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Robust collections in personal income tax and excise duty The government’s revenue collection in April to October saw indirect tax-mop up growing at an impressive 26.7 per cent while that of direct tax came in at 10.6 per cent.   The total direct and indirect tax collections at the end of October stood at Rs 8.62 lakh crore, more than half the Rs 16.26 lakh crore target for 2016-17. The government is eyeing 12.64 per cent growth in direct tax at Rs 8.47 lakh crore for the current fiscal and 10.8 per cent in indirect tax at Rs 7.79 lakh crore. Direct tax mop-up touched Rs 3.77 lakh crore and indirect tax revenue stood at Rs 4.85 lakh crore during April-October, led by robust collections in personal income tax and excise duty, respectively.   Direct tax revenue includes corporate and personal income tax. Indirect tax takes into account mobilisation from excise, service tax and Customs duty. The gross collection of corporate income tax (CIT) grew at 11.6 per cent while under personal inc

Pure play e-commerce ,which implies sale of products by an online retailer directly to consumers,would be permitted to have up to 100 percent foreign direct investment(FDI),if a latest proposal of NITI Aayog is accepted by the Union government.But a rider,that products sold through e-commerce must be manufactured in India to gain from the liberalised regime,could play a spoil sport,said analysts.The idea behind such a condition is promoting Make In India,a signature campaign of the Narendra Modi government. At present,FDI is not allowed in ecommerce,but there’s no baron foreign investment in the online market place format.There striction forced American major Amazon totweak its inventory-ledglobal business model and operate a market place platform instead in India.Even home-grown Flipkart,funded by marquee foreign investors,switched from inventory model to market place format to comply with the policy guidelines. In case FDIine-commerce is permitted,as visualised by Niti Aayog and dis

People with unaccounted cash in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes will find it difficult to exchange them at the banks and post offices even though it is allowed, because they would require a valid identity proof and would be caught on camera. “Valid ID would be required to deposit money in bank accounts.Banks would also have video recording of those making deposits,” department of economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said on Tuesday at a joint press conference with RBI governor Urjit Patel. There is a limt of Rs 4,000 on conversion of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes till November 24. Das said this measure was needed for integrity of the economy. “For long, shadow of ghost economy has been a problem. If you want the real economy to grow then the shadow economy has to be wiped out,” he said. “This decision of the government is very bold and decisive,” Das said, adding that the measure was necessary both in medium and long-term. Urjit Patel said the government had observed use of hi

With demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, the government has directed Income-Tax Department to coordinate with all banks and furnish details of individuals who exchange cash amount of Rs 2 lakh and above. “A key reason for scrapping these two currency denominations is to curb the huge menace of fake currency, tackle black money and make India a cashless economy,” said a senior I-T department official. The object was also to make Indians tax complaint, which will eventually lead to higher revenues for government, he added. The tax department has been asked to keep record of every individual along with his/her PAN card details and tally it with the tax filing. Accordingly, the department will impose penalty, which could be between 30 per cent and 120 per cent, depending on the source of income. India has physical cash circulation of Rs 17 lakh crore, of which 88 per cent is Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Official data suggest that 40 per cent of black money is genera

Currency notes of Rs.500and Rs.1,000 denomination that are currently in circulation will no longer be legal money and cannot be used as medium of exchange from Tuesday midnight,as Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a surprisemoveclampeddownonblackmoney as well as counterfeit notes in circulation.Instead,the Reserve Bank of India(RBI)will issue new Rs.500 and Rs.2,000 currency notes on Thursday.“The arrangement of buying and selling through existing Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes will not be available.These will be just worthless piece of paper,”Modi said in his hurriedly announced address to the nation on Tuesday evening. Existing currency notes of Rs.1,2,5,10 and 100 denomination as well as coinscontinue to be legal and could be used for buying and selling. Economists said the move would immediately press a pause button on transactions that were planned in black money.On the other hand,ordinary transactions such as buying of vegetables from the local market might be hit for a month, the

Make Advance Rulings binding on Centre, states The GST Council has come up with multiple rates for the goods and services tax — zero per cent, five per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent — and also cess. The burden of commodity taxation, such as GST, will have to be ultimately borne by the consumers. Those who profess simplicity in tax administration will vote for single or dual rates, avoiding disputes. This may be workable in developed countries where population of the poor is small, but not in India. Simplicity in tax administration should not burden the poor and the rich alike. Therefore, there is a need for multiple rates. Different rates of taxation in GST will raise classification disputes, which is unavoidable. We need to look at the following measures to minimise litigation: Adopt HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature) classifications for commodities, including Interpretative Rules and Explanatory Notes, as binding. Classification opinions of the CCCN (Customs Co

Leading banks and housing finance companies are beginning to cut interest rates on home loans. State Bank of India (SBI)’s special rate for women now stands at 9.10 per cent for a loan up to ~75 lakh, while others can get the same for 9.15 per cent. Housing Development Finance Corporation and ICICI Bank have brought their rates (for up to ~75 lakh) down to 9.15 per cent for women borrowers and 9.20 per cent for others. For a new (woman), who plans to take a loan of ~75 lakh for 20 years from SBI, the new rate will translate into a lowering of equated-monthly instalment (EMI) by ~727. The total saving in interest outgo over the entire 20 years will be ~1,74,591 ( see table ). Are you feeling left out? When interest rate cuts are announced, existing borrowers on base rates need to check if they have got the entire of benefit. “If they haven’t, they should reach out to the bank and negotiate. If they do so, the entire benefit usually gets passed on to them. Alternatively, they should get