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The tax department today put up in public domain draft GST returns forms -- Sahaj and Sugam -- for seeking comments from stakeholders.  Besides, taxpayers who have no purchases, no output tax liability and no input tax credit to avail in any quarter of the financial year shall file one 'Nil' return for the entire quarter.  "In month one and two of the quarter, such taxpayer shall report NIL transaction by sending an SMS. Facility for filing quarterly return shall also be available by an SMS," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said while unveiling the draft returns forms. Small taxpayers would be those who have a turnover up to Rs 5 crore in the last financial year and can file quarterly return with monthly payment of taxes on self-declaration basis.  The return form 'Sahaj' is for businesses which make supplies to only consumers (B2C). It includes details of outward supplies and inward supplies attracting reverse charge as well as summ

The 6-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel, started three-day deliberations here today to decide on the key interest rate amid elevated oil prices and inflation hovering around 5 per cent.  Experts are divided in their opinion about the likely action of Reserve Bank of India on the benchmark lending rate. While some said the central bank will maintain status quo on Wednesday, others did not rule out another rate hike. The MPC is meeting for the third bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2018-19. The resolution of the MPC will be made public in the afternoon of August 1.  RBI had increased the benchmark short term lending rate (repo rate) by 0.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent in its last policy review in June on inflationary concerns.  The retail inflation, which is factored in by the MPC, spiked to a five-month high of 5 per cent in June on costlier fuel. The government has mandated the Reserve Bank to keep inflation at 4 per cent (+/- 2 per

The recent cuts in goods and services tax (GST) rates will exert pressure on India’s fiscal consolidation road map and are therefore credit negative, Moody’s Investor Service said on Monday.  In a research note, Moody’s estimated the revenue loss from these tax cuts at around 0.04-0.08% of gross domestic product (GDP) annually.  “Although the proportion of revenue loss is small, the vacillation in tax rates creates uncertainty around government revenue and comes amid persistent upside risks to its expenditures,” Moody’s said. Rates on a number of consumer durable items such as refrigerators, washing machines and small television sets were lowered with effect from 27 July.  “The tax cuts, which follow cuts in January 2018 and November 2017, will weigh on the government’s revenue collections and are credit negative because they will pressure the government’s fiscal consolidation effort, which is already diminished relative to the original fiscal deficit targets set last fiscal year,”

The new tax return forms are likely to be notified for use starting 1 January 2019 The government on Monday released the draft of the goods and services tax (GST) return forms as it looks to make the return filing process simpler for taxpayers.  Taxpayers, who are seeking clarity in the tax filing regime, have been eagerly awaiting the tax return forms. The GST return forms are also crucial for tax authorities as they look to verify input tax credit claims and shore up tax revenues.  The new tax return forms are likely to be notified for use starting 1 January 2019, though there may be a trial period in December. These return forms replace the complicated tax return system initially envisaged that required the filing of multiple forms adding to the compliance burden of both small and big taxpayers. Taxpayers will have to file a single return form monthly, which will be due for every month on the 20th of the next month. The return filing dates for taxpayers will be staggered based

To ensure that the prices are reduced, the anti-profiteering authority was set up in November last year MNCs which were pulled up for not cutting prices post GST implementation have argued before the anti-profiteering authority that prices of some products could not be lowered as there was difficulty in adjusting them to decimal points.  The authority, in turn, has asked these MNCs why they could not adjust the quantity so that the benefit of GST rate cut could be passed on to the consumers. The authority, sources said, asked the Multinational Companies (MNCs) to follow the rules laid down in The Legal Metrology Act while fixing the price to the nearest decimal point.  Some companies have argued that they reduced the prices of large packets but could not do the same for smaller packets and sachets, in some cases, as the quantum of price reduction was very low in decimal points, sources told PTI. In a lot of cases the reasoning given by the MNCs for not passing on the rate cut b

MANY PARTICIPANTS don’t see a change in the stance in favour of an extended period of rate hardening India’s central bank may raise the benchmark reference rate by a quarter percentage point for the second time in two months, citing upside risks to inflation, an ET survey ahead of this week’s bi-monthly policy meeting on setting broader financing costs showed. In the poll conducted among 22 market participants, more than half the respondents said they expect an increase of 25 basis points in the crucial rate, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continuing its vigil on prices after the Monetary Policy Committee had raised the cost of financing in June — the first increase since the Narendra Modi administration was voted into power.  “There has been an incremental deterioration in the inflation outlook since the June RBI policy meeting,” said Shashank Mendiratta, India economist at ANZ bank. “The RBI has been highlighting several long-standing risks to inflation. The key ones incl

After the July 21 rate revisions, the number of companies unwilling to pass on GST benefits is higher than after the Novemeber 2017 round of rate revisions.  The latest round of rate revisions introduced by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on July 21 has led to a peculiar situation. The number of companies unwilling to pass on GST benefits is higher than in previous rounds.  While the November 2017 round of rate revisions saw mainly eating joints unwilling to pass on GST benefits, this time round, sanitary napkin makers, TV manufacturers and even paint companies have said passing on GST benefits is not a feasible exercise. Firms in each of these categories have their reasons for the resistance. The Feminine and Infant Hygiene Association (FIHA), which represents the country's top sanitary napkin makers including Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clark and Unicharm, said the decision of putting the item on the exempt list was unlikely to achieve the d