[Taxation Laws Updates] [India]

Central Board of Direct Taxes' Circular No 25 of 2017 dated 23rd October, 2017:-

1. The concept of 'Place of Effective Management' (PoEM) for deciding residency status of a company, other than an Indian company, was introduced in the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) which has become effective from 1st April, 2017, i.e ., Assessment Year 2017-18 onwards.

2. Guiding Principles for determination of PoEM of a company were issued on 24th January, 2017 vide Circular No 06 of 2017. Further, vide Circular No 08 of 2017 dated 23rd February, 2017, it has been clarified that the PoEM provisions shall not apply to a company having turnover or gross receipts of Rs 50 crore or less in a financial year.

Central Board of Excise and Customs' Notification No. 49/2017-Central Tax dated the 18th October, 2017:- In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (g) of sub-rule (2) of rule 89 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 read with notification No. 48/2017-Central Tax, dated the 18th October, 2017, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (i) vide number G.S.R. 1305 (E), dated the 18th October, 2017, the Central Government hereby notifies the following, as detailed in column (2) of the Table below, as evidences which are required to be produced by the supplier of deemed export supplies for claiming refund, namely:-

Director General of Foreign Trade - Public Notice No. 31/2015-2020 dated the 18th October, 2017  regarding Amendments in Chapter-4 of Hand Book of Procedures 2015-2020, related to nominated agencies, is as follows:-

In exercise of powers conferred under Para 2.04 of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020, as amended from time to time, the Director General of Foreign Trade, in public interest, makes the following amendments in Hand Book of Procedures 2015-2020 as under:

1. Para 4.94 (a) is deleted.

Effect of this Public Notice: Power of Regional Authorities of DGFT to issue/renew Nominated Agency Certificates has been removed.

Oct 21, 2017: Some news items have appeared in a section of the media quoting a reply to a Right to Information Act application that Aadhaar number linkage with bank accounts is not mandatory.

The Reserve Bank clarifies that, in applicable cases, linkage of Aadhaar number to bank account is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017 published in the Official Gazette on June 1, 2017.

These Rules have statutory force and, as such, banks have to implement them without awaiting further instructions.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs' Notification dated the 18th October, 2017 is as under:—

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 1 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), the Central Government hereby appoints the 18th October, 2017 as the date on which the provisions of section 247 of the said Act shall come into force.

CBEC Circular No 9/9/2017-GST dated the 18th October, 2017:– In pursuance of clause (91) of section 2 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017) read with section 20 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (13 of 2017) and subject to sub-section (2) of section 5 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the Board, hereby specifies the Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner, having jurisdiction over the place declared as address in the application for enrolment as Goods and Service Tax Practitioner in FORM GST PCT-1 submitted in terms of sub-section (1) of section 48 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 read with sub-rule (2) of rule 83 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017 as the officer authorized to approve or reject the said application.

CBEC Circular No. 10/10/2017-GST dated 18th October, 2017:– Various communications have been received particularly from the suppliers of jewellery etc. who are registered in one State but may have to visit other States (other than their State of registration) and need to carry the goods (such as jewellery) along for approval. In such cases if jewellery etc. is approved by the buyer, then the supplier issues a tax invoice only at the time of supply. Since the suppliers are not able to ascertain their actual supplies beforehand and while ascertainment of tax liability in advance is a mandatory requirement for registration as a casual taxable person, the supplier is not able to register as a casual taxable person. It has also been represented that such goods are also carried within the same State for the purposes of supply. Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under section 168 (1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, for the purpose of uniformity in the implementation of the Act, it has been decided to clarify this matter as follows -

CBEC Notification No. 48/2017–Central Tax dated the 18th October, 2017:– In exercise of the powers conferred by section 147 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017), the Central Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby notifies the supplies of goods listed in column (2) of the Table below as deemed exports, namely:-

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 164 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017), the Central Government has made and notified the Central Goods and Services Tax (Tenth Amendment) Rules, 2017, further to amend the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

Central Board of Excise and Customs' Notification No. 47/2017 – Central Tax dated the 18th October, 2017 – Link

Vide Finance Act, 2017, a new clause (ab) was inserted in sub-section (1) of section 12A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’) w.e.f 01.04.2018 to the effect that where a trust or an institution, which has been granted registration under sections 12A or 12AA of the Act has subsequently adopted or undertaken modification of the objects and such modification does not conform to the conditions of such registration, then such trust or institution shall be required to obtain registration again by making an application within a period of thirty days from the date of such adoption or modification of the objects. (source)

Ministry of Corporate Affairs' notification dated the 18th October, 2017: In exercise of the powers conferred by section 247 read with sections 458, 459 and 469 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), the Central Government has made and notified the Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules, 2017, which shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

The Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules, 2017 - Link

It doesn’t hurt to get more education”, the words many Americans have heard from the future Presidential nominee Donald Trump, but is it possible under his leadership now? And what will Trump really do with an educational system of the USA? Many Americans started asking these questions after President’s speech about eliminating the Department of Education completely on national television before he was actually elected.

Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India and the Government of United Arab Emirates (UAE) to mobilise long term investment into National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), the first investment agreement between NIIF Master Fund and a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) has been signed today(16-Oct-2017). The investment from ADIA Group would be 1 billion USD. (Source)

16-Oct-2017: In the recent past there have been reports in the media that APMCs in Nasik, Maharashtra such as Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon, etc. may remain close for a period of 7-9 days during the Diwali Festival. To ensure that the supplies of essential commodities are maintained in consumer interest, the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India took this up with the Government of Maharashtra. (Source)

CBEC, PR, 17th October 2017: In order to clear the pendency of cases as on 30th June 2017 before the Commissioners of Central Excise and Service Tax (Appeals), the CBEC will redistribute the cases pending in the jurisdiction of a Principal Chief Commissioner / Chief Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, among other Commissioner rank officers posted in that jurisdiction.

Notification 26/2017-Central Excise (NT) dated 17-Oct-2017 and circular 208/6/2017-Service Tax dated 17-Oct-2017 have been issued regarding redistribution of cases pending with Commissioner (Appeals) as on 30-Jun-2017.

SEBI vide circular no. SEBI/HO/MRD/DSA/CIR/P/2017/117 dated October 17, 2017 notified some amendments to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (International Financial Services Centres) Guidelines, 2015, which is as below.

1. Kindly refer to SEBI (IFSC) Guidelines, 2015 notified by SEBI on March 27, 2015 and SEBI Circular SEBI/HO/CIR/P/2017/85 dated July 27, 2017 amending these guidelines.

2. In order to further streamline the operations at IFSC, based on the internal discussions and consultations held with the stakeholders, it has been decided to further amend Guideline 8(2) which shall now read as follows:

“8 (2) Any entity based in India or in a foreign jurisdiction may form a company in IFSC to act as a trading member of a stock exchange and/or a clearing member of a clearing corporation in IFSC.”

Ministry of Labour and Employment's Notice dated 10th October 2017 regarding Formulation of National Policy for Domestic Workers, is as follows:-

1. It is hereby informed that the Ministry of Labour & Employment) Government of India is considering to formulate a National Policy for Domestic Workers.

2. Broadly, the policy proposes to cover the following:

[Securities Laws] [Country: India]

SEBI, vide circular SEBI/HO/CDMRD/DMP/CIR/P/2017/116 dated October 16, 2017 to all Commodity Derivatives Exchanges, has specified broad guidelines for deciding appropriate settlement mode for commodity derivatives contracts. The contents of the said circular is as follows:

1. In order to effectively discharge their hedging function, commodity derivative contracts must be anchored to their respective underlying physical markets. An appropriate settlement mode and/or presence of other supporting conditions play a crucial role in ensuring convergence of prices between the derivatives market and the spot market.

Central Board of Excise and Customs Notification No. 38/2017 – Central Tax (Rate) dated the 13th October, 201:-

1. In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 11 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017), the Central Government, on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby makes the following amendment in the notification of the Government of India, in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), No.8/2017- Central Tax (Rate), dated the 28th June, 2017, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (i), vide number G.S.R. 680(E), dated the 28th June, 2017, namely:-

In the said notification, the proviso under Paragraph 1 shall be omitted.