Taxation Laws

Industry chamber CII on Thursday pitched for further reforms in the tax system, including through simplification of taxes, as well as sustaining the capital investment momentum in the Budget for 2025-26. In a meeting with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, CII urged the government to increase the capex by 25 per cent over 2024-25 (BE) with a sharp focus on infrastructure related to rural areas, agriculture, and the social sector. The Budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year is set to be presented on February 1, 2025. CII President Sanjiv Puri said given the intrinsic strength of the economy and with growth aspirations of the people, this is an opportune time for India to design a blueprint and a template outlining the next phase of reforms. "India has emerged as the beacon of stability and growth in a fraught world, in the last decade. We are looking at the Union Budget to further consolidate this position and create a competitive India, that is prosperous, inclusive, equitable, environm

The GST Council on Sunday constituted a 13-member Group of Ministers (GoM) to suggest GST rate on premiums of various health and life insurance products and submit its report by October 30. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is the convenor of the GoM. The members of the panel include members from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The 54th GST Council meeting on September 9 decided to set up a GoM to examine and review the present tax structure of GST on life and medical insurance. A final call by the Council on the taxation of insurance premiums is likely to be taken in the next meeting in November based on the GoM report. Currently, 18 per cent of Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied on insurance premiums. The Terms of Reference (ToR) of the panel also include suggesting tax rate of health/medical insurance including individual, group, family floater and other medical ..

GST taxpayers who do not furnish bank account details to GST authorities will be barred from filing outward supply return GSTR-1 from September 1, GST Network (GSTN) has said in an advisory. As per GST Rule 10A, a taxpayer is required to furnish details of a valid bank account within a period of 30 days from the date of grant of registration, or before furnishing the details of outward supplies of goods or services or both in Form GSTR-1or using Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF), whichever is earlier. "From 1st September, 2024 this rule is being enforced. Therefore, for the tax period August-2024 onwards, the taxpayer will not be able furnish GSTR-01/IFF as the case may be, without furnishing the details of a valid bank account in their registration details on GST portal," GSTN said in an advisory dated August 23. The GST Council in its meeting in July last year, had approved amendment to Rule 10A to strengthen the registration process and to effectively deal with the menace of fake

The government has notified October 1 as the date for implementation of the penalty provision for manufacturers of pan masala and similar tobacco products, if they fail to register their packing machinery with GST authorities. The GST Network had earlier in May and June notified two forms GST SRM-I and II for registering machines used by such manufacturers and to report inputs procured and corresponding outputs with tax authorities. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on August 6 notified October 1, 2024, as the date for levy of up to Rs 1 lakh penalty for failure to register their packing machines with GST authorities. In January, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had announced the introduction of a new registration and monthly return filing procedure to improve GST compliance for manufacturers of pan masala and tobacco products effective April 1. The date was later extended till May 15. The move to overhaul the registration, record-keeping

In the recently introduced Budget on July 23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had raised the STCG tax on some financial instruments to 20 per cent

The first draft of a new simplified income tax law, as proposed in the Budget, will be prepared by an internal committee of the tax department and will undertake stakeholder consultation before finalising the legislation, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said on Thursday. Malhotra said that the exercise is not linked to bringing a new direct taxes code, but a comprehensive review of the income tax law. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech earlier this week announced that a comprehensive review of the Income-tax Act, 1961 will be completed in six months. "The purpose is to make the Act concise, lucid, easy to read and understand. This will reduce disputes and litigation, thereby providing tax certainty to the taxpayers. It will also bring down the demand embroiled in litigation," Sitharaman said. To a question whether the review would mean that the government will come with a direct tax code, Malhotra said "It is not a new direct tax code... It is a comprehensiv

A broader G20 joint communique is expected on Friday, when finance ministers and central bankers conclude this week's meetings in Rio de Janeiro

Short-term capital gains declarations had also been increasing after the pandemic

Union Budget 2024: Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced that the standard deduction limit under the new tax regime has been revised to Rs 75,000 from the existing Rs 50,000

Suggests to resolve transfer pricing matters to sustain foreign investor interest

Long term capital gains (LTCG) tax on the sale of these asset classes stocks, mutual funds, real estate etc. is levied when the holding period of the asset is over one year

Goods and Services Tax (GST), which completed 7 years of implementation on Monday, has brought happiness and relief to every home through reduced taxes on household appliances and mobile phones, the finance ministry said on Monday. GST, which subsumed about 17 local tax and cesses, was rolled out on July 1, 2017. The theme of the 7th GST Day is Sashakt Vyapar Samagra Vikas (empowered trade overall growth). "With reduced tax rates on household goods after GST implementation, #7yearsofGST has brought happiness and relief to every home through lower GST on household appliances and mobile phones," the ministry said in a post on X. The GST taxpayer base has increased to 1.46 crore in April 2024 from 1.05 crore as of April 2018. "We have witnessed a quantum jump in taxpayers base along with improved compliance," Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Chairman Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said. Giving comparative charts of pre- and post-GST tax rates of household goods, the ministry

A tax was first proposed in February by government-commissioned experts to help Denmark reach a legally binding 2030 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent from 1990 levels

An increasing number of C-suite executives have a positive perception of GST with many highlighting further reforms like rationalising tax rates and effective dispute resolution process as focus areas to usher in GST 2.0, a Deloitte survey said on Wednesday. The Deloitte GST@7 survey, engaging C-suite and C-1 level executives across diverse industries through online platforms, highlights areas which have resulted in growing confidence in GST, specifically on the positive role of GST automation/ technology and consultative environment, in policy making. Reflecting growing confidence in GST, the survey found that about 84 per cent of respondents reported a positive perception of GST in 2024, up from 72 per cent in 2023 and 59 per cent in 2022. Automation of tax compliance, including e-invoicing, continues to be voted as a top performance area. Also, enhanced and continued stakeholder consultation, leading to the issuance of clarificatory circulars/instructions was considered as a ...

The Finance Ministry has invited suggestions on direct and indirect taxes and changes in laws to reduce compliances for the 2024-25 Budget from trade and industry associations. The suggestions are to be sent to the ministry by June 17 and the full budget for 2024-25 is expected to be presented in Parliament in the second half of July. The suggestions could include changes in the duty structure, rates and ideas on broadening of tax base on both direct and indirect taxes giving economic justification for the same, as per the ministry. For changes in customs and excise duties, the trade and industry would have to supplement and justify their demand with relevant statistical information about production, prices, and revenue implication of the changes suggested. The request for correction of inverted duty structure would have to be supported by value addition at each stage of manufacturing of the commodity. With regard to direct taxes, the ministry said the suggestions could be also on

Legal experts divided on whether grandfathering will be available for investments before April 2017

Several private insurers also reported to have moved towards Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and in the less than Rs 5 lakh segment to compensate for their loss of business in the higher ticket size

Simplifying taxes would help businesses navigating turbulent times, writes Ketan Dalal

The complex language used in the notifications of the CBIC regarding customs duties needs simplification to help industry in understanding those orders as they carry crucial details, economic think tank GTRI said on Thursday. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said for this the CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) must use services of communication experts for help in drafting easy to understand notifications containing necessary details. This will help over a lakh firms importing merchandise exceeding USD 660 billion in 2023 and it will also add to the ease of doing business with zero cost to the government and immense benefit of clarity to the Indian industry, it said. "Notifying import duties is a critical mandate of CBIC. Firms pay import duties as notified by CBIC, but firms cannot do it on their own as the CBIC notifications use complex language and mostly refer to back notifications unintentionally hiding complete details needed to know the duty or impo

Intimation notices to 70 online gaming, edtech, ad companies