CA Online

Govt notifies GST cess hike on midsize and large cars, SUVs The Centre has notifiedalevy of increased goods and services tax (GST) cess of up to 7 per cent on  midsize, large and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). The GST Council on September 9 had decided to hike  cess on midsize cars by 2 per cent, on large cars by 5 per cent, and on SUVs by 7 per cent to bring  tax rates on these cars at preGST levels. The finance ministry on Monday notified the hike in amount of cess to be levied on cars, following  which the new rates came into effect. The effective GST rate on midsize cars will be 45 per cent, and on large cars, it would be 48 per  cent. The rate will be 50 per cent on SUVs, which include cars with length exceeding 4,000 mm and  having a ground clearance of 170 mm and above. The Business Standard, New delhi, 13th September 2017

Cabinet clears Bill to double tax free gratuity to Rs 20 lakh In a move that will bring a cheer to private and public sector employees in the country, the government has decided to double the upper limit of taxfree gratuity payable  to an employee to Rs 20 lakh. The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the introduction of the Payment of Gratu ty (Amendment) Bill, 2017, in Parliament. It also increased dearness allowance and dearness relief by one percentage point to 5 per cent, benefiting five million employees and 6.1 million pensioners. Apart from private sector employees, the amendment to the Gratuity Act, 1972, is also expected to increase the limit of gratuity of employees in public sector  undertakings and autonomous government organisations not covered under CCS (Pension) Rules, and bring it at par with central government employees. Under the Gratuity Act, payment is mandatory and gratuity will be payable to an employee on termination of employment after he or she has rendere

Over 100,000 shell firm directors disqualified In a fresh crackdown, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs directors for their association comes just a few  days after around 200,000 shell companies identified for disqualification only be debarred from their  but also from other companies years  that more directors are under Last Wednesday, the ministry saidadecision had been taken blacklist  300,000 directors of ministry has said action would taken against some members of Chartered  Accountants of of Company Secretaries of associations involved with These institutions have are being  monitored. Asource at ICAI told Business Standard that the association has identified 26 CAs and is gathering  more evidence against them. However, ICSI sources said there was no company secretary involved with shell companies, though some  of them were linked to financial defaults. "The ministry has identified 1,06,578 directors for disqualification under Section 164(2)(a) of the  Companies Ac

Income-tax department calls big corporate entities to pay advance taxes The income-tax (I-T) department is “coaxing" top corporate entities to make the 45 per cent of the  total advance tax payment by September 15, the due date for the second instalment. Sources said tax officials were meeting executives of the top 45-50 advance tax-paying firms to  persuade them to make the payment of 45 per cent of the full-year’s advance tax. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a recent meeting directed income-tax commissioners to pull  up their socks on revenue collection. The CBDT has set an October deadline for achieving the desired  growth rate of tax collection. Citing the June quarter’s advance tax collections, officials said advance tax and tax deducted at  source (TDS) payments were significantly lower than in the same period a year ago. Officials refused  to disclose the advance tax outgo but hinted that it was in single digits. The tax department conducted “outreac

Confusion over branded food GST The GST Council's statement over the weekend on applying tax on branded food items has left most of the trade confused. Even though the Council has not changed the rates on food -0 per cent on unbranded stuff and 5 per cent on brands -many small traders who didn't levy GST earlier said they could come under the 5 per cent slab after the clarification. While they predicted some increase in consumer prices, large players said they can absorb GST in many ways and keep prices steady. "Trade is confused and hence on behalf of our chamber, we have asked our members to go ahead and charge 5 per cent GST," said Sushil Sureka, general secretary of the Ahilya Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Indore. The statement clarifying the application of GST came after some businesses were found deregistering their brands and selling under corporate brand name without paying tax, after the Council exempted unbranded food from the new all-encompassing

Direct tax receipts soar 17.5% in April-August Collections at Rs 2.24 lakh crore higher than government estimates Direct taxes fetched 17.5 per cent higher receipts to the exchequer for the first five months (April-August) of the current financial year (FY18), more than what was projected for the entire financial year. However, the growth rate slowed in August. Direct tax collections, net of refunds, stood at Rs 2.24 lakh crore during the April-August period of FY18. The receipts had grown 19.1 per cent in the first four months of FY18. The government had projected 9.8 lakh crore from the direct taxes — corporation tax and personal income tax — in 2017-18, which would be 15.7 per cent higher than Rs 8.47 lakh crore in FY17. Till August, 22.9 per cent of the target has been achieved. After adjusting for refunds, the growth in corporation collections was at 18.1 per cent during the period, while personal income tax collections rose 16.5 per cent. Before refunds, corporation tax colle

Labourers to get unique ID number: Santosh Gangwar Labourers from both organised and unorganised sectors will be allotted a unique identification number as a part of labour reforms, Union minister for Labour and Employment Santosh Gangwar has said. Gangwar said representatives of recognised labour organisations have been invited to New Delhi on September 14 for establishing better coordination and giving momentum to the process of labour reforms in the country. Four labour laws, that had become irrelevant, have been done away with and the relevance of 36 other laws is being examined, he said at a function organised by the Indian Industries Association last night. "As part of labour reforms, labourers in both the organised and unorganised sectors will be given a unique ID number," he said here. Workers in the unorganised sector account for over 93 per cent of the country's total work force, whose size according to a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) 2009-10 su