CA Online

New money laundering norms stump jewellery sector Dealers with turnover of Rs 2 crore and above covered; industry says threshold too low The central government has notified the money laundering rules for the gems and jewellery  sector with immediate effect. Now, any entity deals in precious metals, precious stones, or other high-value goods and  has a turnover of Rs 2 crore or more in a financial year will be covered under the  Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA, 2002). The limit of Rs 2 crore would be calculated on the basis of the previous year’s turnover,  said the notification. The directorate general of goods and service tax intelligence has  been appointed under the Act. Sources said the government’s move to apply the PMLA to the jewellery sector was a fallout  of income-tax raids on jewellers soon after demonetisation last November, when it was  found that they sold gold and jewellery at a huge premium and accepted old currency notes  as payment. The no

Financial year change to Jan-Dec ruled out for now The Centre’s plan to change the financial year cycle from April-March to January December  has been put on hold and may not materialise in the Narendra Modi government’s current  term, according to a senior official. Any change in the financial year would have to be agreed upon by all states, and a number  of them were still not in its favour, the official, who did not wish to be named, said on  Monday. Besides, the government did not see many advantages in switching to the  January December cycle, the official added. Surprisingly, changing the financial year has been one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s  pet themes. “A number of states are not on board with the idea. The financial year change has been put  on the back burner,” the official said, adding that a final decision on the matter could  be taken in 2019. “Too many disruptions like the goods and services tax (GST) and lack of data are also  hurdles in advancing the

I-T department warns against cash dealings above Rs 2 lakh The Income-Tax Department on Monday warned people against cash dealings of Rs 2 lakh and more, saying any violation of this cap will invite strict penalty under law.  In a public message, the department said “accepting Rs 2 lakh or more in aggregate from a single person in a day for one or more transactions relating to one event or occasion is prohibited”.  The Economic Times, New Delhi, 29th August 2017.

GST filing date extended The government has extended the date for filing goods and services tax (GST) for those  providing online information and database access or retrieval services from outside India  to a non-taxable online entity.  They can now file their July return (GSTR5A) by September 15, according to notification by  the central government. This covers central GST as well as integrated GST. States would  separately issue their respective notifications for SGST.  The government has notified new dates for filing of returns (GSTR6) for input service  distributors for July to September 8 and for August to September 23. The July return forms  had to be filed till August 13.  The Economic Times, New Delhi, 29th August 2017

Over 3.6 million businesses file GST returns Those who wish to claim transitional input tax credit could file returns by August 28 As many as 36,32,279 businesses filed their returns for the month of July till Monday  morning under the goods and services tax (GST) regime. However, there were problems with  the filing of forms required for claiming input tax credit for pre-GST stocks. Those who have filed the returns constitute about 42 per cent of total number of assessees  of 8.7 million under the GST regime. However, 2.2 million of these assessees are yet to  complete the migration process. A last-minute rush had led to the GST Network portal, the  information technology backbone of the new indirect tax system, crashing last week,  forcing the government to postpone the tax filing deadline by five days to August 25. Those who wish to claim transitional input tax credit could file returns by August 28.  However, there were certain issues with TRAN-1 forms, needed for claim

FDI consolidated policy includes startups, allows 100% FVCI India unveiled a new foreign direct investment policy framework that for the first time  comprises provisions specific to startups, a sector that is top on the government’s  agenda.  The 2017 FDI policy circular lists startups as a separate section and spells out  provisions that allow them to raise foreign money from venture capital funds and other  investors through instruments such as convertible notes.  They can issue equity or equitylinked instruments to foreign venture capital (VC)  investors, says the circular, the first issued after the abolition of the Foreign  Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).  The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) released the rules on Monday with  immediate effect.  Foreign residents, except those in Pakistan and Bangladesh, will be permitted to purchase  convertible notes issued by an Indian startup for Rs 25 lakh or more in a single tranche,  it said.  Startups w

Cos Fear Losing Credit Over GST Filing Errors Industry bats for extension of filing deadline citing delay in getting offline utility A company with Rs.100 crore credit in lieu of taxes paid in the past regime, risks losing it now under the goods and services tax (GST) reign simply because of the `fat finger,' as it is popularly called. With the August 28 (Monday) deadline looming for filing returns and ensuring GST compliance, corporates are a deeply concerned lot. The offline utility for GST TRAN 1 form to be used to claim input tax credit for the pre-GST regime -was not available till Sunday , leaving just a day for filing returns and causing a weekend rush. In absence of the utility, details had to be filed online with higher chances of error. Tax practioners struggled to meet the deadline, having had to deploy additional manpower to manually key in invoices, some running into thousands. What has compounded the industry's worry is that there is no clarity on whet