New reports by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax purposes assess its members ability to stop international tax evasion. Reports on Aruba, The Bahamas, Belgium, Estonia and Ghana evaluate their legal and regulatory frameworks for the exchange of information. Reports on Canada and Germany assess both the legal frameworks and their implementation in practice. The Global Forum, hosted by the OECD, has published reports on 25 of its members and will complete another 35 by November for the Cannes G20 Summit.
At the Seoul Summit last November, the leaders of G-20 tasked us to formulate indicative guidelines for the identification of persistently large imbalances requiring corrective action, including their root causes and impediments to adjustment. Earlier this year at Paris, we decided to break up the exercise into an integrated two step process. For the first step, while agreeing on a set of indicators, we resolved to firm up indicative guidelines against which each of these indicators will be assessed to identify persistently large imbalances by our next meeting in April. We now need to finalize these guidelines and move on to the second step of the exercise. Presumably, this would focus on root causes, impediments to adjustment and corrective policies and actions.
Open to extending Aug 15 deadline if he finds the govt on the right path. In an apparent softening of stand, Anna Hazare today said Parliament was supreme and he would accept its decision if it rejected the Lok Pal Bill. Hazare also showed some flexibility on the August 15 deadline he had set for the passage of the Bill by Parliament, saying he was open to extending it if he found the government was on the right path.
With inflation showing no signs of moderation, economists expect the Reserve Bank to hike key policy rates by at least 25 basis points in its annual monetary policy to be unveiled on May 3. The headline inflation (WPI) stood at 8.98 per cent for March, much above the RBI’s projection of 8 per cent, fuelling speculation that the central bank may go in for another hike in the repo (lending) and reverse repo (borrowing) rates.
The Minister appreciated the Revenue Department for exceeding even the revised targets of direct and indirect tax collections for fiscal year 2010-11. The Budget estimates for 2010-11 for direct and indirect taxes were Rs.7,45,000 crore which were revised to Rs.7,80,000 crore and actual collection at the end of financial year was Rs.7,92,000 crore, said the Finance Minister. The project is expected to be completed in next 24 to 30 months time, the Minister added.
At a time when the Central Board of Direct Taxes is asking taxpayers to use online platform to file returns, there is a problem that might haunt the assessees. “The data in the online system directly goes to the Central Processing Centre in Bangalore and the entire work is to done by them. Hence, say there is any delay in refund the local IT officer has nothing to do and for the ombudsman it is an issue of jurisdiction,” Income Tax Ombudsman (East) Manoj Mishra told PTI.
Bank customers may soon expect better services and fast-track redressal of their grievances as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to consider a fresh set of rules to improve the banks’ customer service practices. Almost a year after RBI put in motion a process to improve banks’ customer service practices, a high-profile panel set up by the central bank in this regard is likely to submit its recommendations later this month.
Owning a vehicle would now pinch your pockets even more, with third-party motor insurance premiums set to rise by up to 65 per cent for two-wheelers, private cars and heavy load carriers from April 25. The premiums are being revised after a gap of four years, the sector watchdog Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) said, adding, from now onwards the third-party motor insurance premium rates would be revised annually.
Cautioning judges against taking over the functions of the legislature, Chief Justice Mr SH Kapadia today said that judiciary should maintain self restraint and respect separation of power. “We must refuse to sit as a super-legislature to weigh the wisdom of legislation. We must remember that our Constitution recognises separation of powers and that the legislatures and the government can be made accountable for their legislation and actions by the electorate if they err,” Mr Justice Kapadia said.
Exposure Draft on XBRL taxonomy for Commercial and Industrial (C&I) entities on which comments, if any, are invited by MCA by 30th April, 2011. Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has come out with an Exposure Draft on XBRL taxonomy for Commercial and Industrial (C&I) entities for filing their Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account. Comments, if any, are invited on the same by 30th April, 2011.
