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Updates Of the Day 1.ST applies on C&F Agent Services despite non clearing from factory. [Somani Agencies vs. CCE & ST, Indore; (CESTAT-New Delhi); Final Order No. 50085/2016] 2.Non-Tax Receipt Portal : Platform for making online payment of non-tax receipts by citizens / corporate / others inaugurated by Ministry of Finance on 15.2.16. 3.Excess Cenvat due to calculation mistake is not wrong availment .[M/s. TNT (INDIA) PVT LTD vs Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax BANGALORE-III; (CESTAT- Bangalore); Final Order No. 22133 / 2015] 4.Penalty u/s 271AAA is not tenable where no search was conducted. [DCIT vs. M/s. Sam India Abhimanyu Housing (ITAT Delhi), ITA No.1257/ Del./ 2015, AY 2011-12] 5.Non TDS deduction disallowance is not sustainable if payee discharges his tax liability.[ Kurian Ulahannan Moothukuzhiyil vs. ITO (ITAT Ahmedabad), I.T.A. No. 2524 / Ahd /2014, AY 2010-11] 6.Section 80IB(10) : Deduction allowed on additional business declared post search.[M

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Tuesday marginally raised the interest rate by 0.05 percentage points to 8.8 per cent for 2015- 16, benefiting its 50- million subscribers’ safety net and yet leaving a surplus of ? 673 crore with itself. However, the interest rate could be revised upwards later. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Central Board of Trustees ( CBT) chaired by Union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya in Chennai. Dattatreya said the decision on interest rate was an interim one, leaving the doors open for further revision of the interest rate for the current financial year in the wake of trade unions’ demand for 8.95 per cent. According to preliminary estimates, with an interest rate of 8.8 per cent, the surplus would be around Rs. 673 crore. “We want to safeguard workers’ interest; we want to give a real and purposeful picture before the workers, and that is why a long debate took place today ( on Tuesday),” said Datttreya, adding: “ We

The government is considering to increase the foreign investment limit in public sector banks to 49% from 20 per cent with a view to attract overseas inflows. The finance ministry is looking into the proposal, sources said adding it may be announced in the forthcoming Budget 2016-17. Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 17th February 2016

Details of those with dues of Rs. 500cr & above to be produced in a sealed envelope in 6 weeks The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to furnish within six weeks details of all defaulters who have outstanding dues of Rs.500 crore and above. The list should be across public sector ( PSU) banks and all financial institutions, the court emphasised. The order passed by the Bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said the central bank should also include details of restructured assets and names of institutions whose debts have been written off in the past five years. The court has asked for the list to be submitted in asealed envelope. According to RBI’s estimates, as of September 2015, the gross plus restructured and written off assets amounted to 14.1 per cent of bank loans. For PSU banks, the share was 17 per cent. If the December quarter numbers are added, this could shoot up further. Most of the stress has come from the medium industries segm

Interest rates on popular small savings such as Kisan Vikas Patra, National Savings Certificate and post office recurring deposit schemes are set to come down from April 1 as the government rejigs the interest rate framework for these schemes to align it with market rates. Interest rates of these schemes will now be reset every quarter as part of this rejig, a finance ministry statement said on Tuesday. "This is expected to help the economy move to a lower overall interest rate regime eventually and thereby help all, particularly low-income and salaried classes," it said, explaining the rationale behind this move. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, senior citizen savings scheme and the monthly income scheme that enjoy interest rate and spread over the G-sec rate of comparable maturity that is of 75 basis points, 100 bps and 25 bps respectively have been left untouched by the government. instruments, such as the five-year term deposit, five-year National Saving Certificates a

Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday launched a portal to electronically collect over Rs.2 lakh crore annually in non-tax receipts from sources such as dividends by state-owned firms, RBI and spectrum fee. “This (portal) has its own advantages and it will reduce a lot of manual work now,” Jaitley said while inaugurating the Non-Tax Receipt Portal (NTRP), developed by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA). State-owned NTPC remitted an interim dividend of Rs. 989 crore to government through the electronic mode. The annual collection of nontax receipts amounts to over Rs. 2 lakh crore. It mainly includes dividends, interest receipts, spectrum charges, licence fee, sale of forms and RTI application fees. According to the budget, the government aims to collect over Rs. 2.21 lakh crore as non-tax receipts during 2015-16. Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 16th February 2016

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on tightened its norms for mutual funds’ exposure to riskier corporate bonds, including capping the investment limit in bonds of a single company at 10%, in a move to safeguard investors’ interest. The single sector exposure limit would be lowered from 30% to 25%, while group-level investment limits of 20-25% have also been introduced for mutual funds (MFs) investing in debt securities. Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 16th February 2016