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CIC raps GSTN for lack of order, seeks clarity on info disclosure Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the IT backbone of the new tax regime, has attracted the ire of Central Information Commission (CIC), which has directed the company to set its house in order and update information in public domain. CIC has taken a grim view of the functioning of GSTN, a company with 1,200 employees managing the entire network.Hearing an appeal filed by applicant R K Jain, who had sought information under the Right to Information Act (RTI) on GSTN’s HR policy and voluntary disclosure of information, Information Commissioner Bimal Julka said, “It is appalling to learn that an important, significant and critical area concerning the implementation of GST Network still required streamlining and consolidation, which needs to be attended to forthwith in the larger public interest”. The commissioner’s observation follows facts that emerged during hearing of the case. Jain had put forward documents...

Government borrowing cost likely to fall, thanks to EPFO Borrowing costs for the Centre and the states may reduce in FY19 after India allowed the country’s biggest buyer of organized debt to buy less of corporate bonds and increase instead the allocations toward sovereign paper. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), which manages more than Rs 10 lakh crore in superannuation funds and is India’s largest domestic buyer of debt, now needs to allocate a minimum of 20 per cent of its portfolio to corporate bonds. That threshold, earlier set at 35 per cent, has been reduced because of the lack of availability of quality corporate paper in the country. “Based on the rates, we will take prudent and meritorious investment decision in the interest of stakeholders,” said VP Joy, the central provident fund commissioner. “We have larger limits now for government bond investments.”Two weeks ago, ET reported that the EPFO requested the Centre to alter investment guidelines applic...

Taxmen asked to step up collections to meet higher target Faced with a daunting target of Rs 10.05 lakh crore, the apex decision-making body for direct taxes, CBDT, has asked its field officers to step up efforts and put more focus on better performing zones. In the 2018-19 Budget, the government hiked the direct tax, which includes personal income tax and corporate tax, collection target to Rs 10.05 lakh crore from Rs 9.80 lakh crore budgeted initially.In a review meeting earlier this month, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) set higher target for zones which are performing well. “We are looking at better advance tax collection for January-March quarter. If the trend of October-December quarter continues, we will be able to achieve the landmark Rs 10 lakh crore target,” an official said. The focus areas of the department for stepping up tax collection will be to follow up with entities which are currently giving taxes on the basis of self-assessment. “We will check if th...

Govt ropes in IIFT, ICAI to improve ease of doing business ranking Commerce and industry ministry has appointed four institutes, including IIFT and ICAI, to interact with stakeholders and suggest measures to push India’s ranking in World Bank’s ease of doing business index Commerce and industry ministry has appointed four institutes, including IIFT and ICAI, to interact with stakeholders and suggest measures to push India’s ranking in ease of doing business index, an official said.The National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR), the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) are the four institutes that have been roped in for the exercise. As per the latest World bank’s Doing Business ranking, India’s position improved by 30 places to 100th. The government wants India to figure within top 50 in the coming years.“We have appointed these four obse...

70% IGST refund stuck due to flawed claims filed by exporters: CBEC As about 70 per cent of GST refunds stuck due to flawed information, the CBEC has asked exporters to amend the details in the final returns of subsequent month to enable the department to process the refund claims by March. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has sanctioned Rs 4,000 crore worth refunds to exporters in 4 months since October. Still about Rs 10,000 crore worth claims are stuck due to discrepancies in the information furnished by exporters to GST Network (GSTN) in filing GSTR 1 or Table 6A or GSTR 3B and shipping bill filed with Customs. "The analysis of data indicates that only about 32 per cent records of GSTR 1 / Table 6A have been transmitted from GSTN to Customs. In other words, a majority (about 70 per cent) of refund claims are held up either due to insufficient information or lack of due diligence on the part of exporter while filing GST returns," the CBEC said in a co...

E-way bill may be relaxed for e-commerce players if orders are small It is not clear if separate e-way bills for multiple orders are required if the same vehicle carries the consignments E-commerce players such as Amazon and Flipkart may get exemption from having to generate an electronic-way bill (e-way bill) under the goods and services tax (GST) if there are multiple deliveries on the same trip. The e-way bill is set to be introduced on April 1 for interstate movements of goods worth at least Rs 50,000, and in a phased manner for intrastate movements subsequently. This is one of the proposals to be tabled before the GST Council on March 10. The Council will also take up other measures to simplify the e-way. “A slew of changes in the e-way bill are being deliberated in line with the industry demand. The idea is to remove difficulties faced by companies. These will be put before the Council in the next meeting,” said an official. E-way bills will help the central and state t...

EPFO's investment in corporate debt to reduce to 20% 2017-18, the EPFO is estimated to receive Rs 1.28 trillion as contribution from employees The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will substantially reduce investing its incremental income in debt instruments due to paucity of corporate bonds in the market. The government had decided that EPFO will be mandated to invest a minimum of 20 per cent of its incremental corpus in debt-related instruments, against the present requirement of 35 per cent. Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Gangwar had written to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in October last year to reduce minimum investment limit in debt instruments following concerns raised by EPFO’s portfolio managers that it might deviate from its investment pattern. The finance ministry gave approval to the labour and employment ministry’s proposal on February 16. “Portfolio managers during performance review meetings had expressed concern that at times there are ...

GST Network simplifies returns filing process GST returns filing has been simplified to the extent that the tax amount due is visible to the assessee even before submitting the return, say experts In a move to make filing of returns taxpayer friendly and error-free, the Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN), the firm that processes tax returns in the indirect tax regime, has simplified the monthly return of sales summary that businesses and traders have to file. GSTN said in a statement on Wednesday that filing of GSTR-3 has been made more convenient and easy.One area of improvement is the utilization of tax rebates and making the remaining payment in cash, which was an area where a few taxpayers were frequently erring, the statement said, quoting GSTN chief executive Prakash Kumar. “By improving the user interface and redesigning the process, filing of GSTR-3B has been made considerably convenient. We expect the user experience will be far better and the process of filing will...

Errors in GST returns filing a hurdle in issuing tax refunds to exporters: CBEC Errors in GST returns, pertaining to either the summary of transactions, purchases, sales or a comprehensive filing of transactions are causing delays in processing claims, says CBEC chief Vanaja SarnaErrors in GST returns filing are coming in the way of disbursing tax refunds to exporters covered by the goods and services tax regime, according to Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) chairperson Vanaja Sarna. In an interview, Sarna said a third of the total dues to exporters have already been disbursed as the documents are clear.Claims worth more than Rs4,000 crore for dues under integrated GST (IGST) have been processed, she said. Total IGST refunds due to exporters since July, the first month of the tax, stand at about Rs13,000 crore. GST Network, the company that processes tax returns under the new indirect tax regime, is unable to process the remaining claims on account of errors and misma...

RBI releases ombudsman scheme for NBFCs An RBI officer, not below the rank of general manager, will be appointed by the regulator as the ombudsman with territorial jurisdiction being specified by RBI The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday issued an ombudsman scheme for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), offering a grievance redressal mechanism for their customers. The scheme will come into effect immediately, the regulator said in a press release. “In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 45L of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the RBI being satisfied that for the purpose of enabling it to promote conducive credit culture among the NBFCs and to regulate the credit system of the country to its advantage, it is necessary to provide for a system of ombudsman for redressal of complaints against deficiency in services concerning deposits, loans and advances and other specified matters, hereby directs that the NBFCs... should comply with the provisions of the Ombudsm...

GST improved tax compliance:survey Under the gooods and services tax (GST) regime,prices have not changed said many respondents to a survey conducted by the consultancy firm KPMG Around 43% of the respondents said prices had remained neutral under teh GST. However, 33 percent said prices had  increased  and 24 percent said these had gone down .As many as 87 Percent said tax compliance had increased under GST :while 13 percent said otherwise. A total of 232 chief executive officers, co-founders and chief technology officers of serval companies participated in the survey Around 53 per cent of respondents were not clear about the anti-profiteering provisions: 33 per cent were.sevently per cent said the government should have implemented these provisions before the GST was rolled  out. Around 36 percent said the provisions  should have been restricted to sectors where business to consumer supplies wre involved, And, around 110 per cent said anti-profiteering prov...