Page 3 - Taxes

India GDP: Cricket World Cup economic boost is threatened by taxes

An additional $2.6 billion spent on everything from ticket sales and TV rights to tourism and food delivery may lift India's GDP by as much as $1 billion, they say

India demands $150 mn in taxes from Tiger Global-backed gaming firm Dream11

Dream11 has filed a lawsuit in the High Court in Mumbai challenging the notices, court papers showed. The case is likely to be heard in coming days

Nagaland Assembly passes bills to revise taxes on motor vehicles and goods

The Nagaland Assembly on Tuesday passed two bills that seek to revise taxes on motor vehicles and goods transported in them. Another bill was for amending an Act to include various new subjects to be taught in the North East Christian University. The Bills were introduced on September 11, the first day of the monsoon session. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who also holds the transport department, said the motor vehicles tax for transport vehicles was last revised in 1999 and for private vehicles, the same was done in 2009. The tax rate prevalent in Nagaland is low as compared to other states in the country, Rio stated adding that the hiring charges for transport vehicles have significantly increased and the road conditions too have improved over the years. Taking into account the rise in price and to improve the financial health of the state, he said the government proposes for revision of the Motor Vehicles Tax by amending the Act. The Nagaland Motor Vehicles Taxation (Amendment) B

Vedanta pledges to pay $250 mn to Zambia creditors before retaking mine

The plan to pay all creditors is "to make sure I win the hearts of the people," billionaire Agarwal said in an interview at Bloomberg's Johannesburg office. "Money will never be a constraint"

How and why the revenue dept is tightening its grip on charitable bodies

The CAG, in a 2022 report, estimated the loss of potential revenue from charitable bodies at Rs 18,800 crore between the assessment years 2014-15 and 2017-18

CBDT notifies rules for valuing rent-free homes provided by employers

Employees drawing substantial salaries and having rent-free accommodation provided by their employers will now be able to save more and get a higher take-home salary as the income tax department has revised norms for valuing such perquisites. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on August 18 notified amendments to the Income Tax Rules for valuing perquisites of rent-free or concessional accommodation by employers to employees. The rules will come into effect from September 1. The Finance Act, 2023, had brought in an amendment for the purposes of calculation of 'perquisite' with regard to the value of rent-free or concessional accommodation provided to an employee, by his employer. The rules for calculating perquisites have been notified now. "The categorisation and the limits of cities and population have now been based on the 2011 census as against the 2001 census earlier," the income tax department said in a statement on Saturday. As per the notification, where unfurnished ..

Govt hikes windfall tax on domestic crude, diesel export, ATF from Aug 15

The government on Monday hiked special additional excise duty on crude petroleum to Rs 7,100 per tonne with effect from August 15. In the last fortnightly review, windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil was set at Rs 4,250 per tonne. Besides, the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) or duty on export of diesel will be hiked to Rs 5.50 per litre from Re 1 per litre at present. A duty of Rs 2 per litre will be imposed on jet fuel or ATF with effect from August 15. Currently, there is no SAED on the jet fuel. SAED on petrol will continue to be zero. India first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1, 2022.

Niti Aayog looking at tax related issues of engineering, textile industry

Government think-tank Niti Aayog is looking at tax-related issues, including inverted duty structure in three sectors of engineering, leather, and textiles, an official said on Monday. The issues are likely to be taken up with higher authorities for their resolution to promote the growth of these sectors, the official said. Industry representatives of leather and engineering sectors said that they have shared a list of GST (Goods and Services Tax) and inverted duty structure-related issues with the Niti Aayog. "We expect the government to resolve those issues as it would help in promoting manufacturing and exports from the country," an industry official said. The leather sector has recommended the reinstatement of basic customs duty on the import of wet blue, crust and finished leathers. The exercise assumes significance as these three sectors are labour-intensive and contribute significantly to the country's merchandise exports. The leather and footwear industry employs 4.42 mi

Current law enough against GST evasion by offshore gaming platforms: FinMin

The finance ministry on Tuesday said there are sufficient enforcement provisions in GST laws to take action against offshore gaming platforms, which default in paying taxes. The GST Council on July 11 decided that online gaming is an actionable claim, like the lottery, on which a 28 per cent tax is to be levied. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha that some representations have been received from stakeholders that the council's decision will prompt online gaming platforms to shift to offshore locations. "Sufficient enforcement provisions exist to take action against offshore platforms, which do not pay prescribed GST," Chaudhary said in a written reply. The GST Council's decision to levy a 28 per cent tax on the full face value of bets on online gaming companies is based on the recommendation of a Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue. The council is scheduled to meet virtually on Wednesday to decide on the manner in which the supply value will be

Kejriwal writes to FM, points to Delhi's 'frozen' share in central taxes

Ahead of constitution of the 16th Central Finance Commission, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, pointing to Delhi's "frozen" share in central pool of taxes even as he demanded that Delhi be treated as a "unique case". Alleging "stepmotherly and unfair" treatment by the Centre, Kejriwal said Delhi's share in central pool of taxes was "frozen at astonishingly low" amount of Rs 350 crore for the last 23 years. "Had Delhi been treated in an unbiased manner, its share would have been Rs 7,378 crore," he said in his letter to Sitharaman. Kejriwal also said that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been facing "extreme unjust behaviour" over the last few years, with it receiving nothing from the Central government. The chief minister said it was understood that since Delhi's name has been removed (for being a Union Territory) from the 'Terms of Reference' of the Finance Commission, it does not fall under the purview of tax ...

India to push G20 to raise share of taxes on firms for 'excess profit'

More than 140 countries were supposed to start implementing next year a 2021 deal overhauling decades-old rules on how governments tax multinationals

GST added to revenue buoyancy, helped bring down taxes for common man: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said Goods and Services Tax (GST) has helped bring down the taxes for consumers by removing the cascading effect of 'tax-on-tax' and added to the revenue buoyancy of states. She said the GST system has seen massive scaling up since its implementation on July 1, 2017, and the benefit accrued to consumers and governments because of GST implementation is an "exemplar". "GST has brought in greater tax buoyancy as a result of which, more than your GSDP growth, your tax collection is growing. Therefore, both Centre and states benefit...We have to dispel this myth that states are losing out after having joined hands for GST...Today, no state suffers after GST, and that is despite Covid," Sitharaman said. Giving a comparison of tax rates pre and post-GST, Sitharaman said, "GST has done justice to the consumers by bringing the rates down compared to the previous regime". Before GST was introduced, India's indirect tax system was fragmented, wh

Pak to raise Rs 215 bn through taxes to fulfil IMF loan conditions: FM Dar

Pakistan will raise Rs 215 billion through taxes to meet the stringent conditions set by the IMF, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday, as the cash-strapped government tried to meet the conditions set by the IMF for a much-needed loan. Speaking at the closing of a three-day-long general discussion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the budget for the financial year 2023-24 held in the National Assembly, Dar said that Pakistan is trying to fulfil all the formalities the global lender wants them to complete prior to availing the loan. As a result of the talks with IMF, for the fiscal year 2023-24, the final taxes of only Rs 215 billion (approximately USD 750,400,000) have been agreed, ensuring that it will not burden the poor and middle segments of the society, he said. The announcement was made by Dar two days after IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to resolve policy differences at the global lender's staff lev

Filing ITR without taxable income: Details on benefits, advantages

The Centre allows certain deductions and exemptions in order to reduce the burden on taxpayers

Spirits maker Diageo is 'positive' about the opportunity in India

Spirits maker Diageo India is "positive" about the opportunity in India and advocated for an inflation-indexed price increase and a harmonised tax structure for the liquor sector in the country. Diageo India MD & CEO Hina Nagarajan said there are frequent changes at the policy level by the state governments. "Our desired state would be if we could get inflation-indexed price increases. Even an industry which is quite regulated like pharmaceuticals gets that, so our request to the government is please look at some of these models," said Nagarajan. She is "optimistic" about this and said "hopefully" it will come as they are working along with the governments on this proposal. The British spirits maker is "positive" about the opportunity as a whole in India and advocated for placing alcohol under the GST regime, which would have collateral benefits of shutting down the illicit liquor trade, making it a far more controlled industry even for the state governments. She said ...

India has right vision for aviation sector, needs caution with taxes: IATA

India has the right vision and well-timed strategy for the aviation sector, especially with good economic growth and high population, but it should also be ensured that the positive impact is not curtailed by too many taxes, according to IATA. Marie Owens Thomsen, the Chief Economist at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), also said that she is not in favour of any kind of duopoly in the airline industry and emphasised the importance of healthy competition as well as participants being resilient. She shared her views on competition in response to a question from PTI on the possibility of duopoly in the fast growing Indian airlines market. While the domestic traffic is on the rise, the airlines segment is facing headwinds with Go First suspending operations and SpiceJet grappling with various issues, while IndiGo and Air India group are expanding their presence. Akasa Air, which is on a steady path, is less than a year old. "I am an economist and obviously, I am not .

Taxes must be low in low-trust India

But politicians are using taxpayer funds to get elected, making a low-tax regime difficult

Govt cuts windfall tax on petroleum crude to Rs 4,100/tonne from Rs 6,400

The government left the windfall tax on petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel at zero

Weekend Bites: IT isn't hot, Taxes, Trade, Musk, and Netflix Chronicles

In which we munch over the week's platter of news and views

I-T Dept notifies Cost Inflation Index for current FY for computing LTCG

The Income Tax Department has notified the Cost Inflation Index for the current fiscal beginning April 2023, for calculating long-term capital gains arising from sale of immovable property, securities and jewellery. The Cost Inflation Index (CII) is used by taxpayers to compute gains arising out of sale of capital assets after adjusting inflation. The Cost Inflation Index for FY 2023-24 relevant to AY 2024-25 stood at 348, as per a notification of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Usually, the income tax department notifies CII in the month of June. The CII number for last fiscal was 331 and for 2021-22 financial year it was 317. AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said the CII would help taxpayers to compute long-term capital gains tax enabling them to remit advance tax on time. "This year's cost of inflation index is notified 3 months earlier by the tax department as compared to last fiscal year. Taxpayers can now precisely and accurately compute tax on ...