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Small service providers on tax radar

Those Who Paid Service Tax Of Up To Rs.50L In FY15 To Face Manual Scrutiny Small service taxpayers will soon find themselves subjected to detailed manual scrutiny by the taxman. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) recently issued detailed scrutiny guidelines for service-tax returns of small taxpayers.These guidelines are to be followed from August 1. Typically, only large service taxpayers come within the ambit of service-tax audit. Small service providers, whose tax liability was not significant, didn't come under the radar of this audit and there were possibilities of tax leakages. The scrutiny procedure aims at plugging such leakages. The scrutiny will be conducted for those service providers whose total service tax paid (through cash and as a service tax credit) for the financial year (FY) 2014-15 is be low Rs 50 lakh. While a preliminary online scrutiny will take an overall view such as examination of the timely payment of service tax or arithmetical accur...

RBI may give payment bank licence to postal dept by September

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to grant payment bank licence to the postal department by September for operating Post Bank, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday. Affirming commitment to honour ‘Dakia’ (post man) in a bid to re-energise the Department of Posts (DoP), he said, “You will be happy to know that RBI will grant payment bank licence to the postal department.” This will enable the network of 1,54,000 post offices (including 1,25,000 rural post offices) to offer banking services to the masses in the country, he said. While there was core banking solution only in 236 post offices till NDA government came to power last year, the number of such facilities was extended to 2,590 post offices, he said. DoP, he said, has changed its working style and achieved a turnover of Rs.500 crore in 5-6 months. The centre’s “Sukanya Samridhi Yojana”, Postal Life Insurance, Jan Dhan Yojana and others were launched to empower the rural and poor pe...

Plea to Roll Back Entertainment Tax

Cinema exhibitors and film producers have called for the reversal of a proposal by Delhi deputy chief minister and finance minister Manish Sisodia to double the level of entertainment tax to 40%. “If this proposal goes through, it will be the death knell for cinema exhibitors in Delhi,“ said Deepak Asher, president of the Multiplex Association of India. “New investments in this sector would dry up.“ Asher added that cinema owners are not only worried about margins getting hit but lower occupancy due to higher ticket prices.“What are they going to achieve with this? It will only add a minuscule amount to the government's coffers but it is a huge burden for the sector,“ said Mukesh Bhatt, president of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India in Mumbai. “We are taxed as an industry as much as alcohol and tobacco. All we are asking is to allow us to sustain ourselves.“ The Economic Times, New Delhi, 11th July 2015

Updates of the Day !!!!!!!!!!!!

1.  The ITAT was not correct in allowing registration u/s 12AA, especially when the family run trust did not submit details of assets and properties that they possessed. [CIT v/s. Sri Guru Gorakh Nath Charitable Education Society, High Court of Punjab and Haryana]. 2.  MCA site will be closed on 11th July, 2015 (Saturday) due to periodic maintenance. Thus MCA 21 portal will not be available from 8am - 6 pm. 3.  Secretarial standards SS-1 (Meeting of BODs) and SS-2 (General Meetings) has become mandatory from 1st July, 2015. 4.  Government issued guidelines for use of digitally signed invoices/records in Central Excise and Service Tax [The neoteric, Notification No. 18/2015- Central Excise (N.T.)]. 5.  RBI has revised the ‘NBFC (Approval of Acquisition or Transfer of Control) Directions, 2014’ which regulates the requirement for obtaining prior approval of RBI in cases of acquisition/ transfer of control of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). 6....

MCA NUDGE TO TWEAK RULES ON RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Govt Push May Put Sebi in a Spot

TOUGH TIMES Market participants to appeal to Sebi against relaxing its stand on protecting minority shareholders The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) may find itself on a tricky terrain over the government's nudge to change rules on related party transactions in corporates. In a move towards promoting ease of doing business, the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has asked the regulator to tweak rules to make them at par with those under the Companies Act 2013. This has raised concerns among market participants about a dilution in Sebi's stand on protection of minority shareholders. Experts and shareholder advisory firms, which believe Sebi should hold its ground on the issue, will soon take up the matter with the regulator.The MCA changed its stand on related party transactions in 2014, when it lowered the threshold for minority shareholder votes for listed companies from 75% to 50% for passing resolutions. It also allowed voting by `related parties' wh...

Transit operators to issue prepaid mobility cards

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued final guidelines on mobility cards that will allow people to travel in buses, metros and taxis without cash. This semi- closed prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) will be issued by mass transit operators ( such as metro or road transport) and will have a minimum validity of six months. The maximum amount that can be loaded on the card is Rs.2,000. The regulator said the rationale behind introducing these cards was to reduce the amount of cash in the economy and to gradually move towards acashless society. “ In the process of moving from cashbased payments to electronic payments, the migration of micro and small value cash payments can play a significant role in achieving the vision of less- cash society. One such area where a large number of small- value cash payments take place relates to mass transit systems,” RBI said. Business Standard, New Delhi, 10th July 2015

Sebi should not dilute RPT norms IiAS

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services ( IiAS) has asked the market regulator to stick to its rules governing related party transactions ( RPT). IiAS has slammed the recommendation by the ministry of corporate affairs ( MCA) to dilute the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) rules as an anti- investor move. The MCA had asked Sebi to align its provisions regarding RPTs with the Companies Act 2013. “ IiAS believes Sebi should hold its own. Sebi’s provisions on related party transactions protect minority interest, while MCA has diluted its position to promote the ‘ ease of doing business’,” the firm said in a report on Thursday. The MCA has steadily diluted its stance on related party transactions since mid- 2014: It lowered the threshold to pass resolutions to 50 per cent from 75 per cent, and prevented only interested parties from voting, while allowing related parties to vote. Sebi has not aligned itself to the new regulations — and rightfully so...

Updates of the Day

1.  If assessee admits undisclosed income, substantiate manner and paid taxes on undisclosed income, no penalty u/s 271AAA of the Income Tax Act can be levied – [SPS Steel and Power Ltd. v/s. ACIT, ITAT KOLKATA]. 2.  Genuine expenditure paid in cash cannot be disallowed u/s 40A (3) of the Income Tax Act –[DCIT vs. KolliGopal Krishna, ITAT Hyderabad]. 3.  RBI has notified two new forms NBS 8 and NBS 9 to be filed annually within 30 days of closing of financial year. NBS 8 is for NBFC-ND with assets size between 100-500 crore. NBS 9 is for NBFC-ND with assets size below 100 crore. 4.  DGFT launches online payment facility for application fees through Credit/ Debit Cards. 5.  India and USA have signed an Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to promote transparency between the two nations on tax matters. 6.  ICAI on 06.07.2015 announced the new scheme of education and training for CA course. N...