TIOL-DDT 2920 · the untouched capture
Rendered as it looked. Links and images are disabled in this view; the file itself is untouched.
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/inside2.php3?filename=bnews_detail.php3&newsid=26988"><img src="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/image/stories/limca_book2016.jpg" alt="DDT in Limca Book of Records - Third Time in a row" width="252" height="220" hspace="5" border="0" align="right" ></a></font></strong></font><font color="#663399" size="3">TIOL-DDT 2920</font><br>
31 08 2016<br>
Wednesday</strong></font></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006600" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><strong><font size="3"><em>Taxpayers Electronic Interface with Income Tax Department </em></font></strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>IN</strong> December 2015 <strong>(<a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/NewsDesc.php?MpoQSrPnM=MjU2MTY=">DDT 2752 28 12 2015</a>)</strong>, the Revenue Secretary had directed that any notice/letter/communication issued by any officer under Department of Revenue including CBDT, its directorates and field formations to the tax payers, members of public should invariably contain mention of email address and office phone numbers, of the officers signing such, communications/notice/letters for facilitating tax payers' electronic interface with the Department. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It has come to the notice of the CBDT that that the notices do not contain any such details. This has led to a situation where the taxpayers who want to communicate with the Assessing Officer through e-mail or wish to make statutory compliance electronically are unable to do so. Further, non furnishing of official telephone number also causes inconvenience to the taxpayer concerned in case he needs to seek any clarification from the Assessing Officer. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Therefore, looking into the difficulties being faced by the taxpayers due to lack of proper compliance with earlier directions of the Board by some income-tax authorities, Board wants all income-tax authorities to invariably mention their official email Ids along with official telephone numbers/fax number in all notices/letters/communications being issued by them to the taxpayers. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Further, in all time-barring scrutiny cases and in cases where notice for any statutory proceeding has been issued during this financial year till now without the necessary communication details of the income-tax authority concerned, such information should be furnished to the <strong>concerned </strong>taxpayer immediately. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Board wants the Commissioners (Appeals) also to follow these instructions while handling appellate matters. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/notDesc.php?MpoQSrPnM=MjA0MjA=" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>CBDT F.No. 225/214/2016/ITA.II., Dated: August 30. 2016 </strong></font></a></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><strong><font color="#006600" size="3"><em><a name="f1"></a>Service Tax Exemption for Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) </em></font></strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/inside2.php3?filename=bnews_detail.php3&newsid=27952" target="_blank"><strong>DDT 2918 29 08 2016</strong> </a> had reported about the <em>Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) </em> of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is to facilitate / stimulate regional air connectivity by making it affordable. We reported, </font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color:#D3E9BE" span="span"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Accordingly, Government has notified the concessional rate of 2% excise duty for <em>Aviation Turbine Fuel drawn by operators or cargo operators from the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) airports</em>, till 25th day of August, 2019. </font> </font> </p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color:#D3E9BE" span="span"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Scheme proposes that Service Tax will be levied on 10% of the taxable value (abatement of 90%) of tickets for RCS Seats on an RCS Flight, without any input credit, for an initial period of 1 year from the date of notification of the Scheme by MoCA. Subsequently, this will be reviewed and notified accordingly. Service Tax will be payable by the passengers over and above the specified Airfare Cap. </font> </font> </p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color:#D3E9BE" span="span"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>CBEC is yet to notify the service tax concession</strong>. </font></font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong> </strong></font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">CBEC has now notified this. 90% abatement is given to the value of service of Transport of passengers, with or without accompanied belongings, by air, embarking from or terminating in a Regional Connectivity Scheme Airport. This will be valid for a period of one year from the date of commencement of operations of the Regional Connectivity Scheme Airport as notified by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/notDesc.php?MpoQSrPnM=MjA0MTk=" target="_blank"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Notification No.38/2016-Service Tax, Dated: August 30, 2016 </strong></font></a></p>
<p align="center"><font color="#006600" size="3" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><em><strong><a name="f2"></a>What is meaning of 'deemed to have been duty paid'? </strong></em></font></p>
<p align="justify"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">YOU</font></strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> need the Supreme Court of India to answer this question. And that is exactly what the Apex Court did recently observing, <em>It is trite law that a fiction created by a provision of law is to be given its due play and it must be taken to its logical conclusion.</em></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">For more details, please see <strong><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/inside2.php3?filename=bnews_detail.php3&newsid=27975" target="_blank">Breaking News</a></strong>. </font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><strong><font color="#006600" size="3"><em><a name="f3"></a>GST - FICCI Wants GST to be administered by one authority alone and not by two</em></font></strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>A</strong> delegation from FICCI met the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers yesterday to discuss GST related matters. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">FICCI suggested: </font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Goods fully exempted from the levy of excise duty and VAT by all the states should be categorised as exempted goods in the GST regime as well. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Goods chargeable to nil rate of excise duty but charged to VAT in most of the States could be suggested for levying a merit rate of GST. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ All other goods (except jewellery and demerit goods) could be subjected to the standard rate.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Clarity on the current exemption schemes (area based exemptions, incentives under State policies) is required because the transition provisions prescribed under the draft law do not provide for the treatment of the said exemptions / incentives. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ In order to provide adequate time to the trade and industry to prepare itself for a hassle free roll out of the GST regime, a minimum of 6 months' time from the date of the adoption of the GST Law by the GST Council should be permitted. Additional time would be required in case the GST Law as passed by the Parliament or the State legislatures is significantly different from the one adopted by the GST Council. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ As per present indications, there will be two separate authorities for administering the GST, one of the Central Government for the CGST / IGST and the other of the States for the SGST. Further, the draft Model GST Law contains separate and disparate provisions relating to administering the above levies by these authorities. GST is a path breaking tax reform and the opportunity it therefore provides for a thorough overhaul of the tax administration should not be missed. Consequently, GST be administered by one authority alone and not by two. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Given the stated intent of the Government to bring about a taxpayer friendly tax administration, with a non-adversarial relationship between the taxpayer and the tax authorities, it was hoped that the draft Model GST Law would contain path breaking provisions to bring about this desired outcome, couched in language which would further this objective. Instead, the Model Law has incorporated the extant provisions of the present Central Excise law at the Centre as also the present VAT laws of the States besides also containing several provisions which are even more rigorous than at present and worded in stringent language, such as the presumption of guilt and wrongdoing on the part of the taxpayer, in various situations which are enumerated in the Model Law. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ In the draft GST law, wide powers have been given to Central/State Governments to prescribe transport documents for transportation of goods. Standardization in requirement of transport documents (such as consignment note, lorry receipt, delivery challan, GRN etc.) should be aimed under GST across all the States. No specific document should be required for inter-state movement of goods. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Valuation provisions under the draft GST laws are reflection of valuation laws of a single point tax like excise duty. Wide powers have been given under the draft GST laws to authorities to reject declared transaction value. The valuation provisions under GST (a transaction based tax) should give primacy to actual transaction value. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ The manner of resolving the mismatch between the details of outward and inward supplies uploaded on the GST Network (GSTN) is unfair to the recipients of such supplies. The draft provides that a buyer shall not be entitled to claim an input tax credit (ITC) unless the tax charged in respect of such supply has been paid by the seller. Shifting the onus on the buyer to check whether the seller has paid goods and service tax (GST) is the most onerous provisions in the draft Model GST Law. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ As a principle, once non-compliance is detected, it is the responsibility of the Tax Administration to proceed against non-compliant entities. This responsibility should not be fastened on the recipients. </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The West Bengal Finance Minister is the current head of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and West Bengal has not yet ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill. </font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><strong><font color="#006600" size="3"><em><a name="f4"></a>GST - Full of Promises - Top Brass of North Block - but where is CBEC? </em> </font></strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>YESTERDAY</strong>, the top four secretaries of the Finance Ministry were at a meeting organised by CNBC TV 18 explaining the niceties of GST. Pearls of wisdom from the Big Four: </font></p>
<p align="justify"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia: </font></strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Fully Geared to Imp lement GST From April 1, 2017, from Govt Side </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Worried About Corporates not being Prepared for GST </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Corporates need to clarify with Govt if GST timeframe is enough </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ The government will grandfather exemptions in some cases </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Adjudication will be handled by either State or Centre </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa: </strong></font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ There is a concerted effort to address concerns on GST & to meet deadline </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Resolution of GST issues is work in progress </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Govt is committed to compensate states for any losses post GST </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>CEA Arvind Subramanian: </strong></font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Aim to ensure that tax incidence is same as before GST implementation </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ RNR will depend on if compensation comes from GST Rate Or Budget </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ The GST Rate will depend upon a lot of policy choices </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Hope that as efficiency increases, there will be more job creation </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ The higher the taxes, the greater the distortion </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das: </strong></font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Central & State govts well positioned to rollout GST from April 2017 </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Appeal to industry to come forward with their problems about GST </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Consuming States will be net gainers with GST </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Looking at a Very Small Exemption List </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ List of Exemptions will have to be Short for a Low Neutral Rate </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++ Manufacturing States will see a lot of revenue buoyancy post GST </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/image/stories/administer_GST.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="303" hspace="5" border="0" align="middle" ></font></strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But where is CBEC?, maybe CNBC and the rest of the country is not aware that CBEC will be the agency that will administer GST. </font></p>
<table width="98%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="2" bgcolor="#009900">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" bgcolor="#E1E9EC">
<div align="justify">
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The tragedy of India is the tragedy of waste - waste of national time, energy and manpower. Tens of millions of man-hours, crammed with intelligence and knowledge of tax-gatherers, taxpayers and advisers - are squandered every year in grappling with the torrential spate of mindless amendments. The feverish activity achieves no more than a good fever. The cardinal error of our times is to mistake amendment for improvement and change for progress. </font></p>
<p align="right"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">- <em>Nani Palkhiwala </em></font></p>
</div></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Until Tomorrow with more<strong> DDT</strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Have a nice day.</strong></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mail your comments to <a href="mailto:vijaywrite@tiol.in" target="_blank"><strong>vijaywrite@tiol.in</strong></a></font></p>
</body>
</html>