Page 20 - Tax

Top headlines: GST council meet on July 11, India Inc Q1 profit may rise

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GST Council likely to define MUVs and XUVs for levy of 22% cess: Report

The GST Council is likely to clarify on the definition of multi utility vehicles (MUVs) and crossover utility vehicles (XUVs) for levy of 22 per cent compensation cess over and above the 28 per cent GST rate, sources said. The Council is expected to clarify on the issue in its next meeting on July 11, they said. The Fitment Committee, comprising tax officials from the Centre and states, has recommended to the GST Council to define MUVs and XUVs at par with the sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for the purpose of Goods and Services Tax (GST). The committee has recommended that all utility vehicles, by whatever name called, would attract 22 per cent cess provided they meet three parameters -- length greater than 4-metre, engine capacity greater than 1500 cc and ground clearance more than 170 mm. The GST Council, chaired by the Union finance minister and comprising her state counterparts, had in December last year clarified on the definition of SUVs. At that time, some states had asked f

CoinDCX partners with KoinX to allow crypto tax tracking on its platform

CoinDCX also said that it anticipates a 'significant' number of users benefiting from KoinX's tax assistance services

Tripura sets tax collection target of Rs 3,000 cr this fiscal: State FM

Tripura has set a revenue target of Rs 3,000 crore this fiscal, state Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy said on Saturday. The state's tax collection has doubled after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said. "Initially, there were doubts on GST introduction in the country. People even faced difficulties after the new tax regime kicked off, but over the years all the bottlenecks have been addressed. Our tax collection has more than doubled under the GST regime," he told reporters on the sidelines of a GST programme at Town Hall. He said the tax collection, which was around Rs 1,300 crore before GST rollout, increased to Rs 2,765 crore in the last fiscal. "Now, we have set a target of over Rs 3,000 crore for the 2023-24 FY. We are trying to connect new tax payers who still remain outside the GST ambit. In a state like Tripura, GST means a lot to carry out development work and welfare activities," he said. Roy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been workin

GST officers bust 304 syndicates involving Rs 25k cr fake ITC claims

GST officers have busted 304 syndicates involving 9,000 fake GSTINs and input tax credit (ITC) claims of Rs 25,000 crore in the ongoing drive against bogus firms, CBIC chairman Vivek Johri said on Saturday. The chief of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) flagged that only 40 per cent of the corporate income taxpayer base is registered under Goods and Services Tax (GST). Currently, 1.39 lakh businesses are registered under GST, launched 6 years ago on July 1, 2017. Speaking at the GST Day 2023 event here, Johri appealed to the business to get registered under GST and said the department is conducting an outreach programme to make businesses aware of the benefits of GST. The Centre and state tax officers are conducting a special two-month drive to identify fake businesses registered under GST for the purpose of claiming ITC fraudulently and defrauding the exchequer. In the ongoing drive, officers have identified 304 syndicates involving 9,000 fake GSTINs (GST ...

GST collections rise by 12% to over Rs 1.61 trn in June: Finance Ministry

GST collections rose 12 per cent to over Rs 1.61 lakh crore in June, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday. The gross GST collection has crossed Rs 1.60 lakh crore mark for the fourth time since the roll-out of the indirect tax regime six years ago on July 1, 2017. The average monthly gross GST collection for the first (April-June) quarter of the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 are Rs 1.10 lakh crore, Rs 1.51 lakh crore and Rs 1.69 lakh crore, respectively, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. "The gross GST revenue collected in the month of June 2023 is Rs 1,61,497 crore of which Central GST is Rs 31,013 crore, State GST is Rs 38,292 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 80,292 crore (including Rs 39,035 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 11,900 crore (including Rs 1,028 crore collected on import of goods)," the statement said. The revenues for June 2023 are 12 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, the revenues from domestic

Tour operators welcome govt move to defer hike in TCS on overseas packages

Domestic tour operators on Thursday welcomed the government's move to defer hike in tax collection at source on overseas tour packages till September 30 calling but reiterated that it should be brought down to 2.5 per cent. In a statement, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) -- the apex body of tour operators in the country with more than 1,700 members -- thanked the government for "giving partial relief of deferring Tax Collection at Source (TCS) on the overseas tour packages till September 30, 2023, and also for withdrawing increase of TCS percentage from 5 per cent to 20 per cent on amount up to Rs 7 lakh per annum". "Though we are happy with this rollback, our long-standing demand is that the TCS should be reduced to 2.5 per cent as the main objective of the government is to bring more people into the tax net...," IATO President Rajiv Mehra said. He further said, "...if the government reduces the TCS percentage on overseas tour packages, a higher number of people will .

6 years of GST: Rs 1.5 trn monthly tax revenues becomes 'new normal'

Six years after the rollout of the biggest indirect tax reform in India, Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore every month has become a new normal and tax officers are focusing on dealing with fraudsters who are adopting newer modus operandi to game the system, causing loss to the exchequer. To apprehend black sheep, who operate as syndicates and create fake entities on the basis of forged documents to claim input tax credit (ITC), tax officers have started using data analytics, artifical intelligence and machine learning aiming to curb evasion, which was over Rs 3 lakh crore since inception of GST. It was over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2022-23. Thinktank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the most critical pending GST reform is upgradation of GST Network to prevent fake supplies and fraudulent claims of Input Tax Credit (ITC). Data analysis and physical checks alone cannot completely solve the problem. The GSTN should enable linking of invoice level informati

I-T dept issues notices to 15 social media influencers over low tax payment

The social media influencers came under the radar of the I-T department after posting their travel to exotic locations and luxury shopping on social media platforms

Tax hike on international transactions to come into effect from Oct 1

No change in rate of TCS for all purposes under LRS and for overseas travel tour packages, regardless of mode of payment, for amounts up to Rs 7 lakh per individual per annum

I-T dept tweaks exemption norms for charitable institutions, seeks details

The income tax department has tweaked disclosure norms for charitable institutions claiming I-T exemption by seeking additional details. As per amendments to the Income Tax Rules, which will come into effect from October 1, charitable institutions will have to now disclose whether the activities undertaken by them are charitable, religious or religious cum charitable. The amendment also includes a declaration under which the charitable institution will have to give details of donations received from a person in excess of Rs 2 lakh in a single day. The details to be furnished include the name of the payer, address, amount of payment and PAN (if available). Nangia Andersen LLP Partner Vishwas Panjiar said the government had recently revamped the registration requirement applicable for charitable organisations for claiming tax exemption or obtaining an 80G certificate under the Act. "The government have now made consequential amendments in the Income-tax Rules (Rule 2C, 11AA and 17A)

TCS levy: Credit card users may have to declare forex transactions to banks

The I-T department is in talks with the RBI and other stakeholders to firm up a mechanism for distinguishing whether the expense is towards medical/education which attract a 5 per cent TCS

GST council may mull steps to prevent fake generation of ITC: Official

GST Council in its meeting next month, likely to discuss measures to ensure strict provisions for preventing fake generation of Input Tax Credit, aiming to prevent tax evasion, a senior official said

CBIC to assign risk rating to GST applications, taxmen to verify documents

In order to check fake GST registration, CBIC will assign a risk rating to all applications and tax officers will cross-verify the documents submitted by the applicants with municipal records. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Wednesday issued instructions to field offices after it came to light during the ongoing two-month special drive that fraudsters have misused PAN and Aadhaar numbers of people to obtain GST registrations. In the ongoing all-India drive, Centre and State GST officers have detected over 15,000 fake registrations and are initiating punitive action against the perpetrators. They are also trying to find out the mastermind who are the real beneficiaries. As per the instructions, the Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM) and GST Network would give a risk rating -- High, Medium and Low -- to each application for registration, based on data analytics and risk parameters. This will facilitate a "targeted approach in ..

Last date to pay first installment of advance tax announced; check details

Taxpayers have until June 15 to pay 15 per cent of their estimated tax liability

Centre releases Rs 1.18 trillion as tax devolution to state govts

The government is releasing an additional advance installment to the states in this month

Govt releases 3rd instalment of tax devolution of Rs 1,18,280 cr to states

The Centre on Monday released the third instalment of tax devolution to states amounting to Rs 1,18,280 crore, as against normal monthly devolution of Rs 59,140 crore

Clarification on applicability of TCS on overseas credit card spends soon

The tax department will soon come out with a clarification in the form of FAQs to distinguish between expenses incurred on personal visits and business trips for levy of 20 per cent TCS on overseas credit card spends from July 1, a senior official said on Friday. Following a notification which brought credit card spends under LRS, concerns have been raised on how personal and business expenses would be segregated by the banks who will be required to deduct the TCS on such expenses. Finance ministry joint secretary (Tax Policy and Legislation) Raman Chopra said the government would soon issue a clarification on the mode of applicability of the TCS provision. "There has been a lot of discussion with the finance secretary, the revenue secretary and the finance minister. We are certainly going to come up with some clarifications and FAQs on that and that will clarify the position beyond any reasonable doubt in what manner TCS is to be collected and to what extent threshold is available

SMEV urges Centre to levy additional green tax on ICE two-wheelers

The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) has called upon the government to levy an additional green tax on two-wheelers with internal combustion engine to incentivise EV adoption and help in the reduction of pollution creating crude oil imports. The Green tax would also rationalise the expected drop in sales of EV on account of reduction in subsidies starting this month, the industry body representing electric vehicles said in a statement. SMEV believes that an increase in taxes to the tune of 100 basis points on traditional polluting ICE 2-wheelers will be required to fund subsidies for electric two-wheeler vehicles and put the FAME scheme back on track, it added. SMEV Director General Sohinder Gill said it is time that the EV sector is allowed to compete at par with ICE vehicles. "While we are tackling awareness and adoption issues as an industry, the biggest hurdle is the cost of ownership as India is a price sensitive market. "Additional Green Taxing of ICE ...

On the agenda: GST Council likely to approve tribunal blueprint this month

Operational framework to pave the way for the tribunal to be functional at Centre, state levels