Corporate & Professional updates 31st March 2018

Direct Tax:

• Chandigarh ITAT allows Sec. 80IC deduction to assessee-company (running a hotel in Himachal Pradesh under the Eco-tourism project) for AY 2007-08 on account of ‘substantial expansion’ in building, furniture and fixtures; Rejects Revenue’s stand that the expansion in building, furniture and fixtures cannot constitute an investment in plant and machinery for the purpose of reckoning ‘substantial’ expansion’ u/s. 80IC. [TS-145-ITAT-2018(CHANDI)]

• ITAT holds that TP-adjustment towards notional interest on outstanding AE receivable is required to be made for AY 2004-05, notes that credit period extended to AE was higher than credit period extended to non-AEs; Assessee had argued that it did not charge interest to AE as well as non-AE for delayed payments; However, ITAT rejects interest rate of 6.75% applied by TPO based on cost of capital, directs that adjustment should be made using interest rate for export packing credit of 1.92%.   [TS-199-ITAT-2018(Mum)-TP]

• ITAT Kolkata holds that “Initial Intention” of the assessee to decide whether an activity amounts to ‘Trading activity’ or ‘Investment activity’. [I.T.O Vs. M/s Nupur Carpets Pvt. Ltd. (ITAT Kolkata)]

INDIRECT TAX

• 31-3-18 (Saturday) is LAST DATE for eligible assessees to opt for Composition Scheme by filing intimation in Form GST CMP-02 for FY 2018-19.
• The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) extended the time limit for filing of GSTR-1 for both entities who have turnover up to 1.5 crores and more than 1.5 crore.
• Exporters of goods or services or both are hereby informed that they are required to furnish Letter of Undertaking for Financial Year 2018-19 prior to starting issuing export invoices if they opt to export the goods or services or both without payment of tax.

More read:

• Key characteristics for Auto-population of e-invoice
• Overview of Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF) Under QRMP Scheme

RBI updates

• RBI rolled out the regulations to allow cross-border mergers and amalgamation that could boost foreign direct investment into the country. The Foreign Exchange Management (Cross Border Merger) Regulations, 2018, will cover both inbound and outbound investments.

SEBI updates

• SEBI approved changes proposed by the Uday Kotak panel on improving corporate governance standards such as splitting the post of chairman and managing director, tighter rules for independent directors, enhanced disclosure of related-party transactions and mandatory secretarial audits for listed entities & their subsidiaries.

Key Dates:

• Filing of ITR for AY 2017-18: 31.03.2018
• Filing of ITR for AY 2016-17: 31.03.2018

• Filing of GSTR-6 for july 2017-feb-2018 :31.03.2018
• Filing of GSTR-4 for jan-2018-march-2018: 18.04.2018
• Filing of GSTR-1 for feb 2018(turnover more than Rs1.50 cr):10.04.2018