Guidance Note for implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)
Based on comments and feedback received, the Guidance Note for
implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common
Reporting Standard (CRS) updated
An Inter-Governmental Agreement between India and USA was signed for
implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Government of
India has also joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) for
Automatic Exchange of Information as per Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
For implementation of FATCA and CRS, necessary legislative changes have been made in the Income-tax Act, 1961 and Income-tax Rules, 1962. Rules 114F, 114G & 114H and Form 61B have been inserted to provide legal basis for the Reporting Financial Institutions (RFIs) for maintaining and reporting information about the Reportable Accounts.
A Guidance Note was released on 31st August 2015 for ensuring compliance with the reporting requirements provided in Rules 114F to 114H and Form 61B of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. Based on comments and feedback received, this Guidance Note has been updated on 31st December 2015. The same has been placed on the Income-tax website http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in.
*****
Calendar for Auction of Government of India Treasury Bills for the
Quarter ending March 2016 notified
After reviewing the cash position, the Government of India, in
consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has decided to notify the
amounts for the issuance of Treasury Bills for the quarter ending March 2016 as
under:
|
Notified
Amount for Auction of Treasury Bills
(January 1,
2016 to – March 31, 2016)
(Rs.
in Crore)
|
||||
|
Date of Auction
|
91 Days
|
182 Days
|
364 Days
|
Total
|
|
January 06, 2016
|
9,000
|
|
6,000
|
15,000
|
|
January 13, 2016
|
9,000
|
6,000
|
|
15,000
|
|
January 20, 2016
|
9,000
|
|
6,000
|
15,000
|
|
January 27, 2016
|
9,000
|
6,000
|
|
15,000
|
|
February 03, 2016
|
9,000
|
|
6,000
|
15,000
|
|
February 10, 2016
|
9,000
|
6,000
|
|
15,000
|
|
February 17, 2016
|
9,000
|
|
6,000
|
15,000
|
|
February 24, 2016
|
8,000
|
6,000
|
|
14,000
|
|
March 02, 2016
|
8,000
|
|
6,000
|
14,000
|
|
March 09, 2016
|
8,000
|
6,000
|
|
14,000
|
|
March 16, 2016
|
8,000
|
|
6,000
|
14,000
|
|
March 23, 2016
|
8,000
|
6,000
|
|
14,000
|
|
March 30, 2016
|
8,000
|
|
6,000
|
14,000
|
|
Total
|
1,11,000
|
36,000
|
42,000
|
1,89,000
|
The
Government of India/Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will continue to have the
flexibility to modify the notified amount and timing for auction of Treasury
Bills depending upon the requirements of the Government of India, evolving
market conditions and other relevant factors. Thus, the calendar is subject to
change, if circumstances so warrant including for reasons such as intervening
holidays. Such changes, if any, will be communicated through regular press
releases.
The
auction of Treasury Bills will be subject to the terms and conditions specified
in the General Notification No. F2(12)-W&M/97 dated March 31, 1998 issued
by the Government of India, as amended from time to time.
*****
Change in Tariff Value of Crude Palm Oil, RBD Palm Oil,
others – Palm Oil, Crude Palmolein, RBD Palmolein, others – Palmolein, Crude
Soyabean Oil, Brass Scrap (All Grades), Poppy Seeds, Areca Nuts, Gold and
Silver Notified
In exercise of the powers conferred
by sub-section (2) of Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), the
Central Board of Excise & Customs(CBEC), being satisfied that it is
necessary and expedient so to do, hereby makes the following amendment in the
notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department
of Revenue), No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.), dated the 3rd August, 2001, published
in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, Section-3, Sub-section (ii),
vide number S. O. 748 (E), dated the 3rd August, 2001, namely:-
In the said
notification, for TABLE-1,
TABLE-2, and TABLE-3, the following Tables shall be substituted namely:-
TABLE-1
|
Sl. No.
|
Chapter/ heading/
sub-heading/tariff item
|
Description of goods
|
Tariff value US $(Per Metric
Tonne)
|
|
(1)
|
(2)
|
(3)
|
(4)
|
|
1
|
1511 10 00
|
Crude Palm Oil
|
557
|
|
2
|
1511 90 10
|
RBD Palm Oil
|
581
|
|
3
|
1511 90 90
|
Others – Palm Oil
|
569
|
|
4
|
1511 10 00
|
Crude Palmolein
|
595
|
|
5
|
1511 90 20
|
RBD Palmolein
|
598
|
|
6
|
1511 90 90
|
Others – Palmolein
|
597
|
|
7
|
1507 10 00
|
Crude Soya bean Oil
|
733
|
|
8
|
7404 00 22
|
Brass Scrap (all grades)
|
2904
|
|
9
|
1207 91 00
|
Poppy seeds
|
2722
|
TABLE-2
|
Sl. No.
|
Chapter/ heading/ sub-heading/tariff item
|
Description of goods
|
Tariff value
(US $)
|
|
(1)
|
(2)
|
(3)
|
(4)
|
|
1
|
71 or 98
|
Gold, in any form, in respect of which the
benefit of entries at serial number 321 and 323 of the Notification No.
12/2012-Customs dated 17.03.2012 is availed
|
345 per 10 grams
|
|
2
|
71 or 98
|
Silver, in any form, in respect of which
the benefit of entries at serial number 322 and 324 of the Notification No.
12/2012-Customs dated 17.03.2012 is availed
|
452 per kilogram
|
TABLE-3
|
Sl. No.
|
Chapter/ heading/ sub-heading/tariff item
|
Description of goods
|
Tariff value
(US $ Per Metric Tons )
|
|
(1)
|
(2)
|
(3)
|
(4)
|
|
1
|
080280
|
Areca nuts
|
2558”
|
************
Amendment of Rules regarding quoting of PAN for specified transactions
to come into force from 1st January, 2016
The Government is committed to curbing
the circulation of black money and widening of tax base. To collect information
of certain types of transactions from third parties in a non-intrusive manner,
it is mandatory under Rule 114B of the Income-tax Rules to quote PAN where the
transactions exceed a specified limit. In case of transactions of sale or
purchase of goods and services, PAN will be required to be quoted, irrespective
of the mode of payment if the transaction exceeds Rs. two lakhs.
To
bring a balance between burden of compliance on legitimate transactions and the
need to capture information relating to transactions of higher value, the
Government has amended Rule 114B to enhance the monetary limits of certain
transactions which require quoting of PAN.
The changes made to the Rules have been notified through S.O. No. 3545(E) dated
30th December, 2015. These changes will take effect from 1st January, 2016.
The Notification is available on the website of the Department www.incometaxindia.gov.in.
************
CBDT issues instructions to streamline Scrutiny Assessment Proceedings
and to facilitate Electronic Communication ; Another step in providing fair and
transparent tax administration and improved taxpayer services
The Income Tax Department is committed
to providing fair and transparent tax administration and continuously improve
taxpayer services.
Taking another step in this direction,
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Ministry of Finance has issued
instructions to the assessing officers to be specific in enquires made in the
case of tax payers whose returns are under scrutiny. The directions are
comprehensive and cover cases selected through Computer Aided Scrutiny
Selection (CASS) for limited scrutiny for verification of information contained
in Annual Information Return (AIR)/ Form no 26AS or received through Central
Information Branch, or complete scrutiny. The assessing officers have
been advised to inform the assessee forthwith of the reasons for limited
scrutiny, confine enquiries on the specific points for which the case has been
selected and conclude the proceedings expeditiously in a limited number of
hearings. Cases selected for limited scrutiny can be converted to complete
scrutiny only with the approval of the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax/
Commissioner of Income tax if the potential income escaping assessment exceeds
a certain monetary limit. In all cases the initial notice will be accompanied
with a specific questionnaire. Any addition to income or disallowance of
deductions will be made only after following due process of natural justice.
The Department has also initiated a
pilot project for carrying out an e-mail based scrutiny assessment in select
cases of non-corporate charges at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and
Chennai. Through this pilot, the Department endeavours to completely
remove the need for the taxpayer to visit the offices of the Department while
moving towards paperless scrutiny assessment proceedings.
Separately, the CBDT has directed all
its officers to mention e-mail address and phone numbers in all communications
to facilitate electronic interface of the taxpayer with the Department.
These recent measures are steps towards
obviating the need for avoidable personal interface with the Department and
ushering in a non-adversarial tax regime.
The communications issued by CBDT are
available on the website of the Department at www.incometax.gov.in.
*****
Quarterly Report of India’s External Debt at end-September 2015
released; India’s External Debt at end-September 2015 stood at US$ 483.2
billion, recording an increase of US$ 8.0 billion (1.7 per cent) over the level
at end-March 2015; Rise in external debt during the period was due to long-term
external debt particularly commercial borrowings and NRI deposits
Department of
Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has been compiling
and releasing quarterly statistics on India’s External Debt for the quarters
ending September and December every year. Now it has released Report on India’s
External Debt as at end-September 2015.
The complete
Quarterly Report of India’s External Debt at end-September 2015 is available on
the website of Ministry of Finance –www.finmin.nic.in.
At
end-September 2015, India’s external debt stock stood at US$ 483.2 billion,
recording an increase of US$ 8.0 billion (1.7 per cent) over the level at
end-March 2015. The rise in external debt during the period was due to
long-term external debt particularly commercial borrowings and NRI deposits.
However, on a sequential basis, total external debt at end-September 2015
declined by US$ 291 million from the end-June 2015 level.
Long-term debt
at end-September 2015 was placed at US$ 397.1 billion, showing an increase of
US$ 7.4 billion (1.9 per cent) over the level at end-March 2015. Short-term
external debt witnessed an increase of 0.7 per cent and stood at US$ 86.1
billion at end-September 2015.
At
end-September 2015, long-term external debt accounted for 82.2 per cent of
India’s total external debt, while the remaining (17.8 per cent) was short-term
external debt. Component-wise, the share of commercial borrowings stood highest
at 37.7 per cent of total external debt, followed by NRI deposits (25.2 per cent) and multilateral debt (11.0 per cent).
Government
(sovereign) external debt stood at US$ 88.9 billion at end-September 2015 while
non-Government debt amounted to US$ 394.3 billion. The shares of Government
(Sovereign) and non-Government debt in the total external debt were 18.4 per
cent and 81.6 per cent respectively, at end-September 2015.
The share of US
dollar denominated debt continued to be the highest in external debt stock at
57.7 per cent at end-September 2015, followed by the Indian rupee (28.3 per
cent), SDR (5.8 per cent), Japanese yen (4.0 per cent), and euro (2.4 per
cent).
The ratio of
concessional debt to total external debt was 8.7 per cent at end-September 2015
(8.8 per cent at end-March 2015).
India’s foreign
exchange reserves provided a cover of 72.5 per cent to the total external debt
stock at end-September 2015 vis-à-vis 71.9 per cent at end-March 2015.
The ratio of
short term external debt to foreign exchange reserves was 24.6 per cent at
end-September 2015 as against 25.0 per cent at end-March 2015.
*****
Government of India puts Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS) in
public domain; MTDS document contains the objectives and risk analysis of the
Government borrowings and strategy to be followed
The Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI), has placed in public domain Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS).
The strategy has been articulated for a period of three years (2015-16 to
2017-18). The strategy document contains the objectives, risk analysis of
Government borrowings and strategy to be followed. MTDS is in consonance with
the Medium-Term Fiscal Policy Statement (MTFPS). MTDS has been prepared based
on sound international practices and taking into account the domestic economic
and financial conditions.
MTDS would be updated on an annual basis to reflect the emergent
conditions. The complete MTDS document is also attached here with for ready
reference and record.
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