CA Online

Experts & trade unions concerned over move, seek safety of employees The government's Make-In-India initiative involves a brand new definition for manufacturing activity which seeks to divorce all packaging processes from the conventional understanding of industrial production. This approach to what constitutes a `manufacturing process' is a pivotal part of a new legislation being readied by the government to replace the 1948 factories law and the Factories Bill of 2014 that has already been vetted by a parliamentary panel. Citing the example of milk, the labour ministry has argued that packing it into `different volumes or weight' does not change the character of milk and shall therefore not be construed as manufacturing under the proposed new law. `Any process or activity resulting in any alteration of original character, such as nature, state, shape, size, usefulness and or making value addition to the original material acted upon when subjected to the proc

Instruments such as Reits, InvITs, unsponsored GDR, GIFT find few takers At least five new fundraising avenues, despite having cleared with much fanfare by the regulatory authorities, have remained doubtful starters due to lack of clarity on the taxation front. Instruments such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits), Infrastructure Investment Trusts ( InvITs) and unsponsored depository receipts ( DRs) have failed to take off. Even the Gujarat International Finance Tech, or Gift) City, has yet to see any business, despite many blue chip companies showing interest in set their shops there. An official said they were in the process of removing impediments to make sure these new initiatives take off. “The Department of Economic Affairs ( DEA) is in touch with the revenue ministry to clear these hurdles. The past two Budgets have had numerous announcements for capital markets. We are trying to iron out some of the pending issues,” said the official. Reits, InvITs and unsponsored

Gold deposited by households to gold savings accounts will be used for auctioning, replenishment of RBI’s gold reserves Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch three new schemes — the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS), Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, and the Gold Coin and Bullion Scheme — in New Delhi on Thursday, according to an official Finance Ministry statement. The GMS consists of a revamped Gold Deposit Scheme and Gold Metal Loan Scheme. Under GMS, gold deposited by households to gold savings accounts will be put to use for auctioning, replenishment of the Reserve Bank India’s ( RBI’s) gold reserves, coins and lending to jewellers. The tenures of deposits can be for a short term of one to three years, a medium term of five to seven years or a longer term of 11 to 15 years. The RBI will start issuing sovereign gold bonds on November 26, with a tenure of eight years and an interest rate of 2.75 per cent. The bonds will be open for public subscription from November 5to 20. The ten

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has recommended that law enforcement and intelligence agencies such as the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) and the Enforcement Directorate ( ED) examine the cases of persons holding directorships in more than 20 companies and more than 20 companies operating from the same address to detect shell companies involved in generation of black money. In its third report, SIT has found that 2,627 personsaredirectorsofmore than 20 companies in violation of the new Companies Act. To tighten noose around shell companies, it has recommended that SFIO to activelyandregularlymine( Ministry of Corporate Affairs) MCA- 21 database.“ Theseredflagindicatorscould be based on common DIN ( Director Identification Number) in multiple companies, companies with same address, same contact numbers, use ofonlymobilenumbers, suddenand unexpected change in turnover declared in returns,” the report said. Itsaidtheseindicatorsareillustrative in nature a

Move to simplify tax regime, reduce litigation and help improve business environment The finance ministry is streamlining safe harbour rules and advance agreements, two mechanisms to determine the price of services rendered by a multinational to its subsidiary in India. Safe harbour rules — directives on margins the tax authorities should accept for the transfer price declared by an assessee — have drawn a tepid response since they were introduced a couple of years ago. There is also a huge backlog in advance pricing agreements (APAs), an ahead- of- time understanding between a taxpayer and the tax authority on an appropriate transfer pricing methodology. The move would simplify the tax regime, reduce litigation and help improve the business environment, a finance ministry official said. The steps will involve lowering the margins in safe harbour rules and definitions will be reworked to remove ambiguities. India announced the safe harbour rules in 2013, but the high margins

Updates Of the Day 1.Writ Petition could be allowed if there is procedural lapse by authorities. (Bombay High Court) [TNT India private Limited vs CIT] 2.SEBI has issued caution notice to investors requesting not to invest in schemes offered by entities barred by SEBI from raising money or entities not registered with SEBI. 3.RBI permitted Indian corporates to issue rupee denominated bonds outside India. The matter of taxation of income from off-shore rupee denominated bonds under Income tax Act, 1961 has been considered by the government. 4.Mere license for development of property will not attract capital gain tax liability. (Punjab and Haryana High Court) [Bikramjit Singh Gill vs. CIT] 5.Revised computation sufficient for mistake in currency conversion for computation of exemption under section 10A. (Delhi High Court) [E-Funds International India Private Limited vs CIT] For more News Like us on https://www.facebook.com/caonlineofficial Or Subscribe on mail visit : www.caonline

In a ruling that will give relief to digital marketplaces such as Flipkart and Amazon, Kerala High Court late last week held that they are only facilitators to a transaction, and not sellers themselves, and are hence not liable to pay value added tax (VAT). The court said that as the actual sellers have discharged their tax dues in full, the place of delivery holds no relevance, and as per Article 286 and Section 3 of the CST Act, tax is payable in the state where sales have occasioned. The ruling is a significant shot in the arm for companies such as Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal, which have been contending that most norms applicable to offline retail should not apply to them, including those on foreign direct investment (FDI). Large retail companies have argued that the foreign money invested in e-commerce firms gives them the financial cushion to offer steep discounts, eating into the market share of brickand-mortar retailers. E-commerce companies did not respond to querie