The income-tax department has proposed a national e-management system for quick disposal of tax disputes, with more than Rs 75,000 crore, an amount close to a fifth of the government’s annual direct tax collections, locked in litigations.
The Supreme Court on Friday admitted a petition, filed by a retired chief commissioner of income-tax, which suggests that a legislation be made to make it mandatory for taxpayers to declare offshore bank accounts while filing annual returns. The premise behind the suggestion is to enable the government to take effective measures to seize wealth parked in Swiss and other offshore bank accounts by Indian residents.
A probe by the country’s leading accounts body may throw up warts on the business side of the country’s hottest sporting event. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) will shortly submit a report on the balance sheets of all the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises amid indications that the accounting regulator has come across violations of auditing norms by some of the teams.
A day after two former Satyam Computer auditors denied their role in the multi-crore accounting scam at the IT firm, another accused told a court that CBI had no substantial evidence against him. D Venkatapathi Raju, a former Satyam employee, argued that he cannot be clubbed as a co-conspirator in the corporate fraud which came to light in January last year.
CBI has registered a case against two officials of Bank of India in Khunti district of Jharkhand for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices. A case under different Sections of IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against Patras Sanga, Manager and Dev Kant Jha, Assistant Manager, Bank of India, Karra Branch of the district.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) will train accounting technicians at Abu Dhabi from next year and is in a process of signing memorandum of understandings (MOUs) with several countries in the coming months in this connection. These were some of the developments shared by ICAI president CA Amarjit Chopra, who presided over the convocation ceremony of ICAI here on Monday. Chopra also hinted that in a bid to foster transparency, they may start showing answer sheets to students if the council approves.
For the sixth year in a row, over 4.7 crore subscribers of retirement fund manager EPFO are likely to get 8.5 per cent interest on their deposits in the current fiscal. “EPFO’s apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), is likely to fix 8.5 per cent interest for subscribers at its meeting scheduled for September 10,” a source said.
The ministry of corporate affairs, or MCA, has all but dismissed the findings of a panel set up by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) because it contains little that will help in regulating the profession and ensuring that frauds such as the one at Satyam Computer Services Ltd don’t happen again.
SEBI had constituted a Committee called the “Takeover Regulations Advisory Committee (TRAC)” which has recommended amendments to the procedure for corporate acquisitions. The mandate of the committee was to examine and review SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997 and to suggest suitable amendments therein.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will take up the visa fee hike issue during his visit to the US next month, with India hopeful that the matter can be resolved bilaterally.
