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If the finance ministry has its way, you will soon be able to withdraw Rs. 5,000 through point of sale machines at shops, up from Rs. 2,000 now. This can potentially bring down the use of automated teller machines (ATMs) to just large-value transactions. ×Ads by CinemaPlus-4.2v A senior finance ministry told ET that the government is in discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase the withdrawal amount from the current limit of . 2,000 per day Rs. The facility was made available in 2013 for all debit and prepaid card holders. “There is a case for increasing the amount, more so in Tier III and Tier IV cities where ATMs are less and also at a lot of distance,“ the official said, adding that the move will support the mission of providing universal banking access. Under the government's ambitious financial inclusion scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), banks have opened 17.74 crore accounts with deposits of more than Rs. 22,000 crore. “Ease of taking out

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to an order issued by government on August 28, to extend the provisions of compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement available to farmers under the 2013 Land Acquisition Act to 13 other central laws as well. The controversial issue of land ordinance, which was allowed to lapse on August 31, was also briefly discussed at the meeting of the Cabinet chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, during which views were exchanged on the feedback from grassroots after the lapse of the ordinance. Sources said the prime minister was keen to know the reaction of farmers to the two land ordinance- related decisions taken by government in the past one week. Some ministers, according to the sources, said the decision to allow the ordinance to lapse was the right move against the backdrop of the " misinformation campaign" by opposition parties and some non- governmental organisations, which was creating " perception problems" for

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ( ICAI) has formed a ‘ prima facie’ opinion in the complaint against the auditor of National Spot Exchange ( NSEL) at the time of the latter’s payments scam. The institute said in a reply to a query under the Right to Information law) that its director (discipline) had formed the view and this had been sent to the (internal) ‘ competent authority’. The decision of the latter is to be reported in due course, it added. The reply did not indicate whether the said view confirmed the alleged misconduct or not. ICAI has been probing complaints against Mukesh P Shah &Co, the entity which audited NSEL in the run- up to its collapse, following a ? 5,600 crore payment crisis in July 2013. The first complaint was in September 2013 by one Uday Punj, followed by two more by investors. All these were combined. The auditor responded to these allegations in November 2013. After waiting for several months, the complainants moved the high court

The income tax department has extended the deadline for online filing of returns for the 2015- 16 assessment year by seven days ( till September 7), as e- filing services went slow on the earlier deadline of August 31. However, sources said servers at Bengalurus Central Processing Centre ( CPC), where the e- filing forms are being processed, were working fine that day. An official statement said, “ The Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT) has extended the due date for e- filing of returns of the income tax from August 31 to September 7.” Some of those filing returns on August 31 said “ system error” was showing up on the screen of their computers when they tried to file the returns. The government has received representations from tax payers, saying they had faced difficulties in e- filing of returns due to slowing of certain e- services. Taking these complaints into account, CBDT has extended the deadline. Sources said the system had slowed down due to heavy traffic on the last day

1.  CBDT issued criteria for manual selection of scrutiny cases during FY 2015-16.Instruction no.8 Dated 31-08-2015. 2.  Only because an amounting is appearing in 26AS, it cannot be taxed in the hands of assessee unless he is proved to be beneficiary of that amount-[Rajinder Pratap Thareja (Jab.) ITA 137/2014 dated 31-03-2015] 3.  Government accepts the recommendation of the Justice A.P. Shah committee to clarify the in-applicability of MAT to FIIs/FPIs and has decided that an appropriate amendment to the Income Tax Act will be carried out. 4.  Paid up holding value of shares on date of giving special notice by members substituted from not more than Rs. 5 Lakh to not less than Rs 5 Lakh. Notification dated 28.8.2015. 5.  Paid up holding value of shares on date of giving special notice by members substituted from not more than Rs. 5 Lakh to not less than Rs 5 Lakh. Notification dated 28.8.2015. 6.  Amended new form MGT 7 (Annual Return form) notified by MCA. Companies (Manage

Do you find yourself at the receiving end of the income-tax department’s scrutiny year after year despite being an honest taxpayer, just because you go on multiple foreign trips in a year and make high-value cash deposits? Well, you may soon get some relief, with the income-tax department looking to rationalize the scrutiny process for taxpayers picked out by the computer-assisted selection system, or CASS. In an effort to reduce harassment of taxpayers, the department will soon issue some clarifications to the scrutiny process. “We will clarify that if a taxpayer has been picked up for scrutiny for two consecutive years and no addition has been made, he will not be scrutinized again,” said a senior official of the income-tax department, on condition of anonymity. Addition refers to the practice of the tax department to add to the income of the taxpayer and, therefore, increase the tax liability in case it finds, during scrutiny, that the assessee has under-reported his or he

The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks has issued new guidelines for issuance of computer-related inventions, which could make it easier for IT companies in the country to register a patent. The guidelines, issued on August 21, allow companies to show innovation in just software, rather than in both software and hardware as was previously required. They also make it easier to register a patent for technical innovation in a business method--the basis of most patents filed in the BPO industry. “The guidelines help the examiners judge whether a patent should be awarded,“ Bishakha Bhattacharya, senior director of policy at the National Association of Software and Services Companies, told ET. “In the past, they were quite oner ous--requiring novelty in both hardware and software--and if there were terms denoting business process management like supply chain, then they would be rejected. The new guidelines change that.“ But Bhattacharya said there were still some