Kailash Gahlot, a key minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, has resigned, potentially impacting the party's ambitious plan to roll out a Rs 1000 monthly honorarium scheme for women ahead of the Assembly polls in February. Gahlot, who represented the Jat-dominated Najafgarh constituency in West Delhi, cited several issues, including the "Sheeshmahal" controversy over his former official residence, the Delhi government's tussle with the Centre, and the failure to clean the Yamuna River, in his resignation letter. Delhi BJP leaders welcomed Gahlot's resignation, fueling speculation that he could join the party before the assembly polls. However, AAP leaders claimed Gahlot resigned due to pressure from central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, and that joining the BJP was his last option. Gahlot's resignation has sparked speculation about his future and the impact it will have on the AAP's electoral prospects.
UK-based Cairn Energy PLC on Wednesday said it has agreed to drop litigations to seize Indian properties in countries ranging from France to the UK as it has accepted the Indian government's offer to settle tax dispute relating to the levy of taxes retrospectively. Meeting the requirements of new legislation that scraps levy of retrospective taxation, the company has given required undertakings indemnifying the Indian government against future claims as well as agreeing to drop any legal proceedings anywhere in the world. The government now has to accept this and issue Cairn a so-called Form-II, that will commit it to refund the tax collected to enforce the retrospective tax demand.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic presidential candidate, in an op-ed on Saturday, recollected her frequent visit to India as a child, and her mother's mission to cure cancer.
GST collections in July rose 10.3 per cent to over Rs 1.82 lakh crore, mainly driven by domestic transactions in goods and services, according to official data released on Thursday. This is the third-highest-ever monthly collection recorded since the indirect tax regime was rolled out 7 years ago on July 1, 2017. According to the data, total refunds stood at Rs 16,283 crore in July.
The fitment committee under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, comprising central and state officials, has begun a rate rationalisation exercise afresh, checking the possibility of dropping some of the rates, particularly the 12 per cent slab, to achieve a revenue-neutral structure, a senior official with direct knowledge of the matter
The gross GST collection increased 8 per cent to Rs 1.74 lakh crore in June, sources said on Monday. The government, however, has discontinued the official release of monthly GST collection data, they added. Sources said the gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection so far this fiscal (April-June) stood at Rs 5.57 lakh crore.
The Delhi high court has granted bail to Hari Om Rai, the former MD of Lava International mobile company, in a money laundering case involving smartphone-maker Vivo. Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri granted relief to the ex-Lava official, who was in custody since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in October last year.
While the minimum holding period for LTCG taxation has now been lowered, the tax outgo could be a bit higher under the new structure.
The CBI arrested an NIA deputy superintendent of police posted in Patna and two middlemen on Thursday for allegedly accepting a Rs 20 lakh bribe to extend favours to a person in an ongoing probe, officials said.
The income-tax department has detected "unaccounted" transactions and investments worth more than Rs 100 crore after it raided two Jharkhand Congress MLAs, their alleged associates and linked coal and iron ore businesses across the state last week.
Policymakers are examining the possibility of increasing the tax-free slab to Rs 5 lakh in the two-year-old alternative personal income tax regime to make it attractive, a government official said. At present, taxpayers don't pay income tax if their taxable income is Rs 2.5 lakh and below. Increasing the threshold will reduce the tax outgo for assessees, thereby leaving more money with them to invest, the official said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced income tax relief for the middle class, a Rs 2 lakh crore outlay for job creation schemes over the next five years and a spending splurge for states run by her party's new coalition partners as she unveiled the Modi 3.0 government's first budget after the general elections.
The government has slashed the windfall profit tax levied on domestically-produced crude oil as well as on export of diesel and ATF following a drop in global oil prices, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been cut steeply to Rs 1,700 per tonne from Rs 4,900, the order dated December 15 said. Crude oil pumped out of the ground is refined and converted into fuel like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
"Remember, the IT Department and the ED implement the Pradhan Mantri Hafta Vasuli Yojana. The State Bank of India implements the #ElectoralBondScam. And at the end of the day, all of these institutions report to the same person: the Finance Minister," Ramesh alleged.
If you think that revenue officials are going berserk, acting on their own, while the government chants the mantra of 'ease of doing business', you would be wrong. These moves appear to have full official backing, points out Debashis Basu.
The government has cut windfall gains tax on domestically-produced crude oil to nil while continuing the rate at zero on the export of diesel and ATF. The government has slashed the special additional excise duty (SAED) on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to nil from Rs 4,100 per tonne with effect from Tuesday, an official order dated May 15 said. This is the second time that the levy, which was introduced in July last year in the form of a cess to tax supernormal gains of oil producers and fuel exporters, has been cut to nil for domestically-produced oil.
A team of tax department officials is undertaking the raids against Jadhav, also the chairman of the BMC standing committee, since early morning, they said.
The court said multi-storey buildings were being allowed to operate but there was no proper drainage.
The government has brought back the windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil after international prices firmed up while the levy on export of diesel has been cut to nil, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is now Rs 6,400 per tonne with effect from Wednesday, the order dated April 18 said. At the last revision on April 4, windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil was cut to nil as international oil prices dipped below $75 per barrel.
There are reports that the government will soon cut income taxes by about Rs 50,000 crore to boost consumption.
Prime Minister Modi, I suggest that, instead, you distribute about one lakh crore rupees per year to the 80 crore poor, which will boost both consumption and economic growth, suggests Kalyan Singhal, McCurdy Professor of Business at the University of Baltimore.
Consumer goods, durables, automobiles worst hit.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Disanayaka assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his country's soil will not be used against India's interests, addressing concerns over China's growing influence in Colombo. The two leaders discussed a range of issues, including a defense cooperation agreement, energy ties, and debt restructuring. They also agreed to initiate a ferry service between Rameshwaram and Talaimannar, and to adopt a "humanitarian approach" to the fishermen issue.
Several cafes and restaurants are boarded up from outside but still promising they are open. As Americans voted Tuesday, the capital prepared itself for potential unrest.
'Under this government, tax laws have become more draconian, and the government itself is setting stiff, unrealistic targets for tax officials, who have got more powers to harass us,' points out Debashis Basu.
"The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a globally respected institution and broadcaster whose news material I consume everyday. Secondly, all organisations have to obey the law of India. BBC is talking to Indian authorities about that," Ellis said.
The prosecution said the officer had initially made a demand of Rs 1,30,000 in March 2015 to settle the tax liability of the complainant, who runs a partnership firm.
Indian and Finnish finance ministry officials on Tuesday discussed Nokia's Rs 21,153 crore (Rs 211.53 billion) tax dispute case and reviewed the double taxation avoidance agreement.
GST authorities have identified about 17,000 non-existent GSTINs and cancelled over 4,900 registrations in the ongoing pan-India drive against fake registration, a senior tax official said on Wednesday. Currently, there are 1.40 crore businesses registered under Goods and Services Tax, nearly double the number of businesses registered in indirect tax regime pre-GST rollout. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) member Shashank Priya said in the drive against fake registration, till July 4, over 69,600 GST Identification Numbers (GSTINs) have been selected for physical verification by field tax officers.
The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
Section 276CC provides for prosecution and makes tax evasion punishable with rigorous imprisonment of three months to seven years along with a monetary penalty depending on the amount dodged.
More than 24 prominent charitable institutions in the country - from private trusts, educational societies, statutory authorities, and cricket associations - may soon face tax scrutiny after a Supreme Court (SC) ruling set the limits to which tax exemption can be claimed. Most of these are highly profitable but get tax exemption due to their 'charitable organisation' status. The revenue department is preparing a standard operating procedure to scrutinise their books and evaluate if they can continue to claim tax exemption in the context of the recent SC ruling
With 7 per cent economic growth, India is not creating enough jobs as reflected by the number of applicants for vacant posts in some states, Reserve Bank's former governor Raghuram Rajan said and suggested the government needs to focus on promoting labour-intensive industries to generate employment. Rajan further said some Indians, especially those at upper level, are comfortable and have high incomes, but consumption growth from the lower half of the country has still not recovered to pre-pandemic level.
The finance ministry is looking at rationalising long-term capital gains tax structure by bringing parity between similar asset classes and revising the base year for computing indexation benefit to make it more relevant, an official said on Friday. Currently, shares held for more than one year attract a 10 per cent tax on long-term capital gains. Gains arising from sale of immovable property and unlisted shares held for more than 2 years and debt instruments and jewellery held for over 3 years attract 20 per cent long term capital gains tax.
'We have filed a complaint with the police authorities.'
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has stepped up its watch on the import of unbranded gold jewellery amid a spurt in seizures on international borders and from importers. During FY24, the CBIC and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) jointly seized about 5 tonnes of gold, 30 per cent more than what they did in FY23. In FY23, 3.5 tonnes of gold was confiscated.
The government has reduced the windfall profit tax levied on domestically-produced crude oil as well as on the export of diesel and ATF, in line with softening international oil prices, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been cut to Rs 1,900 per tonne from Rs 2,100 per tonne, the order dated January 16, said. Crude oil pumped out of the ground and from below the seabed is refined and converted into fuel like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
The government is planning to introduce legislative changes to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) regulations, with a focus on easing the pathway for inflows from a foreign portfolio investor to transition seamlessly into foreign direct investments (FDI) once the FPI surpasses the 10 per cent ownership threshold in a company. This move stems from multiple requests by foreign investors seeking to streamline the reporting requirements that arise when their stakes in Indian firms cross the 10 per cent mark.
The government has raised the windfall profit tax levied on domestically produced crude oil as well as on the export of diesel and ATF, in line with firming international oil prices, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been increased to Rs 2,100 per tonne from Rs 1,700 per tonne, the order dated January 2, said. Crude oil pumped out of the ground and from below the seabed is refined and converted into fuel like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
During a review, the EC found that the performance of some officers was "unsatisfactory" and they were found "complacent, if not complicit" in various matters, including the illegal supply of liquor as a possible poll inducement, sources said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested four income tax officials, including the Kanpur-based Director of Investigations, along with a leading builder to whom the tax officials were suspected to be extending undue favours.
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