CA Online

A five-year deposit with a post office gives 8.5% returns against only 7-7.75% from a bank FD The recent cuts in bank FD rates are driving investors to post office instruments. After the rate cuts in early October, a five-year fixed deposit with the country's leading banks fetches 77.75%. In comparison, a time deposit with the post office for the same duration fetches 8.5%. With 10-year National Savings Certificates (NSC) you get 8.8%. Financial advisors said expectations of lower returns from post office deposits after the Union Budget in 2016 are prompting investors to lock in a portion of their money in this instrument. Soon after Reserve Bank of India's 50 basis points repo rate cut in September, the government said it would review the small savings rates in order to facilitate transmission of monetary policy easing. Banks have complained that higher in terest rates on small savings schemes have made their deposits rates uncompetitive. “I am advising investors t

India is preparing a plan to deal with the problem of a large number of tax disputes, a top finance ministry official said, in a bid to clear an almost intractable issue that's given the country's investment regime a bad name. “We are preparing a roadmap separately for dealing with the existing tax litigation,“ Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said on Monday. `Tax terrorism' has become part of the vocabulary in the country to describe the highpitched stance taken by the authorities, especially the amendment of the law that enabled taxation of indirect transfers of Indian assets with retrospective effect. Tax demands exceeding Rs.4 lakh crore are under dispute and litigation in various courts and appellate authorities, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said in his 2014-15 budget speech. The government is considering an option to raise the threshold for cases to be filed before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. The government will also come out with a roadmap by nex

As the gold monetisation scheme is all set to start from Thursday, non- banking financial companies ( NBFCs) active in gold loan business are looking to cash in. Rolling out new schemes, these companies seek to attract more customers, as interest rates applied on loans against gold are expected to come down. “Definitely interest rates will come down,” said Thomas George Muthoot, director of Muthoot Fincorp, a leading gold loan company. Gold bond schemes will trigger fresh monetisation and competition in the business, as even physical infrastructure to handle and store gold is not a must for doing business. Gold loans can be released online or by bank transfers on the basis of demat accounts of gold deposits or bonds which will be used as collateral. So, “ new players will enter the business. Obviously, this will cut down the interest rates," he said. At present, interest rates on various gold loans range from 12 to 18 per cent. New attractive packages offering loans at low

The Delhi government has taken several measures to promote e-governance but the services under it will soon come at a cost. The government is planning to levy user charges — ranging from Rs.50 to Rs.500 — for issuing different kinds of certificates online, officials said. Around two months back, the Delhi government’s revenue department launched its e-districts project under which the certificates are issued and delivered to city residents online. No extra cost is charged for it. However, now the revenue department has decided to levy charges for providing the service. The revenue department issued an order earlier this month fixing the user charges for different certificates. Of ficials said the order is likely to be implemented by November-end. “Efforts are on to integrate the payment gateway of the e-district portal with State Bank of India. The discussions are in an advanced stage and is likely to become operational by November-end. The user charges order would be impleme

With five months of financial year 2015- 16 left, the time is right to assess the progress of announcements made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget for 2015- 16. The government cleared confusions relating to tax matters. However, most of these relate to Jaitleys maiden Budget for 2014- 15. The finance ministry also did away with minimum alternate tax ( MAT), not only on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), but also on businesses without permanent establishment in India. However, this was not a Budget announcement, but a fallout of the proposal that did away with MAT on FPIs prospectively. The most important of these measures was to be the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax ( GST) from the next financial year. The Constitution Amendment Bill in this regard is stuck in the Rajya Sabha. The Congress, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and left parties are opposed to it in the present form, despite a Rajya Sabha select panel altering the contentious one p

The Bombay High Court last week ruled that expenses incurred by a professional going abroad for treatment of eye is not eligible for income tax deduction. The assessee in this case, Dhimant Thakar vs CIT, was a lawyer and he argued that good vision was important for pursuing his profession. His claim for the assessment year 1986- 87 was rejected by the revenue authorities. His appeal was also rejected by the Commissioner of Income Tax ( Appeals) who observed that if the logic of the lawyer was stretched, it would mean that even expenditure incurred on food to preserve oneself should be treated as allowable under Section 37( 1) of the Income Tax Act as being incurred for business or profession. On appeal, the high court upheld the view of the authorities observing that “ eyes are essential not only for the purpose of business or profession but for purposes other than these which are so many. It is therefore clear that the said expenditure as claimed by the professional is not in the n

Changes in the legal system are essential for India to attract foreign investment. Foreign companies are often reluctant to invest here because of the perception that the Indian legal system does not give sufficient protection to foreign investment. Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is often criticised as unhelpful to international parties. The Arbitration and Conciliation ( Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 is likely to address delays to arbitration- related proceedings in Indian courts. It includes a vast range of new statutory provisions, including the option for tribunals to award compound interest, the imposition of time limits on awards, and the opening up of arbitration to foreign law firms. However, one has to realistically accept that the standing of India as a reputable seat for international arbitration and litigation is not very high for other reasons, too, prompting parties to turn to neighbouring centres such as Hong Kong and Singapore. The real issue the gov