by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Corporate finance, News
By Quaid Najmi,
Mumbai : In an apparent volte-face, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has said that figures of ‘write-offs’ of Income Tax arrears furnished under right to information action were sent out in error.
Responding to an IANS report “Income Tax Department writes off huge arrears, show RTI replies” on May 28, 2018, the CBDT’s official spokesperson said that the the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Pr-CCIT) Hyderabad had provided erroneous figures of ‘write-offs’ under an RTI application filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur, a Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh) activist.
According to the RTI replies, the Pr-CCIT, Hyderabad had stated that it had written off a total of Rs 3002.20 crores in two financial years, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.
The CBDT spokesperson, Saurabh Ahluwali, Commissioner of Income Tax (Media & Technical Policy) now says that the information provided was “due to an inadvertent error made by the CPIO who reported the figures of ‘Cash Collection’ or recoveries made from arrears in these years as the figures of arrears written off.”
The correct amount of arrears written off in those two years for the Andhra Pradesh & Telangana by the Pr-CCIT Hyderabad, was actually zero (Nil), as no write-off orders were passed in these (two) years, he said, adding that the RTI applicant Gaur has been informed of the mistake.
Interestingly, the IANS had sent an email to the CBDT on May 16, with specific queries on the figures and the authorisation levels for the ‘write-offs’, which was ignored for nearly 13 days.
After the IANS story was published on May 28, the CBDT swung into action with a reply.
On the figures of tax arrears, totaling to over Rs 50,000 crore, including over Rs 33,157.97 crore from Pune alone, provided under RTI by various IT offices across India, the CBDT spokesperson said it had already collected Rs 44,633 crore during 2017-2018, which was 14.6 percent higher than Rs 38,944 crore collected in the previous fiscal.
Besides, the CBDT said of the current demands, Rs 52,537 crores was recovered by the ITD in 2017-2018.
The CBDT reiterated that ‘write-off’ of arrears was a detailed and long-drawn process and only initiated for arrears which become irrecoverable “after all avenues for recovery are exhausted.”
Besides, all proposals of ‘write-off’ of arrears above Rs 5,000 are examined by a committee at Zonal, Regional and Local levels, while any proposals for ‘write-off’ above Rs 25 lakh must “be approved by CBDT” and any such amount above Rs 50 lakh need approval “by the Finance Minister.”
For small value arrears upto Rs 10,000, there are relaxations in guidelines under a fast-track process, but the rigorous process remains in place and during 2017-2018 (upto December 31, 2017), a meager amount “of Rs 5.6 crore was written off in the entire country, the spokesperson said said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
New Delhi : The government on Saturday said the Certificate of Incorporation (COI) issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is adequate proof of Permanent Account Number (PAN) or Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN) for a company.
“Finance Act, 2018, amended section 139A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and removed the requirement of issuing PAN in the form of a laminated card,” an official statement said, adding, “hence, it is clarified that PAN and TAN mentioned in the COI issued by MCA shall also be treated as sufficient proof of PAN and TAN for the said company assessees.”
It further said: “In case of a company, an application for incorporation, allotment of PAN and allotment of TAN may be made through a common application form submitted to the MCA.”
“In these cases, the COI issued by MCA contains a mention of both PAN and TAN,” the statement noted.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Corporate finance, Corporate Governance
Arun Jaitley
New Delhi : Ruling out income tax exemption for cooperative banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said they were no different from commercial banks and were, therefore, required to be treated at par with them.
“Most of these banks are providing standard banking facilities like opening of letters of credit, bill discounting and collection, lockers and safe deposit vaults, bank guarantees.
“Many of these deal in foreign exchange and have also opened ATM kiosks. These banks are thus no different from commercial banks and therefore are required to be treated at par with them,” Jaitley said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha.
He said that cooperative banks function like any other commercial bank and the principle of mutuality, which was central to granting exemption, did not apply “because their area of operations extends even to non-members”.
“Income-tax is a tax on profits and there is no rationale for exempting profit-making cooperative banks from payment of income-tax,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Chennai : Income Tax (IT) officials on Tuesday raided 33 premises in Tamil Nadu here and Madurai belonging to three business groups. It is a follow-up to its earlier searches linked to jailed AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala’s kin and business associates, said a senior official.
“Search operations are on… The officials are carrying out searches in the premises of Marg group, S2, and Millennium,” the IT official told IANS preferring anonymity.
According to him, this is a follow-up of the IT Department’s search operations carried out in 187 premises belonging to the relatives of Sasikala and their business organisations.
The raid comes days after the IT officials carried out that massive search operation and unearthed Rs 1,430 crore of tax evasion.
The IT Department also raided the residence of late Chief Minister and AIADMK General Secretary J.Jayalalithaa after that.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
V.K. Sasikala and T.T.V. Dinakaran
Chennai : Income Tax (IT) officials on Thursday raided 187 locations belonging to relatives of jailed AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala, her nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran and organisations connected to them in several cities, said a senior IT official.
He said the search is in connection with unexplained routing of cash post-demonetisation through shell companies connected with them.
Ten groups of IT officials were involved in “the search exercise taking place across Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and other places”, an IT official told IANS preferring anonymity.
The raids began at 6 a.m. The tax officials also searched the residence of M. Natarajan, husband of Sasikala in Thanjavur, according to reports.
They also raided the Kodanad Tea Estate belonging to late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
The official said the IT department will look at routing of funds within India and there are other agencies to look at routing of funds outside India.
The IT officials are also searching the AIADMK Tamil daily Namadhu MGR.
—IANS
