Your city has lost income tax worth Rs 35,000 crore in the last five years. This is because 11.4 crore “pieces of information” pertaining to unaccounted income collected by the Income Tax (I-T) department’s Central Information Branch (CIB) was not sent out to the field officials concerned for further action.
One of the most significant features of GST would be the taxation of financial services. No country in the world has been able to design a model for inclusion of financial services within the VAT/GST framework. India, if successful, will chart a new course, which could well become a model for the rest of the world to emulate.
The government notified the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Act, 2010 on May 18, 2010, which increases the limit of gratuity payment to employees in the specified sectors/establishments covered under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (“Gratuity Act”). After the amendment, these employees are eligible to receive gratuity up to Rs 10,00,000, which was earlier restricted to Rs 3,50,000. Thus, crores of workers will be benefited in establishments covered by the Gratuity Act.
Sebi’s proposal to tighten the norms for investment in derivatives has run into opposition from mutual funds with the industry lobby arguing that fund managers need access to some of the products the regulator wants to ban.The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), the industry lobby, has sent its detailed response to the mutual funds advisory committee of the Sebi, which will take up the proposal at its next meeting on May 31.
The ministry of corporate affairs has begun discussions with the law ministry to incorporate the suggestions made by the Supreme Court when it cleared the National Companies Law Tribunal (NCLT) in the Companies Bill that is with a Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Life Insurance Corporation of India is likely to submit new unit-linked insurance plans Ulips with the regulator in light of its two plans coming to a close. The corporation’s endowment plan Wealth Plus closed on May 8 while another pension plan Market Plus will close at the end of next month. It is likely to float new schemes to ensure that there are enough products in its stable.
The CA Institute’s second and final report on the Satyam scam and the role of the company’s statutory auditor in that accounting fraud was submitted to the Corporate Affairs Ministry on Monday.While ICAI officials were tight-lipped about the contents of this report, indications are that the audit profession regulator has recommended strict punishment including imprisonment to auditors who are found to be associated with any accounting frauds.
However, the Corporate Affairs Ministry sources said the Government may not be able to get the Bill passed in Parliament in the monsoon session (scheduled to begin in July) itself because preparing a ‘revised proposal’, on the basis of the Committee’s recommendations, and then getting the Cabinet approval for the same, may take time.
The government will consider changes in rules to allow 100% foreign owned and well capitalised non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to set up subsidiaries, removing the curbs introduced by the foreign direct investment guidelines issued last year. The Reserve Bank of India will work out the details of the changes, a government official told.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has raised several concerns over some provisions of the proposed direct tax code (DTC), the draft of which was unveiled by the finance?ministry in 2009. The country’s statutory auditor pointed out in a communication in March that some key provisions of the code, such as the ones on international taxation, could prove problematic. Other concerns relate to changes in taxation for the voluntary sector.
