Corporate and Professional Updates on 12th June 2019

Direct Tax Updates:

• Govt dismisses from service, 12 Senior Income Tax Officers (IRSs), including one of the Joint Commissioner, on charges of corruption and professional misconduct, sexual harassment etc.

Indirect Tax Updates:

• The Finance Ministry said Tuesday the new monthly GST return filing system will be rolled out from October. The rollout is three months behind the schedule. The ministry was originally targeting a July rollout of the new return system as mandated by the GST Council last year. The existing monthly summary returns GSTR-3B shall be completely phased out from January 2020 when the new form ‘GST RET-01’ is set to replace it, the ministry said while announcing the roadmap for ‘Transition plan to the new GST Return’. Elaborating on the system, the Finance Ministry said businesses will be able to use the new return filing system.
• GST ANX-1 (outward supply details) shall be made compulsory and Form GSTR-1 would be replaced by Form GST ANX-1″, the ministry said. Large taxpayers (with aggregate annual turnover over Rs 5 crore in the previous financial year) would upload their monthly Form GST ANX-1 from October 2019 onwards. For October and November, 2019, large taxpayers would continue to file GSTR-3B on monthly basis. They would file their first Form GST RET-01 for the month of December, 2019 by January 20, 2020, the ministry said. However, small taxpayers (with aggregate annual turnover in the previous financial year up to Rs 5 crore would file their first compulsory quarterly Form GST ANX-1 in January 2020 for the quarter October to December, 2019.

SEBI Updates:

• SEBI proposes a mechanism to formalise the process of receiving info., to protect & award such whistle-blowers who expose insider trading violations. The total amount of monetary reward, under certain conditions, could be 10% of the monies collected but shall not exceed Rs 1 crore.

RBI Updates:

• RBI announces that commercial banks need to offer holders of basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) accounts, a minimum of 4 withdrawals in a month, including ATM withdrawals. The rules will come into force from 1 July.
• the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the markets, all one needs to do is follow the ebb and flow of liquidity. Over the past two years, the anger towards the central bank has increased and has pushed it to take a relook at the way it approaches liquidity. In short, an overhaul of the liquidity framework was demanded. The result is that an internal group made of RBI staff will come up with a new framework by mid-July. The task is to simplify liquidity management by spelling out the why, how and what of liquidity. When the central bank’s staff begins to hammer out a new framework, they should keep in mind that more communication is good communication.
• The main demand of markets is that RBI spell out a liquidity stance along with its monetary policy stance. A contrasting stance on policy and liquidity has muddled the message of the central bank to the markets, and the economy has paid the price for it in the past. What RBI needs is to spell out its intentions with liquidity, and target not just the price of money but the quantum as well. It would also not hurt to expand the toolkit to include high-quality corporate bonds as collateral for repo operations.

Other Updates:

• CII chief Vikram Kirloskar calls for tax cut on equities
• Fund transfers via RTGS, NEFT to cost less from July 1
• RBI’s norms to give more headroom to lenders: Report
• Govt defends growth data, says followed global practices
• RIL, BP to develop deepest gas find in KG-D6 block
• Bring down corporate tax to 18 pc sans exemptions: CII
• Excess RBI capital must be used to recap PSBs: Report
• At Rs 40,000 cr, DoT seeks 6% rise in budget to boost rural connectivity
• Crisis-hit DHFL makes Rs 962 cr payment towards non-convertible debentures
• EU anti-trust authority blocks Thyssenkrupp-Tata steel merger plan
• UK unemployment rate at 3.8%, lowest in 45 yrs despite Brexit, slow growth
• Blackstone buys majority stake in Aadhar Housing Finance for Rs 2,200 crore
• New labour legislation to merge 44 laws under 4 groups
• Govt looking at tariff, non-tariff measures to reduce steel imports
• India’s GDP growth overestimated by 2.5%, says former CEA Arvind Subramanian
• Yes Bank reduces stake in Fortis Healthcare by two per cent
• JSW Steel’s crude steel output grows 4% at 14.53 LT in May
• BHEL bags Rs 440 cr order from NPCIL
• MFs reduce exposure to shadow banks by₹67,000 crore since September
• BoB puts Bhushan Power, 66 others accounts on block as NCLT process gets delayed
• Investors cheer as Adani Ports cuts related-party loans, steps up dividends
• WTO reform process should not undermine its basic principles: Piyush Goyal
• Moody’s places Yes Bank’s ratings under review for downgrade
• RBI’s bad loan norms to give more room to lenders to resolve big ticket NPAs
• Reliance to develop deepest gas discovery in KG-D6 block by 2022 jointly with BP
• Dip in tax revenue from revised estimate sharpest in 15 years
• Anil Ambani says Reliance-ADAG has serviced debt over Rs 35,000 crore
• Rupee recovers 21 paise against US dollar
• Auto component industry seeks stable road map for EV transition
• Moody’s puts Yes Bank under rating review
• Auto cos seek support as sales see sharpest decline in 18 yrs
• Indiabulls denies fund diversion charges

Key Due Dates:

• The Due Date of GSTR-3b For the Month Of May is 20th June 2019.
• The Due Dates for the Deposit of TDS/TCS for the Purchase of Property 30th June 2019.\
• Annual Return For Registered Tax Payers is 30th June 2019.