25th GST Meeting- Making GST Business-compliant

By Mayank Agarwal (finserv@vinodkothari.com)

The 25th meeting of the GST Council held on 18th January, 2018 has shown that the Government has not turned a blind eye to the pleas of the industry and is willing to cooperate with them to make GST a more simplified and business-compliant structure of the Indirect Taxation System.

The amount of GST revenue for the month of December reflected a reversal in trend for the first time since its inception, recording an increase in the revenue generated. However, there were still widespread concerns about the alarmingly low collection under the Composition Scheme. Hence, amendments to the Composition Scheme structure and the guidelines relating to the implementation of E-Way Bill took the centre stage during the meeting.

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Cracking the ‘Bitcoin’ nut this Budget Session

Vallari Dubey & Saloni Mathur

finserv@vinodkothari.com
corplaw@vinodkothari.com

Introduction

In the words of Mr. Nassim Nicolas Talib, “Bitcoin is the beginning of something great, a currency without a government, something necessary and imperative.” Read more

GST Council brings down the rate of GST on used cars, besides others

By Abhirup Ghosh, (abhirup@vinodkothari.com, finserv@vinodkothari.com)

The GST Council met for the 25th time on 18th January, 2018 to modify the GST law in order to tackle the difficulties being faced in the market. The Council recommended several changes to the law among and one of the change that has can cause a significant impact on the vehicle industry is reduction of rate of tax on sale or purchase of used motor vehicles. Read more

GST and CSR Expenditure

Vallari Dubey

finserv@vinodkothari.com

 

Introduction

Indian companies, especially public and listed companies are actively engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) activities. Moreover, since the introduction of Companies Act, 2013, the law has mandated compulsory CSR expenditure for a specific class of companies. In the recent months, with the advent of GST, life of corporates has experienced all sorts of challenges in terms of operational flexibility and cost. One such aspect that has not been shed much light on, is the impact of GST on CSR activities and expenditure thereon by the companies. To understand this better, we take a scenario of donating water purifiers as part of a Company’s CSR policy. In this article, we try to detail out the analysis of such scenario by studying the provisions of GST and Companies Act, 2013. Read more

FAQs on GST on Directors’ Remuneration

By Ankit Bhalotia ,gst@vinodkothari.com

The GST law, introduced with effect from 1st July, 2017, makes a major rejig in the indirect tax system in the country. With its introduction, several concepts have been brought up, playing with the minds of the people. One such concept that has created havoc is the reverse charge mechanism and its viding applicability. Services of director i.e. sitting fees, commission has been covered under the Government notified services on which the tax would be payable on reverse charge.

Following are the some of the pertaining questions answered in respect of GST on Director Services Read more

FAQs on impact of GST on financial services, by Financial Services Division, 24th May, 2017

  1. What is the meaning of financial services?

Financial services have no meaning ascribed to it under the GST regime. However, for the purpose of this write up, by financial services, we mean any supply of goods or services by a person to another person, meant for the purpose of extending credit support. This includes, but is not limited to the following: Read more

Section 94B: Thin capitalization rules may impede operations of NBFCs, by Nidhi Bothra & Kanishka Jain, 24th May, 2017

Genesis of the thin capitalization rules

The genesis of the thin capitalization rules lies in the distinction between tax treatment of debt and equity.  A company typically finances its projects either through equity and debt or mixture of both, equity being costly in terms of cost and ownership is less attractive than the debt financing where interest is a deductible expense. Debt is not only less expensive to service, it also reduces tax liabilities and enhances return on equity.

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Legal Implication of Business Transfer Agreement, by Legal Team, on 22nd May, 2017

Business restructuring is a comprehensive process be it financial or technological or market or organisational. There are various modes by way of which it can take place such as re-organisation of capita, compromise/arrangement, merger/amalgamation, demerger, acquisition/takeover, slump sale, strategic alliance and such other similar modes. The primary motive behind undertaking any such rearrangement would be to prosper both in size and profits. The corporate restructuring process can be either be by any of the much traversed gradual way or a much faster way of selling off the business undertaking. Read more