CA Online

The goods and services tax (GST) was not an “easy reform to implement” but it has evoked  “great” public support with the government deciding not to blink in the face of Opposition  to the new taxation measure, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday. “We have today reachedastage of history where there isagreat amount of popular support  behind reforms because people have become restless. They are not willing to be satisfied withasituation wherein India cannot reach up to its  potential,” he said in Chennai, while addressingaGST Conclave organised by various industry  bodies. “Ican say withareasonable expectation for the future that it (GST) was notavery easy reform  to implement. Occasionally, there are people who try and prevent any reform from happening.” Jaitley said  he had learnt in the last few years that one should not blink if convinced thatareform was  in the national interest. “If you pause, blink, go intoareconsideration mode, then those who want to trip

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has  produced “a big positive effect” on India’s economy and instilled “a new sense of  confidence” in the country. During his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ monthly radio address, he expressed satisfaction with the  implementation of the new tax regime in the country, saying the “lofty dream” of ‘One  Nation–One Tax’ has “finally” been fulfilled. “It has been one month since GST was implemented and its benefits can be seen already. I  feel very happy and satisfied when a poor person writes to say how because of GST prices of  various items essential for him have come down, and commodities have become cheaper,” he  said. One overriding priority for “every government” has been to ensure that there is no burden on  the plate of the poor on account of GST, he said. Using the GST app, one can know as to how much an item cost before the rollout of the GST  and how much it is now post-GST, he said. “This is a

'Accommodative Stance Must To Revive Sentiment' Market players and economists may be betting on 25-basis-point (100bps 1 percentage point) rate cut by the RBI next week, but an influential section within the government believes that nothing less than a 50-bps reduc tion with an “accommodative“ stance will revive investment. Differences between the RBI and the government over the extent of an interest rate cut have come out in the open in the past few months with the chief economic adviser in the finance ministry Arvind Subramanian expressing disappointment with the central bank's move not to cut rate as well as the monetary policy committee's (MPC) reading of the inflation situation. Several private sector economists have also criticised MPC's inflation estimates. While efforts have been made to play down the differences, a wide gap in views between the central bank and the finance ministry over the direction of interest rates remains. Multiple sources i

The new tax regime addresses the issues of multiplicity of taxes, higher compliance costs, and improving the overall investment climate Billed as India's biggest reform independence taxsince in 1947, GST replaced more than a dozen federal and state levies and was initiated with an intention to unify the country into a single market. However, nearly a month on, many are finding that doing business is quite complicated now. For the man on the street, the impact will be seen in the form of slightly higher fees for banking transactions like funds transfer and ATM transactions as these have been put under the 18 per cent tax bracket in the new GST regime, from the earlier 15 per cent.Nevertheless, it is expected that GST will have a positive impact on India's growth and would reduce the prices in the medium and long term. A MONTH AFTER IMPLEMENTATION It is almost a month since GST was rolled out. Broadly speaking, it is going to impact in the following way: Unified tax

The government is formulating a medical benefit scheme for all pensioners who are members of Employees' Provident Fund (EPF).The government will also constitute a high-level committee to revamp the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS). “In association with the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), we are going to formulate a medical benefit scheme for all pensioners who are EPF members,“ labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya told Lok Sabha on Friday . He added that this would be a contributory medical benefit scheme and details were being worked out. “I have directed that a complete valuation of EPS 1995 be done... Whatever gaps are there will be plugged,“ the minister said. Dattatreya was responding to a resolution moved by RSP member N K Premachandran on steps to ensure welfare of 59 lakh pensioners under EPS. Premachandran also demanded increase in minimum pension to Rs 3,000 from Rs 1,000 per month under the EPS scheme. He also pitched for implementation of w

The tax authorities will now relay audit reports of corporates and specific information from  their I-T returns as also PAN data to the ministry of corporate affairs, as the government  plans to crack down harder on shell companies. Coming down heavily on shell companies, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has already  cancelled registrations of over 1.62 lakh companies for non-filing of financial statements  for the immediate two preceding fiscals. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of the I-T department,  in an order has asked the Principal Director General of Income Tax (Systems) to share "bulk  information" to the MCA. Bulk information would mean Permanent Account Number (PAN) data of corporates, their Income  Tax returns (ITRs), audit reports and statement of financial transactions (SFT) received  from banks relating to corporates. Also the tax department would share identified PAN Challan Identification Number (CIN) as

A section of postpaid users and corporate customers are getting their monthly mobile bills  late as big phone companies are struggling to capture the impact of the goods and services  tax (GST) on invoices issued post-July 1.  Bharti AirtelBSE -1.17 %, India’s No 1 phone company, has sent out text messages to some of  its postpaid customers saying their bills would be delayed by at least a week this month  owing to technical issues. ET has seen these text messages.  Airtel BSE -1.17 % postpaid customers in Delhi and Kolkata told ET that they had been  informed by the company’s customer care wing that the reason behind the delayed billing was  GST-related.  The country’s second-largest mobile carrier, Vodafone India, in turn, is learnt to be facing  a tough time billing corporate or ‘enterprise customers’ on schedule as many clients have  not shared their GST registration numbers.  Under GST rules, telcos are required to the mention a corporate customer’s GST registration  n