TIOL-DDT 2756
01 01 2016
Friday

Happy New Year

Photo credit - WCO Photo Competition 2015 - Winning entry by Sudan Customs Administration - Border Ahead [DDT 2619]. This is chosen as the WCO's New Year card

DDT wishes all its readers a very happy new year. DDT hopes the new year would be less taxing and more rewarding for all the concerned taxmen and the taxed. Let us hope there would be less confusion and more clarity in the new year.

Today you may hardly get time to read  DDT, due to the hard partying last night or the heavy greeting sessions today. DDT is light today, so that you can just take a peep and continue with your New Year!

Income Tax - Black Money - PANacea

FROM today quoting PAN (Permanent Account Number) is mandatory if you

1. Buy a car

2. Open a bank account

3. Apply for a credit card

4. Open a Demat account

5. Pay more than 50,000 rupees in cash in a hotel

6. Buy more than 50,000 rupees worth foreign currency

7. Buy mutual funds/RBI bonds/insurance of more than 50,000 rupees worth.

8. Buy or sell immovable property worth more than ten lakhs of rupees.

9. Buy or sell goods or services valued at more than two lakhs of rupees.

If you indulge in any of these 'luxuries'   and you don't have a PAN, you are required to file a declaration in Form No. 60. And you have to ensure that the other party has correctly mentioned his PAN.

This is supposed to be part of the Government's mission to curb circulation of black money and widening of tax base.

CBDT Notification No. 95/2015., Dated: December 30, 2015

Smuggling of Cigarettes - Injurious to Nation's Health - Huge Haul by DRI

CIGARETTE is a milch cow for every Finance Minister and successive ministers have ensured that what goes up in smoke really comes back to the treasury as taxes. The high duty rates have ensured that smuggling of cigarettes is a lucrative business.

This week, the DRI seized foreign cigarettes worth nearly ten crore rupees from a container which arrived at Krishnapatnam Port from UAE. The cigarettes were cleverly concealed inside the container behind several cartons of Honeymoon Comfort Synthetic Bed Sets. The offending bed sets used for concealing the contraband goods, were also seized by DRI.

Too much taxation will not always result in more revenue, but may encourage smuggling.

Former CBEC Chief Praveen Mahajan Appointed CAT Member

FORMER CBEC Chairperson, Ms. Praveen Mahajan has been appointed as Administrative Member in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) at the Jodhpur Bench.

Mahajan, a 1976 batch IRS officer, was the first lady to become the Chairperson of CBEC and retired two years ago from the Board.

She is also the first CBEC officer to be appointed as a Member in the CAT

She will have a three-year tenure in the CAT.

Fully Ready to Launch GST - Revenue Secretary

IN an interview with the Economic Times, the Revenue Secretary says,

We are fully ready to launch GST. The steps to GST are very clearly laid out. Once the Constitutional Amendment Bill is passed, it will have to be ratified by 50% of the states after which the Presidential assent can be obtained. The draft GST Bill is being given a final touch and it would be put in public domain as early as possible. However, it can be presented to Parliament and the state assemblies only after the Constitutional Amendment Bill gets Presidential assent. In the meantime, a massive training of the central and state government officials is going on. Also, the contract for system for GST is already awarded by the GSTN Ltd and it would be ready before March 2016.

In a first of its kind decision, the Tax Department Boards CBEC & CBDT have issued instructions to withdraw appeal by the government in tribunal and high courts in which the tax effect is less than Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh respectively. This move is appreciated by everyone. We hope to free up resources for early completion of normal assessment of scrutiny cases.

We are trying to change the culture of Tax Department by bringing in more measures of accountability and by giving clear cut instructions to the field authorities. The focus is on use of e-mail as a preferred source of communication, minimising the occasions for contacts between the assessing officers and the assesse and use of IT Tools for fixing accountability.

The e-assessment procedure is initiated on a pilot basis in five major cities in limited number of cases. Once we see the results and once a proper IT solution is ready, we would like to roll-out e-assessment for the whole country in phases.

On the whole, there would still be a minor shortfall of about Rs 30,000-40,000 crore in revenue target of Rs 14.5 lakh crore.

Slight Changes in Tariff Value

GOVERNMENT  has increased the Tariff value of brass scrap, decreased that of gold and increased silver's. Oils also see small changes in tariff values.

Notification No. 150/2015-Customs (NT), Dated: December 31, 2015

Until Monday with more DDT

Have a nice weekend.

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