Faced with the challenge of curbing black money in electoral process, the Income Tax (I-T) department has now proposed assessment of the income of political parties under the provisions of charity law instead of the present system of doing so under a special clause. The department’s proposal, prepared after it’s investigation wings across the country helped the Election Commission in conducting polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam, has been sent to the Finance Ministry and the EC for consideration.
The government can do without making tax evasion a criminal offence as the existing income tax laws , which provide for rigorous imprisonment up to seven years for willful default, has not been used effectively to unearth black money , say experts . ,One can be jailed for seven years (rigorous imprisonment ) for willful evasion of tax (above Rs.1 lakh).
The government today said it had extended the popular exports scheme – DEPB – for three more months till September. The DEPB scheme was due to end on June 30. ‘…We have extended Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) till September,’ Finance Secretary Sunil Mitra said on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Ministry of Finance and OECD.
The Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India Mr. Anand Sharma Mr. Anand Sharma urged the member states of SAARC to bring down all the protectionist trade barriers to achieve regional economies of scale at a much greater pace. While emphasizing that the serious attempts being made to reduce the sensitive list under the trade liberalization program of SAFTA, should be encouraged, the Indian minister also said the focus should also be to bring down the tariff levels for those items which still remain within the sensitive list. The Minister was speaking at the Fifth Meeting of the SAFTA Ministerial Council in Male’ today.
The Indian Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has relaxed the norms for students aspiring to become chartered accountants. Until now an aspirant had to clear common proficiency test for chartered accountancy (CPT) after Std XII or graduation. Now there is an option of becoming a CA without clearing CPT. The existing option will continue to be available.
ICWAI – Management Accountant Journal for the Month of June 2011 – Download CWA – Management Accountant Journal – June 2011 in PDF format
Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate two day high level International Seminar on “Adopting Tax System and International Tax Rules to the New Global Environment: A Shared Challenge for India and the OECD” tomorrow at Vigyan Bhawan. In the two day International Seminar , discussions would be held in separate sessions on the issues pertaining to transfer pricing, global trends in tax reform, implications for international tax arrangements, international dispute resolution and elimination of double taxation among others. This is for the first time that such high level international seminar is being held in India in association with Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). About 150 representatives from about 30 member countries of OECD along with those of International Monetary Fund(IMF), World Bank and tax officials from India are expected to participate in this two day international seminar.
Union Finance Minister Calls for Strong Measures to Reverse the Ongoing Trend of Illicit Outflows from Developing Countries and Exploitation of their Natural Resources Through Abusive Transfer Pricing Schemes; Inaugurates two Day High Level International Seminar on ‘Adopting Tax System and International Tax Rules to the New Global Environment: a Shared Challenge for India and the Oecd’; India Oecd to Strengthen Ongoing Cooperation on Tax Related Issues Through three Year Partnership Programme.
Under pressure from civil society to take concrete action on black money, the government today said it has enough tools to deal with transactions arising from non-cooperative jurisdictions and would take action as and when necessary. We have developed a toolbox… We have enabled ourselves to declare (tax havens) as non-cooperating jurisdiction and countries as and when the situation arises. We will take appropriate steps, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here today.
Ministry of Railways have decided that the Income Certificate issued by Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) of various States and Union Territories will also be accepted for issue of “Izzat’ monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) for the benefit of persons working in unorganized sectors. This provision will be effective from 1st July, 2011. This facility will be in addition to the five kinds of certificates already permitted under the ‘Izzat’ Scheme.
