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Only Rs 12,000 cr credit claims valid The government on Friday said only Rs 12,000 crore of the Rs 65,000 crore of input tax credit claimed by assessees for the pre-GST stocks were valid. The governments, both the Centre and states, had got Rs 95,000 crore of revenues from the goods and services tax (GST) for July, the first month of the indirect taxation system. But after claims of Rs 65,000 crore were made for refunds of taxes paid on stocks lying with businesses as of June 30, the government was startled, as that would have meant just Rs 30,000 crore of revenues from GST, which would be shared between the Centre and the states. The finance ministry said Rs 95,000 crore was the amount actually paid in cash, other than availing credit. The Press Trust of India reported the government has estimated valid transitional credit claims of taxpayers in July were just Rs 12,000 crore and not Rs 65,000 crore, as previously claimed. This would give the government a short in the arm in its e

Companies can have only two layers of subsidiaries Corporates can have only two layers of subsidiaries under the companies law, with the government putting in place stricter norms as it continues with the clampdown on illicit fund flows. While the rules would be applicable prospectively, companies that already have more than two layers of subsidiaries have to furnish details about them to the government. Banking and non-banking financial companies as well as insurance firms and government companies have been exempted from the restrictions, according to notification issued by the corporate affairs ministry. The rules, notified after public consultation, came into effect from Wednesday. It assumes significance against the back drop of concerns that shell companies are being floated to act as conduits for illicit funding activities. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 23th September 2017

Council decides manner to distribute assessees After deciding the basic principle of division of assessess between central and state tax authorities, the goods and services tax (GST) council has stated how this  would be done. Earlier, the GST council had decided a state would have control over 90 % of  GST  payer where turnover of businesses was up to Rs 1.5 crore a year. over t hat figure, the state and central officials were to have 50:50 control.The division to be done by computer at the state level,by random choice.   Now,it has been decided that for those registered under value-added tax(VAT) or both VAT and central excise, their state turnover,including interstate transactions,  will be taken into account.for those registeresd only under central excise and not VAT,the annual turnover given in central excise returns will be taken into account.   Those registered under VAT and sevice tax will be considered on the turnover given  in the returns for both, the overlape be

Sebi allows bourses to conduct forensic audit The logo of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is pictured on the premises of its headquarters in Mumbai.  The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has empowered stock exchanges to conduct forensic audits on listed companies which seem dubious, being suspected of  use as conduits for illicit fund flow. An authorisation letter in this regard has been issued to the bourses. The latter may take action in this regard on their own initiative. Sources say this is a sequel  to the discussion between Sebi's surveillance department and the exchanges, on ways to curb such manipulation. The regulator wants exchanges to review suspect companies on a weekly basis and select those for forensic audit. Till now, the exchanges did not have the authority to  order this type of audit on their own. A forensic audit is similar to a regular audit of a company's financial statement. However, the mode of examination or e

GST : Centre, states to divide taxpayer base The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has put in place an elaborate framework for division of taxpayers between the state and central tax authorities, in a move  aimed at bringing clarity and effectiveness in the administration of the new indirect tax regime. The guidelines for the division of the taxpayer base between the Centre and states will ensure that a taxpayer faces only one GST authority – either the Centre or the  state. "The list of taxpayers will be made public," said an official, adding that this would clear the air for not just the taxpayers but also the tax authorities. The division will also clearly fix the responsibility for raising awareness about GST, with bulk of small traders falling within the jurisdiction of states. According to the rules issued, 90 per cent of the assesses with a turnover of less than Rs 1.5 crore will be under the administrative control of states and the balance  10 per cent wi

Nearly 3 million GST returns filed in August As many as 2.97 million assessees have filed the summary input-output return under the new goods and services tax (GST) for the month of August (‘GSTR 3B’), much less than the 4.6 million that came for the month of July. As many as 46 per cent of filers — 1.37 million — submitted returns on Wednesday, the deadline for doing so. However, the July returns had risen after an extension of five to eight days was given to assessees, depending on whether they wanted to claim input tax credit for pre-GST stocks or not. The GST Network (GSTN), the entity handling the information technology backbone for the new structure, is hopeful that return filing would equal the tally of July. Even if the same number of filers are there for the month of August as in July, proportionately it would be much less. This is so because there were only 5.95 million registrations under the GST in July, excluding those opting for the composition scheme. Now, a little

Trading in bitcoins under taxmen, Enforcement Directorate lens Investments in cryptocurrency have come under the radar of tax authorities and investigation agencies amid concerns that they could have become conduits for illicit flows and the movement of black money. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money appointed by the Supreme Court has expressed worries about cryptocurrency and suggested curbs on their trading in its draft report. “There are concerns on the way it operates.Some unaccounted money could be flowing into these,” said an official aware of the matter. The team is likely to submit its final report in a month, the person said. Policy makers are looking at the issue closely and are expected to take a call shortly, another government official said. Income-tax authorities and the Enforcement Directorate are also examining investments in cryptocurrency after the Indian government demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November last year. “There are is