CA Online

Budget may kill excise exemptions for some grocery items in preparation for GST Your monthly grocery bill could rise after the Budget as the government is considering the elimination of excise duty exemptions for some items and moving up the lowest rate currently applied on many goods to set the stage for the goods & services tax (GST). Green tea, dairy spreads, yoghurt, cheese, ice-cream, frozen food products, pasta, ready-to eat foods, packaged fruit juices and soya milk could see excise duty kicking in or going up to the standard rate of 12.5%. Many of these products currently attract nil to 6% excise. “A number of exemptions in the excise duty have been sit ting for years,“ said a government official. “With GST round the corner, it makes sense to take a relook at the existing structure.“ He pointed out that a number of exempted items already attract value ad ded tax (VAT) in some states. The government is expected to give a renewed push to GST in the Budget session by at tempt

Govt considers entity level taxes for infrastructure firms instead of SPV level taxes In what could boost the growth of the infrastructure companies, which are currently reeling under the burden of massive debt, the government is looking to allow them to file a consolidated group tax return, a person familiar with the development said. This means, infrastructure companies would be able to consolidate profits and losses in all their subsidiaries and pay taxes as a single entity. Currently, these firms treat each project as a separate entity and the performance of one such operation--mostly registered as a special purpose vehicle (SPV)--is independent from another such operation. The government is conducting a feasibility research to find out if a model of allowing companies to consolidate the SPVs would lead to any loss in their tax revenue, the person told ET. “Currently, the government doesn't know if allowing such a leeway would lead to increase or decrease in taxes.“ The govern

With the current financial year coming to a close soon, the Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT) has asked the Income Tax department to speed up select black money and tax evasion probe cases which require cooperation from foreign agencies under the existing bilateral treaties. Officials said the CBDT has asked taxman to send it all such cases for exchange of information which are getting " time barred" by March 31. Business Standard, New Delhi, 9th Feb. 2016

Plans longer term measures to check cheaper import While there are some obvious benefits for domestic steel producers following the imposition of a minimum import price (MIP) on steel, the industry seems to have abigger plan as it prepares to file for longer- duration duties to counter cheaper imports. On Friday, the government imposed MIPs on 173 steel products to protect domestic players. This duty is going to remain valid for a period of six months. With the MIP, imports would become costlier by 26- 70 per cent, said a report by Prabhudas Lilladher. “We are looking at anti- dumping and countervailing duties as the next measures to fix the steel import issue since these duties are typically placed for threefour years,” Sanak Mishra, secretary- general at the Indian Steel Association, told Business Standard on Monday. Integrated primary steel producers like the Sajjan Jindal- led JSW Steel, Jindal Steel & Power, state- owned Steel Authority of India and Tata Steel will b

A central bank panel has issued recommendations for introducing bond options in India, including simple-structured contracts and allowing companies to trade up to Rs.5 crore without documented underlying exposures. Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 9th Feb. 2016

Android app ready reckoner on rules, has duty calculator, works offline Soon the passengers coming to Delhi from international destinations can pay the customs duty and fill the customs form and declare costly items through their mobile phone.Customs, which has recently launched a mobile-based application to inform people about all Indian customs rules including those related to import of pets and goods, will add these services in the app. The main reason behind developing such an application was inaccessibility of customs-related information to common people with ease. “The mobile app’ Indian customs – guide to travelers, has been developed by Sandeep Rawal, who is joint director in regional training institute. The app contains details of baggage rules and entitlement of passengers,” said a customs official. The application, developed in easy-to-understand format, gives in detail information about customs rules for Indians and foreigners. The application also has duty calculat

Tax experts have sought greater clarity from CBDT on draft PoEM norms that aim to determine the tax residency of companies, and said that a set of objective criteria be put in place before implementing them. They have also suggested that detailed FAQs be brought out on various provisions.The Central Board of Direct Taxes should provide guidance with regard to expressions ike “management and commercial decisions“ and “conduct of company's business as a whole“ as interpretation of these expressions might lead to more litigations, they said. The draft guidelines on Place of Effective Management (PoEM), to assess a company's tax liability, have suggested a two-stage process. According to the draft, the first stage would identify the persons who make the key management . The Economic Times, New Delhi, 8th Feb. 2016