Corporate and Professional Updates on 25th April 2019

Indirect Tax Updates:

• The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has added flexibility into the way a company can utilize the available input tax credit. Any company would now be eligible to use credit available against paid integrated GST (IGST) to set off tax liabilities of state GST (SGST) and central GST (CGST) in any proportion and in any order, the GST Council said in a circular sent to field formations on Tuesday. Previously, the order of using the IGST credit was kept flexible — it was the company’s choice to set off CGST or SGST first — in a notification dated March 29. However, it was not clear whether a company would be able to use IGST credit to set off SGST liability and CGST liability partially at the same time. It was construed that if a company chooses to set off SGST liability first, it would have to exhaust the entire SGST liability before using the IGST credit to set off CGST liability.
• In a circular issued on April 23, the GST Council clarified that the IGST credit can be used in a flexible manner. The mandatory requirement to set off IGST liability remains as it is. Industry and observers have welcomed the move.
• A company has output tax liability of Rs 1,000, Rs 500, and Rs 500 towards IGST, SGST, and CGST, respectively. Let us assume a case where IGST credit of Rs 1,500 is available in the electronic credit ledger for the company at the time of tax payment. According to the GST law, it has to use the IGST credit to pay off the IGST liability first, before using it to discharge SGST or CGST liabilities. This will erase the IGST liability, and reduce the available IGST credit to Rs 500.
• The company can now use this credit to pay off SGST liability completely, or the CGST liability completely, or both CGST and SGST in any proportion it deems proper. It can use half of the available IGST credit to set off SGST liability and the remaining half to set off CGST liability, or it can use Rs 100 to set of SGST liability, and Rs 400 to set off CGST liability, or any other combination.

RBI Updates:

• RBI asks Banks & Financial Institutions to disclose their exposure to the Bankrupt Infra Lender “IL&FS” in their forthcoming earnings announcements and provisions in Q4 accounts. IL&FS and its 348 group companies owe over Rs 94,000 crore, of which over Rs 54,000 crore are owed to banks.
• RBI is likely to lower the Approval Threshold in its revised circular for Resolving Stressed Assets to 66% of lenders by value from the current level of 100%. RBI is also likely to detail the mechanism for the buyout of exposure from banks that is not in compliance with the majority of the lenders on the Resolution Plan, Third-Party Security and Additional Funding.
• RBI sells Entire Stake in NHB & NABARD to Govt. for ₹ 1,470 cr. in total. With this, the Government now holds 100% stake in both these Financial Institutions. The transactions were completed on February 26 and March 19.
• RBI Committee may recommend that all Government Payments & Public Payments to citizens should be made digitally. The move seeks to ensure higher adoption of digital payments among the masses. The RBI panel on digitization is also likely to press for encouraging citizens to pay income tax and challans digitally.

Other Updates:

• Disclose exposure to IL&FS, RBI tells banks
• Customer plaints against banks surge 25% in FY18
• RBI sells entire stake in NHB, Nabard to govt
• FinMin may raise cap on 59-minute loans to Rs 3-5 cr
• CBI’s Look Out Circulars against Bhushan steel boss
• ISB to set up repository to store all public data
• Companies get more time to submit ACTIVE form
• Ipca Labs inks pact to acquire Ramdev Chem for Rs 108.5 cr
• RBI may allow 66% lenders’ approval for resolution of stressed assets
• IndiGo, Tatas protest govt’s basis for allotting Jet Airways slots
• Sebi bars cash-strapped Hotel Leelaventure from asset sale to Brookfield
• SFIO quizzes Deloitte ex-CEO over alleged audit lapses in books of IL&FS
• No change in Bharti Infratel’s Q4 net amid merger with Indus Towers
• ONGC arm delays plan to invest in Iran gas field after US sanctions
• Jalan panel on RBI’s capital size to submit report by June
• Approach SBI, Jet tells UK entrepreneur who evinced interest in buying the airline
• Data on jobs, GDP being analysed with a new set of proxies: CEA
• Govt procures 55.17 lakh tons of wheat so far this year
• Forensic auditors indicate IGIDR used data shared by MCX to develop an ‘algo-trading strategy’
• VRS package may save Rs 1,080 cr in annual salary tab: MTNL chief
• Voda Idea rights issue receives bids for 1109 crore shares: NSE data
• Nasdaq hits record, S&P nears all-time high on upbeat earnings
• Delhi HC allows Alembic, Natco to export Bayer drug for specific purposes
• SBI gets board approval to raise up to $2.5 billion in bonds
• After Lee Fixel exit, Tiger Global prowls for B2B startup deals in India
• Jet Airways says will validate refund claims in 45 days
• Ericsson moves Supreme Court against returning Rs 580 crore to Anil Ambani’s RCom
• UltraTech Cement Q4 net profit at Rs 1,014 crore
• US-based Avaya announces partnership with Standard Chartered bank
• Cyberattacks to cost firms $5.2 trillion in next 5 years: Accenture
• Customer complaints against banks surge 25% to 1.63 lakh in FY18
• Office space worth $35 bn can be listed under REIT: JLL India
• RBI too joins global peers in raising gold bullion reserves
• Non-filers of GST returns to be barred from generating e way bills from June 21
• Rupee falls by 24 paise on strong dollar demand
• Sensex rallies 490 points; Nifty reclaims 11,700-mark
• Self-assessed GST return permitted.

Key Due Dates:

• 20-04-2019 – GSTR-3B for the m/o March 2019.
• 30-04-2019 – GSTR-1 for the quarter ending March 2019 for taxpayers with Annual Aggregate turnover upto than 1.50 Crore.
• 30-04-2019 – Deposit of TDS/TCS for m/o March 2019.
• 30-04-2019 – Furnishing challan-cum-statement in respect of tax deducted u/s 194-IA/194IB in month of March’19
• 30-04-2019 – Due date for uploading declarations received from recipients in Form. 15G/15H during the quarter ending March, 2019.