The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has decided to relax the norms for companies to maintain minimum paid-up capital. According to the Companies Act 1956, the minimum paid-up capital for a private company is Rs 1 lakh and for a listed company Rs 5 lakh. According to official sources, while a company can be set up with any amount, but within a time-frame of two years it should raise the capital to Rs 1 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for unlisted and listed companies, respectively.
WITH computerisation gaining pace in the Income Tax Department, and the policy makers’ reliance on machine increasingly growing, the CBDT has finally decided to switch over computer-generated certificates and do away with the manual exercise for issuing withholding tax certificates under Sec 197. In its latest direction to the field formations, the CBDT topbrass has issued Instruction No 04/2010, directing Assessing Officers (AOs) to mandatorily issue Sec 197 Certificates only through the system.
The Income-tax department can tax even a payment made to a foreign entity outside India, if the transaction has a business connection within the country, according to a verdict passed last week by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai.
Sweeping changes to tax laws not only cause problems but also complicate business matters. Senior citizens or foreign entities that do not have a fixed place of business in India must be exempt from the requirement of having a PAN. All countries want a share of the tax pie, but the law should not be complex.
FOREIGN investors will be required to give a commitment that they will not do anything detrimental to India’s interest as the government looks to tighten scrutiny of foreign direct investment, but experts say the regulation is not so innocuous. The department of industrial policy and promotion or DIPP, the key government body for policy on foreign direct investments, has initiated discussions with concerned ministries including finance, law, home, and the RBI.
In 2002, the Companies Act, 1956, was amended to provide establishment of company law tribunals to play the role that had hitherto been played by high courts. Specific arrangements and transactions such as mergers, demergers and reduction of capital, and also liquidation and winding up of companies are overseen by high courts having jurisdiction where the registered office of the company is located. The amendment sought to move such jurisdiction to specialised tribunals established for the purpose, with an appellate tribunal adding a layer of appeal.
Under the new model of RML launched last year, banks will pay a lump-sum amount to a life insurance company, which in turn makes annuity-based payment to the borrower. The catch, however, is that the interest payable by the borrower is treated as accrued interest and liable to income tax in the hands of the bank.
Large Indian companies could report a sharp fall in the valuation of their assets as new accounting norms prompt these firms to reassess the fair value of their units, a mandatory condition under globalised reporting standards. Adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), a modern accounting system that Indian companies have to migrate to from next year,
Alarmed by the initial findings of its departmental inquiry, the income-tax (I-T ) department has moved the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to probe the ‘tax return scam.’ The hand of several I-T officials working in tandem with some rogue tax agents is suspected in the scam to siphon off refunds.
The assessee, an Indian company, entered into an agreement with a Chinese company for bauxite testing services in its laboratories (outside India) and for preparation of test reports. The assessee filed an application u/s 195(1) in which it argued that as the services were rendered outside India and the recipient did not have a permanent establishment in India,
