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All rights reserved.The current number of people who pay taxes in the country is ?too small? and the Income Tax department will focus on non-filers and stop-filers to increase government?s revenue collection, newly appointed CBDT chairperson, Sudha Sharma told her officers today.Sharma, a 1976 batch-IRS officer, in her first communication to the Income Tax department after taking over the top post of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) this month, also doubted the accuracy of the latest data that only 42,800 people in the country have an annual income of more than Rs one crore.http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/current-taxpayers-number-too-small-cbdt-chief/article4823373.ece18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTThe new income-tax forms notified by the government have made it mandatory for many assessees to file their audit reports in the electronic mode at the time of filing tax returns. ?(The) list of audit reports required to be furnished with return of income has been expanded. As many as 12 audit reports have been electronically enabled against three earlier,? said a finance ministry official. The filing of audit reports was made mandatory in ITR Form 5, 6 and 7 after the tax department noticed discrepancies in filing of some returns along with audit reports. The Institute of Chartered Accounts of India brought to the notice of the I-T department that some companies were furnishing fake name and registration numbers of auditors in their returns.http://www.business-standard.com/article/pf/e-filing-of-audit-reports-mandatory-with-tax-returns-113061700843_1.html18 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTMillions of taxpayers who file income-tax returns in electronic form may no longer have to post the ITR-V form to Bangalore. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), administrative authority of the income-tax department, will now instead introduce electronic verification of these online returns. The new measure, expected to be operational within this financial year, will save the taxpayer from the hassle of sending the paper document by post and tracking its acknowledgement. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/tax-savers/tax-news/taxpayers-may-not-have-to-post-income-tax-returns-paper/articleshow/20623021.cms17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTIndia has approached half a dozen foreign jurisdictions, including Singapore and some tax havens, for banking and other financial details of about 500 individuals and entities that might have ?secret offshore accounts? at those places. The ?names and listed addresses? of as many as 505 India- linked entities, including businessmen and companies from the country, have been made public after a global expose on secret offshore accounts by US-based rights group, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).The addresses of Indian entities and individuals, according to the ICIJ expos?, have addresses of upmarket localities of account holders from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat, Chandigarh and many other Indian cities and a few other moffusil locations.http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-approaches-half-a-dozen-tax-havens-on-global-black-money-expose-113061600103_1.html17 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTThe Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has formally written to British telecom major Vodafone, agreeing to enter into a non-binding conciliation to resolve the long-standing tax dispute. ?The income tax department has written to Vodafone, agreeing to enter into a non-binding conciliation to resolve the long-standing tax dispute? said a senior CBDT official.Both sides will soon appoint representatives to carry out the negotiations, he said further.Seeking to resolve the long-standing tax dispute with Vodafone, the Cabinet earlier this month had approved a proposal for non-binding conciliation with the British telecom major, the outcome of which will ultimately be vetted by Parliament.http://www.financialexpress.com/news/cbdt-dials-vodafone-on-agreeing-to-conciliation/112983617 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTWhen Anglo-Dutch energy major Shell BV infused additional capital into its Indian arm Shell India by way of equity, it did not expect Shell India to be hit by a Rs 5,000-crore demand from the Income-Tax Department in India.Indian taxmen had argued that the Indian company had undervalued its share by as much as Rs 15,000 crore while issuing equity to its parent. The tax authorities said the difference in the valuation would be treated as a loan and the interest on that loan would be taxed. That dispute is now in the courts. Similar wrangles over as much as Rs 70,000 crore of disputed transactions are pending at various levels before tax appellate authorities and courts.http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/mncs-seek-advance-ruling-to-avoid-tax-rows/article4815262.ece15 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTThe income-tax department has formally written to British telecom major Vodafone, agreeing to a conciliation process to resolve the long-running tax dispute. The letter to the company stems from last week's cabinet decision that allowed a non-binding conciliation with the company under the Indian Arbitration and Contracts Act, said a government official privy to the development.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/i-t-dept-initiates-vodafone-conciliation-process-to-resolve-tax-dispute/articleshow/20597405.cms15 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTThe finance ministry is verifying outward remittances worth Rs 3.56 lakh crore from India during 2011-12, as a major portion was not subject to tax deduction at source (TDS), an official said on Friday.?The finance ministry is currently engaged in verifying the remittances made abroad from India as, over 70 per cent of remittances going out of India during the financial year 2011-12 were without any tax deduction whatsoever,? Director Income Tax , M S Ray said at an Assocham event on Friday adding that for 2011-12, there were 7,56,741 foreign remittances made from India, with money worth Rs 3,56,461 crore going out of India. ?Out of this, TDS made was Rs 12,676 crore representing just three per cent of the total remittances going out of India.http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/finmin-verifying-outward-remittances-made-in-2011-12-113061400918_1.html15 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTWhile India and the US negotiate on what are called Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) that determine how certain transactions of MNCs operating in India are to be taxed, the Indian taxman has taken a tough stance and said it will not just accept what US MNCs claim are their profit margins from the Indian operations. This has been conveyed in a letter to the US authorities last month.The taxman?s stance is important since, in FY13, the value of transfer pricing adjustments ? jargon for the taxman telling firms their incomes are understated by a certain amount ? rose to R70,000 crore from R45,000 crore the previous year.http://www.financialexpress.com/news/taxman-gets-tough-with-us-on-transfer-pricing/112832813 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTThe Finance Ministry has introduced new rules for sending Income Tax officers to newly created overseas units like in the US and the UK that include asking aspirants to get testimonials from bosses and write a note on how they can help maximise revenue from this front.The ministry had announced creation of eight new Income Tax Overseas Units (ITOUs) in 2011 as part of its multi-pronged strategy to tackle the menace of blackmoney. It had designated I-T officers to go as First Secretaries in these countries to "maintain effective coordination and liaison between Indian tax authorities and the tax authorities of countries concerned." "The new terms and conditions for posting the tax officers were recently finalised after meetings between the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Finance Ministry in coordination with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)," top sources said.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/get-recommendation-from-boss-to-serve-abroad-cbdt-to-taxmen/articleshow/20505691.cms10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTGross direct tax receipts in the first two months of the fiscal rose 21.1% to R63,252 crore from a year ago, mainly on account of pending tax refunds. The tax department collected R52,231 crore in the first two months of the last fiscal. The outstanding amount of refunds reflected in the fact that despite the huge jump in gross direct tax receipts, net direct tax collection was up only by 6.44% at R37,596 crore, as compared to R35,322 crore in the same period in the last fiscal.Gross corporate tax receipts rose 14.91% to R27,957 crore as against R24,329 crore in the same period last year. Gross personal income tax receipts rose 27.29% to R34,805 crore as against R27,343 crore in the same period last year.http://www.financialexpress.com/news/gross-direct-tax-receipts-up-21-in-aprilmay/112647708 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTThe Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has specified a value for the cost inflation index for 2013-14.A cost inflation index helps reduce the inflationary gains, thereby reducing the long-term capital gains tax payout for a taxpayer. Last year, the index was ?852?, and this year it is ?939?. This would mean that there has been a 10.2 per cent rise in the cost inflation index for 2013-14.The index is useful for income-tax assesses in the computation of tax on long-term capital gains (for indexation purposes). In the previous year (2011-12), the cost inflation index increased 8.5 per cent.Currently, the income-tax law allows long-term capital gains to be computed after adjusting for inflation.http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/cost-inflation-index-for-201314-raised-by-10/article4792462.ece08 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTFinance Minister P. Chidambaram expressed disappointment over the changes in the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) proposals brought in by his predecessor Pranab Mukherjee in the Finance Ministry and subsequently by the Standing Committee on Finance.Addressing the 32 Skoch Summit in the city on Thursday evening, the Finance Minister said, ?Working right through in 2008, every single section of the DTC was drafted by me, Parthasarathi Shome and few other officers in the Income Tax Department.?DTC law aims to consolidate and amend the law relating to direct taxes.In 2010, changes were made to the DTC 2008 proposals by Pranab Mukherjee, the then Finance Minister. Mukherjee took over from Chidambaram after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks following which the latter was given charge of the Home Ministry.http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/chidambaram-unhappy-with-pranabs-direct-taxes-code-proposals/article4792460.ece08 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTThe income-tax department has asked Delhi Police to share details of the investigations into the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal as there is an element of tax evasion involved in the cases, a top I-T sleuth said. "We asked Delhi Police to share information, but have not heard from it yet. We are looking into the matter," the official said, asking not to be named. A Delhi Police official confirmed about the I-T request, but added the agency is not ready yet to share the relevant information. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/income-tax-department-seeks-probe-details-on-ipl-scams-from-delhi-police/articleshow/20470232.cms07 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTThe Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has authorised the finance ministry to begin conciliation talks with Vodafone under Indian law to break the deadlock over the 20,000-crore tax dispute that has come to exemplify, at least to outsiders, the difficulties of doing business in India.The outcome of the conciliation process, for which no time frame has been set, will not be binding and will be under the Indian Arbitration & Conciliation Act.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/cabinet-okays-peace-talks-with-vodafone-under-indian-laws-to-break-deadlock-over-rs-20000-crore-tax-dispute/articleshow/20434099.cms05 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTInvestigators' efforts to unlock the Swiss banking secrecy code in money laundering and tax evasion probes have gained momentum with India making maximum number of requests for classified tax data exchange last fiscal to the authorities of the alpine country. India's global requests for obtaining classified tax information, in the face of a number of high-profile tax evasion and scam cases, has also seen a 59 per cent jump -- with a total of 646 requests -- as compared to a total of 386 similar letters during the 2011-12 fiscal. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/india-sends-maximum-of-200-secret-tax-information-requests-to-switzerland/articleshow/20426554.cms05 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTAfter asking individual taxpayers to declare their assets and liabilities in the new Income Tax Return (ITR) forms, the finance ministry will now tell companies, firms, trusts, as well as political parties, to give more disclosures in the ITR forms to be notified soon for the 2013-14 assessment year. For the computation of total income, in the column 'income from other sources', taxpayers will have to specify the 'other source' from which the income has come. If there are multiple sources, the break-up of incomes from each source will have to be provided. According to the existing forms, 'income from other sources' is divided into income 'from owning race horses' and 'sources other than from owning race horses'.http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/companies-political-parties-to-give-other-income-details-in-i-t-returns-113060400049_1.html04 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT Income Tax department has decided to scan the salary structure of top executives of large corporates and PSUs to examine hidden tax opportunities in the perks and reimbursements made to them.The department, during its recent deliberations with top I-T and CBDT officials here, decided to strengthen its Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) obtained from salaries of employees, regime in order to collect more revenue under this category.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/tax-savers/tax-news/income-tax-department-to-scan-salary-slips-of-top-executives-for-tds/articleshow/20409404.cms04 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTWith the corporate sector, especially multinational firms, flagging off concerns over an aggressive tax department, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked officials to tread cautiously while chasing tax evaders and avoid raids as long as possible.Chidambaram, who has assured foreign investors of a stable and non-adversarial tax regime during his road shows, has asked the income-tax department to focus on building a tax case by gathering information from third-party sources, instead of a raid, and then confront tax evaders with that information. ?The finance minister said our approach should be non-intrusive. We will get as much information as possible on our own and then give the tax evaders a chance to pay up their dues.http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/fm-asks-i-t-to-avoid-raids-113060200168_1.html03 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMTTransfer-pricing provisions were introduced to ensure that an international transaction between two associated enterprises is made at an arm's length price (ALP) so that both the countries involved get a proper share of profits in their respective jurisdiction. In order to determine the ALP, various methods have been prescribed which are based on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines and international transfer-pricing practices.However, sometimes the nature of transaction is such that none of the methods prescribed in law are appropriate to determine ALP. Then, in such a situation, how will the ALP be calculated? Problems arise in determination of ALP on transfer of capital assets.http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/insurance-valuation-a-good-benchmark-for-transfer-pricing-113060200447_1.html03 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT