The finance ministry has called a meeting of the State-Level Bankers Committee in New Delhi on Tuesday, which will be attended by officials from scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, cooperatives, Reserve Bank of India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, the Centre as well as states. The meeting will be presided over by financial services department secretary Arun Ramanathan.
Delay raises doubts about govt's tax reform plans.
Central tax return processing centres being set up in five major cities.
Net direct tax collections rose 132 per cent to Rs 12,642 crore (Rs 126.42 billion) in the first month of the current fiscal, as against Rs 5,441 crore (Rs 54.41 billion) in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal.
A nation-wide housing price index may be a reality soon. The National Housing Bank, in collaboration with the National Council of Applied Economic Research, is close to finalising the methodology to be adopted for the index, named NHB Residex.
The commodities transaction tax is likely to come into force within the next two months as the details, including the collection, payment and the procedures for filing returns, will take some more time to be firmed up. The CTT, which will be administered by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, will be levied at the rate of 0.017 per cent on sellers of commodity futures as well as options. Purchasers of options, who exercise them, will pay 0.125 per cent
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has passed strictures against the finance ministry for the delay in introducing the draft direct tax code for legislation to replace the voluminous Income Tax Act, 1961.
Public sector bank chiefs will have a lot to discuss when they meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram on May 1 to get a broad direction from the government, the majority shareholder in 28 PSBs, for the strategy they should adopt in 2008-09. High on the agenda will be a discussion on implementation of the Rs 60,314-crore.
To check the status of their refund, taxpayers can log in at https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refundstatuslogin.html.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has fined 10 insurance companies, including both the insurance arms of the Bajaj Auto Group, Reliance General, United India, Iffco-Tokio, New India Assurance and Shriram Life for non-compliance with various guidelines. The violations varied from opening branch offices without seeking the regulator's permission to violation of advertisement guidelines and non-fulfilment of social sector obligations.
The Income Tax department will soon start training the second batch of 5,000 tax return preparers (TRPs) across the country. Launched in 2007, the programme aims at assisting tax payers file returns. The TRPs have also been asked to bring in more people under the tax net. They charge existing tax payers Rs 250 for each return, while the department pays them 3 per cent, 2 per cent, and 1 per cent of the tax paid by a new assessee in the first three years, respectively.
Not a single Indian insurance company offers a comprehensive anti-cybercrime policy for the corporate sector. In India there are few takers for cybercrime insurance primarily because of the high cost vis-a-vis their exposure. These policies are of a high value and, on request from a few brokers, are customised for banks. Cybercrime policies in the US cover e-theft, denial or impairment of e-service, e-communication, e-vandalism, e-threat and fraudulent e-signatures.
Tasked with gathering over Rs 6,87,715 crore (or nearly $168 billion) as revenue receipts in 2008-09, the two agencies the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) will be headed by a succession of bureaucrats with unusually short tenures.
NSSF collections are down by 68% over last year. Investors are preferring banks, mutual funds and insurance policies for investments over the National Small Savings Fund. In order to deploy the surplus, the NSSF plans to lend Rs 1,500 crore to India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd at 9 per cent interest. To save the fund from collapsing, the finance ministry included 5-year Post Office Time Deposits and Senior Citizens' Saving Scheme under Section 80C for tax exemption.
The proposal, which will be one of the biggest capital market reforms in recent years if it is implemented, has been made by a Group on the Review of Issue Process, which is likely to submit a report on Thursday or Friday.
Transfer pricing legislation was introduced in India in 2001 and has emerged as the single biggest source of courtroom battles between Indian tax authorities and companies, a large number of which are multinationals with operations in India.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram may introduce Controlled Foreign Companies rules to tax income from Indian-owned foreign subsidiaries. That means, irrespective of whether the income is brought to India or parked outside, Indian tax rates will be have to be paid on such income.
The empowered committee of state fnance ministers had recommended to the finance ministry that the Centre should provide direct budgetary support and transfer more services to states on account of the rate cut, sources said. States have refused to hike the value-added tax rate on more than 250 items like drugs, agricultural and industrial inputs from 4 per cent to 5 per cent to make up for revenue loss.
The proposal is being examined by the finance ministry in the run-up to Budget 2008-09. The banks have told Finance Minister P Chidambaram that there is a considerable divergence between the provisions made according to the RBI guidelines and the deductions allowed by the Income Tax Act.
FM is considering extension of the sunset clause for housing projects in Budge 208-09.
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