CA Online

Deadline for obtaining Aadhaar for govt schemes, subsidies extended to Dec 31 As many as 135 schemes including LPG to poor women, kerosene and fertiliser subsidy, targeted PDS and MGNREGA will be covered by the extension. The Centre on Wednesday extended the deadline for obtaining Aadhaar for availing government schemes and subsidies by three months to December 31. The extension is, however, only for those who are yet to apply of Aadhaar, an order issued by the ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said. As many as 135 schemes (of 35 ministries) including the free cooking gas (LPG) to poor women, kerosene and fertiliser subsidy, targeted public distribution system (PDS) and MGNREGA will be covered by the extension. The government had previously made quoting of Aadhaar necessary for availing government benefits and subsidies like those on cooking gas LPG. Those who did not have Aadhaar were asked to procure the unique identification number by September 30. This deadli

Sebi may tighten MFs’ risk monitoring practices AMCs could be asked to form independent committees overseen by trustees to mitigate risks     Increasing fears of debt default in Corporate India may prompt the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to nudge the trustees and sponsors of asset management companies (AMCs) to play a more active role in managing risks. The regulator is deliberating on making it mandatory for fund houses to form internal risk assessment committees comprising key AMC personnel and external consultants, according to two people familiar with the matter. The functioning of the committee will be monitored by the trustees. The need for better risk monitoring was discussed in a recent meeting between the mutual fund advisory committee and the regulator. This follows rising concerns over the exposure taken by debt schemes to lower-rated debt papers, which run the risk of sudden downgrades or defaults. “An independent committee will be better able to carr

Taxmen slap big penalty to check evasion of GST A fine of 100,000 per cent is something few people would have heard of, or even thought about. A trader in Andhra Pradesh was recently asked to cough up more than that for not paying the goods and service tax. In a show cause notice, an Andhra Pradesh tax officer has asked the said trader to pay Rs 20,000 in fines after he omitted Rs 15 GST in a bill. “It’s clearly established that you wilfully violated the provisions (of GST law)…a punishable offence,” the notice said. This comes about two months after the government had asked almost 200 government officials across the country to go on a shopping spree and identify traders and shopkeepers who were flouting GST norms. ET was the first to report on July 8 that the government has deputed 200 senior IAS, IPS and IRS officers across cities and small towns as sleuths to identify businessmen, wholesalers and retailers violating the norms of GST. It seems these officers have now starte

MCA plans to ease process for starting biz The Ministry of Corporate Affairs plans to simplify the existing processes for setting up a company, according to a public notice. In this regard, the ministry -- which is implementing the Companies Act - has sought views from the stakeholders. The government has already centralised name reservation and incorporation services. There were more than 11.34 lakh active companies at the end of August. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 28th September 2017

Direct tax receipts may be aspoiler for fiscal maths Growth in advance tax collections slowed to 11 per cent in the first half of the financial year, against 14 per centayear ago, posing a challenge to the government´s tax collection target for the year. This may, in turn, disturb the fiscal maths in these difficult times when the economy is in need of additional expenditure. Fiscal consolidation is facing challenges from the non-tax revenue side due to lower than expected receipts from spectrum. Besides, the income declaration scheme is likely to yield only Rs 7,000- 8,000 crore in its third instalment, due by September 30, against Rs 15,000 crore in the first two. Up to 50 per cent of the taxes and penalties were to be paid in the third instalment, but assessees paid more in the first two instalments. Within advance taxes, growth in corporation tax collections also fell, reflecting that India Inc is yet to come out of the woods. Pulled down by the slowing economy, goods and servi

FSSAI training food biz to improve standards of safety TheFood Safetym and Standards Authority of India(FSSAI) has taken up a nation wide training programme to increase the capacity of food businesses towards improving standards of food safety, chief executive Pawan Agarwal has said. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 28th September 2017

GST collections slow down in August About 45% of assessees yet to file returns The government collected RS 90,669 crore goods and services tax (GST) for August, a little lower than the Rs 94,063 crore collected in July. This is also lower than the ~91,000 crore which should have come to the Centre and states in a month, given the Budget Estimates and assumed growth rates in receipts for 2017-18. Only 55 per cent of assessees paid taxes for August, compared to 64 per cent for July. But, the figures should be compared cautiously. About Rs 92,283 crore GST was collected for July till August 29, while Rs 90,669 crore was garnered till September 25. Hence, growth in collections was flat in August, compared to July. As much as Rs 6594,063 crore was paid till August 31. About Rs 14,402 crore came from the Central GST (CGST) in August, against Rs 6514,894 crore in July (paid till August 29);Rs 6521,067 from State GST (SGST), against Rs 6522,722 crore in the previous month; and Rs 47,377 cr