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States want the empowered committee of state finance ministers to continue, though a GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council has been set up to recommend on key areas such as draft model Bills, rates, dual control of central and state officials over assesses. "The states want the empowered committee to function parallel to the GST Council. The empowered committee will help states create consensus on key issues to be taken up by the GST Council," said a government official. The GST Council is headed by the finance minister, while the empowered committee is chaired by a state finance minister. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra is the current chairman of the empowered panel. Doubts over the existence of the empowered committee arose after the constitution of the GST Council. The committee was set up in 2000 to monitor implementation of uniform floor rates of sales tax by states and Union territories, monitor phasing out of sales tax-based incentive schemes and roll out of va

A day before the GST Council's first meeting, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on Wednesday came out with an extensive clarifications detailing taxability of e-commerce players and taxi aggregators under the new setup. The 268-page frequently asked questions (FAQ) booklet, released by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, answered 500 questions on 24 topics, including registration, valuation and payment, scope and time of supply, refunds, seizure and arrest. It has also clarified that taxi aggregators, including Ola, will have to register under goods and services tax (GST) and there will be no threshold exemption for them. Similarly, e-commerce players such as Flipkart and Amazon will have to seek registration under the GST regime, irrespective of the value of supply made by them. It also clarified that companies, including Titan, which supply watches and jewels through their own websites, will not be considered as e-commerce operators. “A person providing any information o

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the merger of the Railway and General Budgets from 2017-18, ending a 92-year-old colonial tradition. It also cleared abolishing the classification of Plan and non-Plan expenditure in the Budget and agreed in-principle to advancing its presentation in Parliament from the last working day in February. The government wants the Finance Bill to be passed before April 1. “The government is in favour of advancing the Budget date. However, a number of states are going to the polls early next year. We will take a call on a new date after studying the election calendar,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are slated to go to the polls early next year. Suresh Prabhu will be the last railway minister to have presented a Budget and Jaitley will be the first finance minister to present a combined one next year. “India was the only country with a separa

Mobile phone manufactures have approached the finance ministry seeking continuation of the differential duty structure and the benefits that come with it, which they fear would become a casualty when the goods and services tax comes into effect.Absence of these incentives could put at risk a manufacturing industry that is worth Rs.54,000 crore now and is set to grow to Rs.94,000 crore by the end of this fiscal year. “We look forward to your kind support in establishing the proposed dispensation in GST and clearing the air on the principle of duty differential in the upcoming GST regime,“ the Indian Cellular Association wrote in a letter to Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia. The association represents major handset makers including Samsung, Apple and Micromax. ET has seen a copy of its letter sent on Saturday. Mobile phone manufacturers were among the first to respond to the Prime Minister's Make in India call, making in vestments in local assembly facilities. Value of local p

The finance ministry on Tuesday promised to look into some taxation issues raised by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and also certain suggestions made by them such as permitting them in short- term corporate paper. Some of these suggestions could be reflected in the Budget as well. After a meeting with FPIs here, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das (pictured) said: “ Suggestions both in terms of process simplification as well as some new suggestions have come ... some taxation issues were raised. The Department of Revenue also participated in the meeting so we will examine and look at the suggestions they have made.” Sources said the finance ministry discussed the proposal to allow FPIs to invest in corporate paper with outstanding maturity of less than three years. To attract sticky and long term foreign money, current rules don’t permit overseas investors to invest in ultra short- term or short- term debt. The minimum maturity requirement is set at three years and there

The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, might take up the matter of advancing the date of Budget presentation and merging the rail and Union Budgets. Once approved, it will set in motion the process of the biggest overhaul in the budgeting process in 15 years. A Cabinet note details the above proposals as well as elimination of Plan and nonPlan classifications of expenditure and shifting to outcomebased budgeting from input- based budgeting. It is likely to be placed for the Cabinet’s approval on Wednesday. The Modi government is likely to present the Union Budget in the last week of January or the first week of February. This will ensure the Finance Bill is passed before the start of the financial year, on April 1, so that all central government departments get their full allocations to work with right from the first day. In the existing system, the Lok Sabha passes a vote- onaccount for the April- June quarter, under which departments are provided a sixth o

Move to ensure multiple benefits are passed on & head off any unwarranted price shocks FOR A SMOOTH RIDE Even as the govt tries to iron out issues ahead of April 1 GST rollout, a central notification has created confusion on excise front The government is considering a price-monitoring mechanism under the proposed goods and services tax (GST) to ensure that the multiple benefits of the landmark reform are passed on and head off any unwarranted price shocks. States are also keen to ensure that the effects of GST provide a demand push to the economy. “A mechanism will be put in place to keep a tab on prices,“ said a senior official aware of deliberations before the GST Council meets later this week to decide on key issues, including the tax rate. The government is keen to put GST in place on April 1, 2017. The incidence of tax on goods is expected to fall sharply under GST, widely seen as India's biggest reform since independence. It will replace multiple central and