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Over 40 million member of the retirement fund body, Employees Provident fund Oganisation (EPFO) can now withdraw funds from their EPF Account for treatment of illness and purchasing equipment to deal with handicaps without medical certificates. The EPF Scheme 1952 is amended to do away with the requirement of submission of various certificates and proformas for seeking advance for treatment of illness and purchasing equipment requiredin case of physical disabilities. The Business Standard New Delhi, 28th April 2017

A parliamentary committee is examining whether the real estate regulation Act has been made weaker by states. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act or Rera, which comes into force from May 1, is supposed to protect the interests of the common man such as timely  delivery of property by developer. Various states, according to industry experts, have made certain changes in the Act such as not including existing projects or easing up punishment for non completion   of projects. “The committee is trying to ensure the spirit of Rera remains intact. States cannot make changes in Rera that would make it a too the less Act. It is important that developers that do not adhere to the norms are punished. That is why they are reviewing and based on our observation we will give our recommendations,” said a source close to the committee. The panel headed by Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Dilip Kumar Mansukhlal Gandhi has held one meeting on the issue and hopes to present

On cards is a GST compliance rating for industries so that traders and businessmen can be rated based on their track record Trade and industry will be assigned a 'compliance rating' based on their credibility with regard to timely deposit of taxes to the exchequer and filing of returns  under the goods and services tax structure. Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia has said a system of GST Compliance Rating will be put in place so that every trader or businessman will be rated based on their track   record. Once the rating is made public on the GSTN portal, a businessman can decide on whether to deal with another trader or entity who does not deposit tax with the  government and therefore, has a low compliance score. GST Network (GSTN) is the firm which is building the IT backbone of the unified tax, which is scheduled to go into effect from July 1. The GST Council in due course will approve the procedures to be followed for compliance rating and it will mostly depend o

As part of its suggestions for a wide range of labour reforms, the NITI Aayog has argued for extending fixed term employment beyond apparel manufacturing to all sectors. It has also said that all enterprises, which are less than five years old with annual turnover of less than Rs 25 crore, be considered start-ups, thereby significantly reducing the labour compliance burden on them. The suggestions to streamline labour laws across the country are part of the Aayog’s three-year action agenda, the draft of which was shared with chief ministers in a recent meeting last Sunday. While the last economic survey had made a case for arming labour-intensive manufacturing in apparel and leather to add steam to India’s export growth, the Aayog has pointed out that streamlining labour rules is crucial for increasing the number of formal jobs in the economy. According to the fifth Annual Employment Unemployment survey conducted between April and December 2015, 83 per cent of all workers i

The Centre has extend ed the last date for filing service tax return by five days to April 30, in a relief to lakhs of service providers.“The CBEC hereby extends the   date for submission of form ST-3 for the period from October 1 to March 31, 2017, from April 25 to April 30, 2017,“ the apex policy-making body of the ndirect tax   department said in an office order.Every registered service tax assessee has to file service tax return in form ST-3 on a halfyearly basis before due date to avoid  penalty.   The Economic Times New Delhi, 28th April 2017

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has movedastep closer to mandatory selling of hallmarked jewellery. Two weeks earlier, it issued draft rules which propose compulsory registration for jewellers with the BIS. Sources say it has been decided that “once jewellers´ registration with BIS is done, the next move will be to mandate that only hallmarked jewellery can be sold”. However, this would kill the business of online jewellery sales, as the BIS registration is given to physical premises. Various trade and industry bodies have made representations on this, including the Indian Association of Hallmarking Centers. There have been assurances that some way will be found to allow online sale of hallmarked jewellery. At present, 25,000 jewellers havealicence from BIS for selling jewellery. If the Draft BIS Hallmarking Regulations are implemented in the proposed form, “over 300,000 jewellery retailers/stores will have to individually register with BIS and  pay an annual fee

Transfer pricing & advance tax requirements won't apply to cos whose POEM is here Indian companies with overseas subsidiaries are likely to get some leeway around transfer pricing, withholding tax and advance tax requirements under the place of   effective management (POEM) rules, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The government is considering issuing a circular saying that these requirements won't apply to companies whose POEM is in India, they said.It would clarify that POEM   is only for income declaration purpose in India, one of them added. Such a clarification is expected to stop trigger happy income tax officers from complicating matters for Indian multinationals. POEM is a framework introduced by the government in the current financial year to determine the tax payable by a foreign company , including subsidiaries of local   firms, which for all purposes is managed from India. Previously , such companies weren't required to pay tax in Ind