Income Tax Refund Banker Scheme

Individual and small corporate taxpayers will get income or corporate tax refunds in four months, with the refund banker
scheme spreading across the country soon.
The refunds, arising out of tax payments
and TDS collections, usually take more than a year to reach the average taxpayer.
"Tax and TDS refunds will now reach the individual and small (corporate) taxpayers in about four months (by August 2009). The refund banker scheme may also be implemented across the country," a senior Finance Ministry official said.
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Taxpayers who have filed their returns for the assessment year 2008-09 should now write to their area Income-Tax Assessment Officers quoting their magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) codes (used in the banking industry to facilitate cheque processing) and vital bank account details.
This will help the department to send refunds quickly in any part of the country, the official added.
Officials in the Income-Tax department also added that fast and quick refunds have been made possible this time as the department has finished the process of "data migration" to its central servers from its offices across the country.

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Dear Esteemed Members,NEW DELHI: The accounting regulator the Institute of CharteredAccountants of India (ICAI) has constituted an expert group to suggestsector-specific accounting norms for insurance companies. The moveaims at ensuring that financial statements of insurance firms reflecttrue natures of financial arrangements. ICAI president Uttam PrakashAgarwal confirmed the development. “ICAI is planning to come up withspecific accounting standards for the insurance sector,” he told ET.New standards will help in making financial statements of insurancecompanies — public as well as private — easier for the investors tocomprehend, as it will require the companies to show their fields ofrevenue generation with clarity, he said. These independent accountingstandards for the country’s insurance sector will be in addition tothe already existing accounting norms which the insurance companiesfollows now.The insurance regulator, Insurance Regulatory Development Authority(Irda) has directed all domestic life insurance companies to tightentheir expenses in order to procure durable business. This move cameafter reports surfaced that insurers are making disproportionatelyhuge commission payments to their intermediaries, other thanindividual agents. This, in turn, affects the overall financialstrength of the companies.The definition of related parties to intermediaries should beconformity with the accounting standards of ICAI and Companies Act.The regulator has also stipulated that the information certificategiven by the company to the regulator should have signatures of theinsurer’s chief executive officer, the chief financial officer and thecompliance officer.
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ACCRUAL ACCOUNTING IN GOVERNMENT IN FIVE YEARS TIME

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) plans to move from cash to accrual basis accounting in government within a five year time frame. A National Round Table Conference on Accrual Basis Accounting was held in CAG office yesterday i.e, May 5, 2009. The Conference, convened by Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board (GASAB) of CAG of India, deliberated the issue of migration from cash to accrual basis accounting and laid down the roadmap for migration process. The accrual based financial statements are expected to provide more appropriate presentation of financial performance and position of the government. The Union and States would have a common format of financial statements that would include a Balance Sheet, a Statement of financial performance and a Cash flow statement. The framework for the accrual accounting shall be Indian Government Financial Reporting Standards (IGFRS) issued by GASAB. IGFRS are harmonized with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), the international standards for governments. Department of Posts in Government of India and selected departments of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and West Bengal have embarked on accelerated pilot studies on accrual basis accounting. These pilot studies would be precursor to a national rollout which is aimed for within a five year time frame. The pilot studies would be conducted by teams from the State Accountant General offices with international and national consultants with the support of state governments. The World Bank is funding these pilot studies. Principal Secretaries from State Governments, officials from Department of Posts, Accountant General of various states, and World Bank officials participated in the National Round Table Conference.
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Give copies of answersheets, court tells centre
Posted: Friday , May 01, 2009 at 0247 hrs IST
The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to provide students with certified copies of answersheets under the Right to Information Act.
Justice S Ravindra Bhat dismissed contentions raised by the institute that answersheets fell beyond the purview of the RTI, holding that students were well within their rights to access them.
ICAI is an institute. You should apply pragmatism and set examples for others. You should start by yourself... Many institutes do that and allow students to inspect their copies, Justice Bhat told the ICAI, which had challenged a Central Information Commission verdict to provide certified copies of papers to students who failed the exams.
Additional Solicitor General Parag Tripathi, appearing for ICAI, submitted that the Supreme Court in its order of 2007 rejected the candidates right to demand answersheets.
compiled by CA Rajesh P Langalia

Too good utility for excel

Res. Members,
Below is link for ASAP Utilities. It will be very helpful in excel. Just Download & install it.
The extra menu will be available in your excel with too many good functions.....
http://www.asap-utilities.com/download-asap-utilities.php

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The Delhi High Court has on April 18, 2009 struck down the levy of service tax on renting of immovable property as "unconstitutional".
For_Immediate_Release:
India, Republic of (Press Release) April 18, 2009 --
The Delhi High Court has today struck down the levy of service tax on renting

of immovable property as "unconstitutional", while deciding 26 writ petitions of different petitioners, by a combined order. The division bench of the Delhi High Court comprised of Mr. Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Mr. Justice Rajiv Shakdher observed that service tax

shall not be levied on renting of immovable property. Alishan Naqvee, Advocate, LexCounsel Law Offices, who represented his clients in two of the petitions disposed off today, tells that the category of "renting of immovable property service" was introduced by the Finance Act of 2007. This, in effect brought renting, letting, leasing, licensing or other similar arrangements of immovable property for use in the course of furtherance of business and commerce, within the service tax net with effect from June 1, 2007. This new levy severely impacted business models across India as most of the rent arrangements did not even stipulate it beforehand. The businesses across India opted to en masse challenge the constitutionality of levy of service tax on rent, on the primary grounds that renting does not involve any service, and the Central Government is not empowered to tax consideration for transfer of rights in immovable property, being a state subject as per the Constitution of India. Few High Courts, including the High Court of Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kolkata and Chennai reportedly granted interim reliefs to the petitioners from payment of service tax until final disposal of their matters. The stays were however granted subject to undertakings by the petitioners, mainly tenants, to deposit the service tax amount with the Government if the tax was ultimately held constitutional. The Delhi High Court however is the first High Court to deliver the final order in the matter that would have persuasive value for the other High Courts.
The detailed order of the Delhi High Court is expected to be available within the next couple of working days. One issue that needs to be seen is whether the Delhi High Court has expressly limited the applicability of its judgment to its territorial jurisdiction. Notably, while granting interim orders, the Delhi High Court had expressed that the stays would be operative within the territorial jurisdiction of the Court. Consequently, a number of petitioners, having operations in multiple states, were constrained to knock at the doors of the other High Courts. To avoid multiplicity of litigation, the Union of India preferred a transfer petition to the Supreme Court of India seeking transfer of all writ petitions pending before different High Courts of India, to the Delhi High Court for single window adjudication. It is open for the Government to prefer an appeal before the Supreme Court of India, challenging the decision of the Delhi High Court. The judgment however delivers great relief to the business by helping liquidity in the current times.
compiled by CA Rajesh P Langalia

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DEPRECIATION ON NEW COMMERCIAL VEHICLES:
The eligibility for claiming depreciation @50% on New Commercial Vehicles has been extended from 1st April,2009 to 1st October,2009. Hence, the new commercial vehicles acquired upto 30th September,2009 are eligible for claiming higher depreciation @50%
New Depreciation Schedule
III. MACHINERY AND PLANT
(via) New commercial vehicle which is acquired on or after the 1st day of January, 2009 but before the 1st day of [April, 2009] October,2009 and is put to use before the 1st day of [April, 2009] October,2009 for the purposes of business or profession [See paragraph 6 of the Notes below this Table] 50.
Income-tax (Eleventh Amendment) Rules, 2009 - Amendment in New Appendix 1
NOTIFICATION NO. 37/2009 [F.No.142/01/2009-TPL],
DATED 21-4-2009
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 295 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Board of Direct Taxes hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Income-tax Rules 1962. Namely:
1. 1. (1) These rules may be called the Income-tax (Eleventh Amendment) Rules, 2009.
(2) They shall come into force with effect from the 1st day of April, 2010.
2. 2. In the Income-tax Rules, 1962, in the Table to New Appendix 1, in Part-A relating TANGIBLE ASSETS, under the heading III, MACHINERY AND PLANT, in sub-item (via) of item (3), for the words and figures 1st day of April, 2009, the words and figures 1st day of October, 2009 shall be substituted at both the places.

compiled by CA Rajesh P Langalia