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Tax laws outdated: PM Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi said there was a need to overhaul the old tax structure on Friday at a gathering of top level incometax (IT) officials on Friday, as the existing tax laws are over 50 years old and do not fit in with today´s environment and present economic situation. Modi is backing a major change in the system, which could change the entire tax department´s strategy to nab tax evaders.According to sources, the PM, in an hourlong speech at Rajasva Gyan Sangam in New Delhi addressing direct and indirect tax officers, highlighted the several defects in the present tax system. He is learnt to have said there was huge distrust between taxpayers and the tax collector, which was an unpleasant situation.He asked the tax department to buildasystem where there would be no “ITraids”. He questioned the tax system and asked why India hadasystem where people came under the tax net after demonetisation, or when properties were confiscated, or shell compani

1% of expected invoices uploaded to GSTN About one per cent of the expected goods and services tax invoices had been uploaded on the GST Network more thanamonth after the facility opened, suggestingalastminute scramble near the September 5 deadline andaclamour for an extension. Only 4.4 million invoices have been uploaded as part of the GSTR 1 return filing,afacility that became operational on July 25. “At least 440 million invoices should have been uploaded. The facility is open for 38 days, but only 4.4 million invoices have been uploaded. In last minute filing, they will commit errors and the system will not accept the return,” said a GSTN official.Taxpayers would then seek an extension, he added.“We will consider extending the deadline if people face genuine difficulties in filing GSTR 1,” said another official. The last date to file provisional return GSTR 3B was extended from August 20 to August 25 after taxpayers faced difficulties in filing.So far, 39.7 million returns have

Consent of clients must to use Aadhaar for e KYC The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has said insurance companies can access details of policyholders provided by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) only with their consent. “It is hereby clarified that for accessing the details of the client from UIDAI for identification and authentication shall be with the consent of the client onavoluntary basis,” it said.UIDAI had issued the Aadhaar (Authentication) Regulations, 2016, prescribing the procedure for eKYC (Know Your Customer) authentication of Aadhaar number. Irdai has said insurers should perform the verification of clients through eKYC authentication facility provided by UIDAI. This has to be done through biometric authentication (fingerprint or iris scanning) and/or through onetime password received on clients´ mobile number or on the email address registered with UIDAI. The information provided by the UIDAI will be considered suff

Management of defaulting firms must step aside, says apex court The Supreme Court has ruled the management ofacompany undergoing bankruptcy proceedings cannot continue in its role. The court clarified a number of contentious issues, empowering the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in recovering dues. “Having heard both the learned counsel at some length, and because this is the very first application that has been moved under the Code (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code), we thought it necessary to deliveradetailed judgment so that all courts and tribunals may take notice ofaparadigm shift in the law,” JusticeRFNariman said. “Entrenched managements are no longer allowed to continue in management if they cannot pay their debts,” he added. This bolsters the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which says once an insolvency professional is appointed by creditors, the management should step aside and let the company be run by the professional. The insolvency professional, in turn, will decid

Properties worth Rs 14,000 crore under scanner of income tax department More than Rs 14,000 crore worth of properties have come under the scanner of the income tax department that launched a major offensive against tax evaders post demonetisation. On Thursday, the department released a detailed statement on this exercise. “The exercise has also unearthed a large number of persons and clusters having suspect transactions. These include about 14,000 properties of more than Rs 1 crore each where persons have not even filed income-tax returns. The investiga .. In the statement detailing the impact of demonetisation of oldRs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on black money, it said ‘Operation Clean Money’ was launched on January 31 to analyse data of people who deposited large sums of cash post the note-ban with no previous matching returns of income. As a result, an amount of Rs 15,496 crore was admitted as undisclosed income and surveys resulted in the seizure of Rs 13,920 crore, it said. Govern

FM warns defaulters: Clear dues or give control to others Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Thursday issued a stern warning to big loan defaulters  responsible for a steep rise in the bad loans or non-performing assets of the public  sector banks. He warned them either to clear their dues or allow others to take control  of their companies. However the finance minister admitted that there is no short term solutions to the  problem of bad loans. Jaitley said: “You can’t have a surgical solution to it.” Rising NPAs or non performing assets of public sector banks have seen sharp rise in  recent years. The RBI has already recommended banks to initiate insolvency proceedings against 12 large  defaulters. As per an official reply given in the Rajya Sabha in the Monsoon session, the total  advances to corporate sector in 2017 were around 18 lakh crore rupees and nearly 15%  (14.83%) or 3.44 lakh crore rupees were declared as non perorming assets (NPAs). As per the official reply i

Indian govt finalising cyber security standards for mobile phones The Indian government is finalising cyber security standards for mobile phones, minister for law and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi today. “Let me tell all mobile manufacturing units that your product must be security-compliant, there shall be no compromise on that,” Prasad said while addressing an ASSOCHAM conference on Cyber and Network Security. The minister said that the IT and Electronics department already issued notice to most of the mobile companies manufacturing smart phones they were asked to furnish details related to cyber security. “I am very keen that cyber security initiative of India must become a lesson for the world.” Prasad informed said that cyber enabled security testing is going to become a big initiative in India. “We need low-cost cyber technology and low-cost well qualified cyber auditors.” According to him, in last three years 93 mobile manufacturing facto