CommerceCafe - The Finance World: Current Affairs

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Wednesday, 23 March 2016

Ask Vijay Mallya to cough up Rs 9000 crore before making me pay Rs 260 fine: Mumbai train passenger demands

Unknown 18:42:00

In a strange incident, a ticketless traveller brought in Vijay Mallya's name in an argument, instead of paying the fine for her offence.

According to Mumbai Mirror, Premlata Bhansali, a South Mumbai resident of a posh society, was caught travelling without a ticket by a lady ticket checker at the Mahalaxmi station. Bhansali was asked to pay a fine of Rs 260 for this.

But instead of paying the fine for her mistake, she asked the checker to take her to the station master's office. At the office, Bhansali kept saying that Mallya had bolted the country after duping banks of Rs 9000 crore, yet authorities preferred to harass poor people.

The argument reportedly dragged on for over 12 hours! Woman constables of RPF, GRP, and Agripada Police station tried to counsel her, but Bhansali would not budge. Authorities also tried to summon her husband, but she would have none of it. Bhansali asked to be sent to jail so that she could protest like Anna Hazare or be produced in front of a magistrate, reports the tabloid.

After the whole ordeal, authorities finally took her for a medical check up before officially detaining her. She was let off at 11.40 pm on Sunday. Now Bhansali's case will be heard on Tuesday at the magistrate's court in Mumbai Central.

Tuesday, 22 September 2015

thingstoknow

Volkswagen emissions scandal 2015 :

Sainath Gupta 18:16:00

Around 15 billion euros ($16.9 billion) was wiped off the market value of Volkswagen AG on Monday following revelations that the German carmaker rigged US emissions tests for about 500,000 diesel cars.

What the company did ?

VW used a device programmed to detect when the cars are undergoing official emissions testing. The software device then turns off the emissions controls during normal driving situations, allowing the cars to emit more than the legal limit of pollutants.

in simple "they have done rigging in United States Emissions tests"

How this scandal got exposed ?

VW's U.S. head Michael Horn, who was attending a lavish event in New York to promote the 2016 VW Passat, admitted the company had "totally screwed up" and vowed to make amends.

"The company will have to recall nearly 500,000 affected cars, which will cost it millions of dollars, and that's even before the damage to its brand and potential fines," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

Impact ?

Globally 11 million cars have been effected from this!!

This news has been spread globally and south korea ordered for a probe.

The South Korean probe will involve 4,000 to 5,000 Jetta, Golf and Audi A3 vehicles produced in 2014 and 2015, Park Pan-kyu, a deputy director at South Korea's environment ministry, told Reuters.

The ministry will consider recalling those vehicles after conducting the investigation, he said.

"If South Korean authorities find problems in the VW diesel cars, the probe could be expanded to all German diesel cars," he said.

Volkswagen Korea declined to comment.

German rivals Daimler and BMW have said the accusations against VW did not apply to them.

The European Commission has said it is in contact with VW and U.S. regulators, but it was too early to say whether VW vehicles in Europe were also affected.

A VW spokesman in Australia said the company had contacted its head office in Germany asking for advice about how to proceed and whether it expected cars sold in Australia to be affected. He added that the Australian office had not been contacted by local police or government agencies.

Impact on india ?

Volkswagen car owners would be impacted along with Audi owners
Mother son sumi indian listed company fell 6 % intraday on tuesday ,the company deals with ancillaries and account 40% profit from volkswagen

Written By Sainath Gupta

with some inputs from Reuters & BI

law

Black Money(Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act,2015

Sainath Gupta 17:41:00

SHOULD YOU WAIT TO PAY 120% PENALTY ON YOUR HARD EARNED FOREIGN INCOME/ASSETS OR OPT TO COME CLEAN NOW ?

A stringent law imposing 120 per cent tax, jail term of up to 10 years and penalty on undisclosed foreign assets and income to deal with the black money menace has been passed recently.

As an assesee how does it concern your financial position and tax liability is discussed below with government providing a ONE-TIME WINDOW FOR THE LIMITED PERIOD TO DISCLOSE SUCH FOREIGN INCOME/ASSETS AND PAY TAX AND PENALTY AT REDUCED RATES.

​

Following information will guide you through the salient features of the new enacted law:

Title of the Act: Black Money(Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act,2015

Objective : To make provisions for undisclosed foreign income and assets, the procedure for dealing with such income and assets and to provide for imposition of tax on any undisclosed foreign income and asset held outside India and for matters connected to the said provisions.

Applicability: As per section 2 of the Act

"assessee" means a person, being a resident other than not ordinarily resident in India within the meaning of clause (6) of section 6 of the Income-tax Act, by whom tax in respect of undisclosed foreign income and assets, or any other sum of money, is payable under this Act and includes every person who is deemed to be an assessee in default under this Act;

That is, an assesee who is a resident of India( in the year in which the said foreign income /asset was earned or acquired) will fall under the purview of this law and in respect of his/her foreign income and assets. Non-residents are not brought under the arena of this Act.

Period: The consequences of non-declaration may arise under the Act at any time in the future when the information of such account comes to the notice of the Assessing Officer.

Compliance: Circular No. 12/2015 : The stringent nature of the provisions in relation to the penalty and the punishment to be levied on the concerned assesees, the government has provided with the one-time compliance opportunity for a limited period.

A declaration as mentioned in section 59 of the Act in respect of any assets located outside India and acquired from income chargeable to tax under Income Tax Act for any assessment year prior to assessment year 2016-17 for which he had either:

Failed to furnish return of income or

Failed to disclose such information in a return furnished before the commencement of the Act or

Such income had escaped assessment by reason of the omission or failure on the part of such person to make a return under the Income tax Act or to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for he assessment or otherwise.

That is, as per the explanatory circular released by the tax authority the person making a declaration under the provisions of the chapter would be liable to pay tax at the rate of 30 % of the value of such undisclosed asset. In addition, he would also be liable to pay penalty at the rate of 100% of such tax i.e. a further 30% of the value of the asset.

Note: The value of the asset on which tax will be levied is to be calculated as per the rules prescribed.

IMPORTANT DATES:

1st July 2015 is the date of enforcement of the Act.

30th September, 2015 is the last date for making the declaration in Form 6 before the designated Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Income Tax (PCIT/CIT)under the one time compliance scheme.

31st December, 2015 is the last date by which the tax and penalty above shall be paid under the said scheme.

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Current Affairs

Govt Announces One Rank One Pension (OROP) Scheme

Unknown 17:24:00

The Government has announced the One Rank One Pension scheme for the Ex-Servicemen. This was announced by the Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar here today. The following is the statement of the Defence Minister:

“Government of India respects its Defence Forces and Ex-Servicemen for their valour, patriotism and sacrifices. The Government is proud of their devotion to duty and bravery. Our forces, besides vigilantly and gallantly defending the nation, have displayed exemplary standards of courage and bravery in natural calamities, law and order situations and other difficult circumstances.

The issue of “One Rank One Pension” (OROP) has been pending for nearly four decades. It is a matter of deep anguish that the various governments remained ambivalent on the issue of OROP. In February 2014, the then Government stated that OROP would be implemented in 2014-15, but did not specify what OROP would be, how it would be implemented or how much it would cost. An estimated Rs. 500 crore provided for OROP in the budget presented in February 2014 by the then government was not based on any thorough analysis. It is pertinent to mention that the then Minister of State for Defence in 2009 had, in reply to a question, informed Parliament that there are administrative, technical and financial difficulties in implementing OROP. It is for these reasons that the present government took some time to fulfil its promise.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has, on various occasions, reiterated the Government’s commitment to implement OROP for Ex-Servicemen under military pension. As stated above, the previous government has estimated that OROP would be implemented with a budget provision of a mere Rs. 500 crore. The reality, however, is that to implement OROP, the estimated cost to the exchequer would be Rs. 8,000 to 10,000 crore at present, and will increase further in future.

The Government held extensive consultations with experts and Ex-Servicemen. The main argument for OROP is that the Defence personnel retire early and thus are not able to get the benefits of serving till normal retirement age. Despite the huge fiscal burden, given its commitment to the welfare of Ex-Servicemen, the Government has taken a decision to implement the OROP.

In simple terms, OROP implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement. Future enhancements in the rates of pension would be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. This implies bridging the gap between the rate of pension of current and past pensioners at periodic intervals.

Under this definition, it has been decided that the gap between rate of pension of current pensioners and past pensioners will be bridged every 5 years.

Under the OROP Scheme:

The benefit will be given with effect from 1st July, 2014. The present government assumed office on 26th May, 2014 and therefore, it has been decided to make the scheme effective from a date immediately after.

Arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments. All widows, including war widows, will be paid arrears in one instalment.

To begin with, OROP would be fixed on the basis of calendar year 2013.

Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners retiring in the same rank and with the same length of service as the average of minimum and maximum pension in 2013. Those drawing pensions above the average will be protected.

Personnel who voluntarily retire will not be covered under the OROP scheme.

In future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years.

It is estimated that the expenditure on arrears alone would be ten to twelve thousand crores of rupees. Apart from the fact that the previous government had provided for only Rs. 500 crore in the budget, it is noteworthy that the Koshiyari Committee had accepted the estimate of Rs. 235 crore as additional financial burden to implement OROP. The present government has accepted OROP in true spirit without being constrained by these inaccurate estimates.

OROP is a complex issue. A thorough examination of interests of retirees of different periods and different ranks is needed. The inter-service issues of the three Forces also require consideration. This is not an administrative matter alone. Therefore, it has also been decided that a One Member Judicial Committee would be constituted which will give its report in six months.

Prime Minister Shri Modi has fulfilled his commitment and approved OROP for Armed Forces personnel. Ministry of Defence will soon issue detailed Government Order.”