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GST, note ban brought 1.8 mn more people into I-T net: India India has informed the UN that the Goods and Services Tax reform implemented by it, coupled with the demonetisation of high-value currency notes, has brought 1.8 million more people into the income-tax net.Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs A Gitesh Sarma, addressing the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow Up, said India is currently implementing a wave of reforms. The Mint, New Delhi, 28th April 2018

GST collection in first 9 months of its roll out at Rs 7.41 trillion Goods and services tax (GST) collection in the first nine months of its roll out during 2017-18 stood at Rs 7.41 trillion, even as average monthly collection turned out lower than initial targets of the government. The monthly average was Rs 890 billion, against the targeted Rs 920 billion. However, very close to the FY18 Revised Estimates (RE) of the Union Budget. GST was enforced from July 1.The figures issued by the government on Friday comprised Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST) for August-March 2017-18 and integrated GST (IGST) and compensation cess for July-March. While the tax on domestic supplies in a month is collated through returns and gets collected the next month, the IGST and cess on import gets collected the same month. While the GST on domestic supplies was collected only from August 2017, IGST and cess on imports wa collected from July 2017. "During 2017-18, total revenue collecte

9 shortlisted for RBI deputy governor's post; interview on May 10 A search panel headed by the Cabinet Secretary is  scheduled to interview candidates on May 10 to find a successor to RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra, who completed his three-year term in July last year.Out of about 40 applications received, the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointment Search Committee (FSRASC) has shortlisted about 9 names who have been called for interview on May 10, sources said. The Business Standard, New Delhi, 28th April 2018

Govt appoints Officers for conducting Search and Seizure under Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance The Ministry of Finance, on Tuesday, appointed officers to carry out search and seizure under the newly pronounced Fugitive Economi Offenders Ordinance. As per a Notification issued by the Government on 24th April, officers not below the rank of Assistant Directors in the Directorate of Enforcement are authorized to exercise the power to search any person and to seize such record or property which may be useful for or relevant to proceedings under the said Ordinance. In a separate notification, the Central Government also appointed the Special Directors of Enforcement of the Regional Offices of the Directorate of Enforcement to perform the functions of an Administrator. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, pronounced by the President a few days ago, allows the Government to confiscate properties and assets of loan defaulters who flee the country. The ordinance seeks to confi

EPFO interest rate for 2017-18 at 5-yr-low of 8.55%; FinMin clears proposal With rates of all small savings schemes, including the Public Provident Fund, going down in the past year, EPFO's return of 8.55 per cent is still the best rate The finance ministry on Thursday approved for 2017-18 an interest rate of 8.55 per cent on provident fund savings administered by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for around 200 million formal sector workers.“The finance ministry has approved the interest rates according to the decision taken by EPFO's central board of trustees. However, they have also given us some suggestions informally,” a senior labour ministry official said. The EPFO trustees, headed by Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh Gangwar, had announced at a meeting on February 21 a five-year-low interest rate of 8.55 per cent for 2017-18. EPFO had paid returns of 8.65 per cent on provident fund savings for the previous year, and 8.8 per cent

PAN-Aadhaar linkage does not help curb scams A lawyer today opposed the seeding of Aadhaar with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) for income tax in the Supreme Court, saying in no way does it help in preventing financial frauds or curb black money. Arguing before a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, which is hearing a clutch of petitions challenging Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law, the lawyer referred to various recent financial frauds including the Nirav Modi scam and said none of these could have been avoided by using PAN-Aadhaar linkage. “Firstly, giant corporates, rather than individua l players, have been the main actors in these scams. Secondly, black money is widely known to be stored by the corrupt in foreign banks which are beyond the reach of Aadhaar,” lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing NGO ‘Centre for Civil Society’, said The Business Standard, New Delhi, 27th April 2018

Revenue from online ads signals promising start to digital taxation The receipts peg the size of online advertisements worth above Rs1 lakh a year at Rs10,000 crore a year The first full year of taxing digital services has thrown up promising results with the government collecting Rs600 crore as tax from online advertisements. Policymakers are now busy planning to scale proceeds from this new area, including through tax treaty changes.The tax that took effect on 1 June, 2016 had brought in Rs500 crore in the 10 months of FY17. Online advertisements are the first digital service to come under ‘equalisation levy’, a tax deducted at source. The receipts peg the size of online advertisements worth above Rs1 lakh a year at Rs10,000 crore a year. The 6% tax is to be deducted at source on the payments made to the advertisement platform such as social networking and other sites as  well as search engines and paid to the government.The government is now planning industry-wide consultati