehicles and irrigation equipment.The GST Council meeting will be its last one before the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1. The relatively small list for rate reduction was finalised by the fitment committee earlier this week and may be taken up by the GST Council, which is headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprises state finance ministers. “The items qualifying for rate reduction in the upcoming meeting have been picked with an objective of giving a push to agriculture and clean energy.Other items in the 28 per cent tax slab will not be taken up this time with revenues yet to stabilise,” said an official The rate for irrigation equipment may be reduced from 18 per cent to 12per cent, while that for biodiesel vehicles and elec...

Budget bonanza: Dividend distribution tax may go The finance ministry is likely to do away with the dividend distribution tax (DDT) in the upcoming Union Budget.Sources in the know have said there have been considerable discussions on the topic among various stakeholders. At present, if a company gives dividend to its shareholders, it has to pay DDT of 20.36 per cent (15 percent plus surcharge and cess).Two stakeholders, who met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia separately for preBudget consultations, told Business Standard that the issue of DDT came up in the meetings that took place between industry representatives and Adhia. This move, experts say, would help the government in more ways than one —it would boost India Inc´s ease of doing business, encourage firms to give more dividends, and improve returns for retail investors in the lower income tax bracket “It is expected that Budget 2018 may propose a withdrawal of DDT and return to the cl...

MCA to review SEBI´s PW order The corporate affairs ministry (MCA) will examine markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India´s (Sebi´s) order against audit major Price Waterhouse in the Satyam Computer Services case, Union MinisterPPChaudhary said on Thursday. On Wednesday, Sebi barred Price Waterhouse´s network entities from issuing audit certificates to any listed firm in India for two years after finding the audit major guilty in the multicrore Satyam scam. Besides, the regulator has directed disgorgement of over Rs 130 million wrongful gains by the audit major and its two erstwhile partners who worked on the IT major´s accounts. When asked about Sebi´s order against Price Waterhouse and whether the ministry would be looking at having stricter norms for auditors in the wake of that order, Chaudhary said, “We will examine it.” “There are already stringent norms and the only question is about execution,” he said in response to a query on whether there are plans t...

Officials back Dholakia´s objection to RBI´s growth assessment As Advance Estimates by the statistics office for growth in gross value added (GV) came much below the Reserve Bank of India´s (RBI) projections for 201718, officials in the Central Statistics Office (CSO) point to an assessment by a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member who said the central bank had overestimated the numbers, ahead of the December policy review. Another official in the finance ministry said the assessment by the member,RDholakia, was correct so far as the issue of cut in the policy rate was concerned.According to minutes of the MPC meeting in December, Dholakia said RBI overestimated growth. While the CSO puts GVA growth at 6.1 per cent, RBI had projected 6.7 per cent.Dholakia,a professor of economics at IIMAhmedabad, had pitched for a 25 basis points (bps) rate reduction in the December meeting. He had also predicted the fiscal deficit might exceed the target of 3.2 per cent of Gross Domestic P...

Sebi extends deadline for stockbrokers to set up records of client orders Sebi has extended till 1 April deadline for stockbrokers to comply with the requirement of keeping evidence of every instruction given by clients for equity and equity derivative trades The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday extended the deadline for stockbrokers to comply with the requirement of keeping evidence of every instruction given by clients for equity and equity derivative trades. This rule will now be applicable from 1 April, instead of the earlier specified date of 1 January On 26 September, the markets regulator had directed all brokerages to compulsorily record every phone call of their clients or keep evidence of all trade-related instructions in writing, email or text message formats in a bid to prevent any risk arising from unauthorized trading. The market watchdog had also directed brokerages to keep a record of the logs of internet transactions by their clients ...