GST:

Central Government has issued Notification, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby waives the late fee payable under section 47 of the said Act, for all registered persons who failed to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the month of July, 2017 by the due date.

GST

The finance ministry has notified the rules for e-way bill which requires online pre-registration of goods before transportation under the new GST regime. The date of implementation of the e-way bill mechanism would be notified separately. Under the e-way mechanism, all goods worth over Rs 50,000 will have to be pre-registered online before they are moved for sale beyond 10 km. GST-exempted goods have been kept out of the purview of e-way bill. As per the e-way bill notification, the supplier or the transporter would not be required to furnish the e-way bill in case the goods are transported for a distance of less than 10 km within the state or Union territory from the place of business of the consignor to the place of business of the transporter for further transportation. The permits issued would be valid for one day for movement of goods for 100 km and in same proportion for following days. The e-way provisions would not be applicable where the goods are being transported from the port, airport, air cargo complex and land customs station to an inland container depot or a container freight station for clearance by Customs. Also exempted are where specified goods like animals, vegetable, fruits, currency, used household items are being transported or where the goods are being transported by a non-motorised conveyance.

CBDT:

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, has extended the ‘due date’ from 30th September, 2017 to 31st October,2017 in respect of all Assessees’ covered under of Section 139(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act i.e Tax Audit Returns. The ‘due-date’ prescribed therein for filing the return of income as well as various reports of audit prescribed under the Income-tax Act. The CBDT has extended the date to allow sufficient time to the assessees’ and tax professionals, and thus, facilitate their ease of compliance with statutory responsibilities under various fiscal laws like Goods and Services Tax (‘GST’) which has come into effect on 01.07.2017. In recent days, dates for filing various returns and forms under GST have been extended by the Government.

GST

The Schedule to the Goods and Service Tax (GST) (Compensation to States) Act 2017, specifies the maximum rate at which Goods and Service Tax Compensation Cess may be collected. In respect of motor vehicles, the maximum rate, at which Goods and Service Tax Compensation Cess may be collected, is 15%. Consequent to the GST Council’s recommendation, the Cabinet on 30th August, 2017 has approved promulgation of an ordinance to suitably amend the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, so as to increase the maximum rate, at which the Compensation cess can be levied from 15% to 25% on motor vehicles (SUV) for transport of not more than thirteen persons, including the driver. However, there is no change in the effective rates of Compensation cess on specified motor vehicles.

Annual Membership Fees of ICSI (Last Day)

The Annual Membership and Certificate of Practice fee for the year 2017-18 becomes due for payment w.e.f. 1st April, 2017 and extended last date for payment of the same is 31st August, 2017. Members are requested to pay the fee before the last date. The Certificate of Practice fee must be accompanied by an application for renewal of Certificate of Practice in the revised Form-D duly completed in all respects and signed for renewal of Certificate of practice for the year 2017-18. The annual membership fee for ACS : Rs. 1,500/- (admitted on or after 01.04.2015)and Rs. 2,500/- for others, for FCS : Rs. 3,000/- and certificate of practice fee is Rs. 1,500/- (admitted on or after 01.04.2015) and Rs. 2,000/- for others. Fees can be paid by cash / cheque / DD in favour of “The Institute of Company Secretaries of India” or Fees can be paid be paid online after login. GST@18% to be levied over and above the prescribed fee of Membership & COP Renewal fee w.e.f 01-07-2017.

ICSI – Secretarial Standards

Secretarial Standards on Meetings of the Board of Directors (SS -1) and General Meetings (SS – 2) have now been revised by ICSI and the same have been approved by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on 14th June, 2017. The revised SS-1 and SS-2 shall be applicable to all the companies (except the exempted class of companies) w.e.f. 1st October, 2017 and accordingly all Board Meetings (including meetings of committees of Board) and General Meetings in respect of which Notices are issued on or after 1st October, 2017 need to comply with the revised SS-1 and SS-2. The existing SS-1 and SS-2 will be applicable to the Board Meetings and General Meetings held on or before 30th September, 2017. Revisions in Secretarial Standards (SS-1 & SS-2) have been made considering Companies (Amendment) Act, 2015 and amendments to the Rules notified by MCA, Exemption Notification(s) issued by MCA dated 5th June 2015, Feedback received from members on practical difficulties that emerged during the first time implementation of Secretarial Standards. ICSI has also come out with the FAQ’s on Revised Secretarial Standards.

The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885

The Central Government, has notified the rules to prevent the tampering of Mobile Device Equipment Identification Number which may be called as the prevention of tampering of the Mobile Device Equipment Identification Number, Rules, 2017 and shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette. The ‘Mobile Device Equipment Identification Number’ means an unique international mobile equipment identity number (IMEI) or electronic serial number (ESN) or any other number or signal – that identifies a unique mobile wireless communication device or for the purposes has the same function and purposes as specified above. Further, It shall be unlawful, if a person, except the manufacturer intentionally removes, obliterates, change, or alter unique Mobile Device Equipment Identification Number or intentionally use, produce, traffic in, have control or custody of, or possess hardware or software, knowing it has been configured as specified above.

News from NIRC of ICSI

Today, NIRC of ICSI is organising an One Day Seminar on Contemporary Issues Under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) on 31st August, 2017, from 9.00 AM onwards, at Hotel Holiday Inn, 13A, Mayur Vihar, District Centre, Delhi 11 00 91 (Near New Ashok Nagar Metro Station). Fee: Rs.1600/- per delegate inclusive of GST; FREE for Corporate Members of NIRC. The fee may also be paid through Paytm. Credit Hour:04

Annual Membership Fees of ICSI (Last 2 Days)

The Annual Membership and Certificate of Practice fee for the year 2017-18 becomes due for payment w.e.f. 1st April, 2017 and extended last date for payment of the same is 31st August, 2017. Members are requested to pay the fee before the last date. The Certificate of Practice fee must be accompanied by an application for renewal of Certificate of Practice in the revised Form-D duly completed in all respects and signed for renewal of Certificate of practice for the year 2017-18. The annual membership fee for ACS : Rs. 1,500/- (admitted on or after 01.04.2015)and Rs. 2,500/- for others, for FCS : Rs. 3,000/- and certificate of practice fee is Rs. 1,500/- (admitted on or after 01.04.2015) and Rs. 2,000/- for others. Fees can be paid by cash / cheque / DD in favour of “The Institute of Company Secretaries of India” or Fees can be paid be paid online after login. GST@18% to be levied over and above the prescribed fee of Membership & COP Renewal fee w.e.f 01-07-2017.

RBI

The government has notified the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act which may come into force from 4th day of May, 2017 and the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 is hereby repealed. According to the Amendments, the Government now can authorise the RBI to issue directions to banks to initiate insolvency resolution process to recover bad loans. Earlier this month, Parliament had approved the Act, which replaced an ordinance in this regard. The government in May had promulgated an ordinance authorising the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue directions to banks to initiate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Under the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2017, the RBI can issue directions to banks for resolution of stressed assets. The RBI can specify authorities or committees to advise banks on resolution of stressed assets. The members on the committees will be appointed or approved by the RBI. Further, “default” has the same meaning assigned to it in clause (12) of section 3 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

CBEC – Customs

The CBEC has issued the process for Electronic Sealing for Containers by exporters under self-sealing procedure which has been approved by the Board. The exporters who were availing sealing at their factory premises under the system of supervised factory stuffing, will be automatically entitled for self-sealing procedure. All exporter AEOs will also be eligible for self-sealing. It is clarified that all those exporters who are already operating under the self-sealing procedure need not approach the jurisdiction Customs authorities for the self-sealing permission. The permission to self-seal the export goods from a particular premise, under the revised procedure, once granted shall be valid unless withdrawn by the competent authority. Under the new procedure, the exporter will be obligated to declare the physical serial number of the e-seal at the time of filing the online integrated shipping bill or in the case of manual shipping bill before the container is dispatched for the designated port/ICD/LC. The electronic seal shall be an "RFID tamper proof one-time-bolt seal", each bearing a unique serial number. The exporters shall be responsible for procuring the seals at their own cost for use in self-sealing. The new self-sealing procedure shall come into effect from 1st Oct, 2017. Till then the existing procedure shall continue.

News from NIRC of ICSI

NIRC of ICSI will be organising an One Day Seminar on Contemporary Issues Under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) on Thursday, the 31st August, 2017, from 9.00 AM onwards, at Hotel Holiday Inn, 13A, Mayur Vihar, District Centre, Delhi 11 00 91 (Near New Ashok Nagar Metro Station). Fee: Rs.1600/- per delegate inclusive of GST; FREE for Corporate Members of NIRC. The fee may also be paid through Paytm. Credit Hour:04

DIPP – Consolidated FDI Policy:

With an intent and objective to attract and promote foreign direct investment in order to supplement domestic capital, technology and skills, for accelerated economic growth, the Government has put in place a policy framework on Foreign Direct Investment, which is transparent, predictable and easily comprehensible. This framework is embodied in the Circular on Consolidated FDI Policy, which may be updated every year, to capture and keep pace with the regulatory changes, effected in the interregnum. The regulatory framework, over a period of time, thus, consists of Acts, Regulations, Press Notes, Press Releases, Clarifications, etc. The present consolidation subsumes and supersedes all Press Notes/Press Releases / Clarifications/ Circulars issued by DIPP, which were in force as on August 27, 2017 and reflects the FDI Policy as on August 28, 2017. This Circular accordingly will take effect from August 28, 2017 and will remain in force until superseded in totality or in part thereof. Reference to any statute or legislation made in this Circular shall include modifications, amendments or re-enactments thereof.

GST

The Ministry of Finance has issued a circular relating to the clarification on the classification and GST rate on lottery tickets. In regards to the references being received by the assesses for their inability to upload the return due to discrepancy in code allotted, i.e., lottery is defined as goods but code allotted for lottery is under services, it is clarified that lottery is goods and the classification for lottery in respective CGST, IGST, UTGST and SGST notifications shall be ‘Any Chapter’ of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975) and tax on lottery should be paid accordingly at prescribed rates, 12% or 28%, as the case may be.

News from NIRC of ICSI

NIRC of ICSI will be organising an One Day Seminar on Contemporary Issues Under Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) on Thursday, the 31st August, 2017, from 9.00 AM onwards, at Hotel Holiday Inn, 13A, Mayur Vihar, District Centre, Delhi 11 00 91 (Near New Ashok Nagar Metro Station). Fee: Rs.1600/- per delegate inclusive of GST; FREE for Corporate Members of NIRC. The fee may also be paid through Paytm. Credit Hour:04

MCA – SFIO:

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) now has powers to arrest people for violations of companies law, with the government notifying relevant provisions amid the crackdown on illicit fund flows. The ministry has notified the Companies (Arrests in connection with Investigation by Serious Fraud Investigation Office) Rules, 2017 pertaining to arrests in connection with Investigation by the SFIO and they came into effect from August 24. The director as well as additional or assistant director level officials at the SFIO can arrest a person if they believe he or she is guilty of any offence with regard to the case being probed, the ministry said in a notification. According to the ministry, the reason for arrest should be recorded in writing, however, in case of an arrest being made by additional director or assistant director, the prior written approval of the director SFIO shall be obtained. The SFIO director would be the competent authority for all decisions pertaining to arrest. Further, the arrest of a person in connection with a government or a foreign company under investigation can be made by the SFIO only with prior written approval of the central government. Besides, such arrest should be intimated to the managing director or the person in-charge of the affairs of the government company.

MCA – NCLAT

MCA has notified the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (Amendment) Rules, 2017 which shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette. Rule 63 of the Rules have been amended w.r.t Appearance of authorised representative before the NCLAT. Apart from the existing authorisation to representatives of the petitioners and respondents, provisions have been inserted for the Central Government, the Regional Director or the Registrar Companies or Official Liquidator which may authorise an officer or an Advocate represent in the proceedings before the Appellate Tribunal and the officer authorised by any of such agencies shall be an officer not below the rank of Junior Time Scale or company prosecutor.

MCA:

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, has constituted two Review Committee(s)for reviewing the 10 year old and above cases of different regions and in Office of SFIO for withdrawal of prosecutions. Pursuant to a reference received from the Hon’ble Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & IT, Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad regarding reducing the arrears and backlog of cases in courts and the need to review all pending court cases, a Special Arrears Clearance Drive is initiated in the Ministry. Keeping in view the above, Ministry has decided to constitute two Committees at Head Quarter which will review the cases under their jurisdiction. The Committees would review and recommend the details of cases in which prosecutions are required to be withdrawn including the reports submitted by the Regional Director(s).

SEBI:

SEBI has notified Securities and Exchange Board of India (Depositories and Participants) (Second Amendment)Regulations, 2017, which shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. In Regulation 58 which is relating to Manner of creating pledge or hypothecation, for sub-regulation (3), shall be substituted with new clause. Now within fifteen days of receipt of the application, the depository shall after concurrence of the pledgee through its participant, create and record the pledge and send an intimation of the same to the participants of the pledger and the pledgee.

News from NIRC of ICSI

NIRC of ICSI is organising a Mega Program on the theme “Capital Market of New India : The Reform Agenda for Inclusive Growth” on Saturday, the 29th July, 2017 from 10.00 AM onwards at Hotel Le-Meridien, Janpath, New Delhi. Fee: Rs. 2,000/-per delegate inclusive of service tax; FREE for Corporate Members of NIRC; Program Credit Hours: 04.ou received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CS Updates" group.

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MCA:

MCA has received requests from stakeholders to clarify the financial year(s) in respect of which the requirements of reporting under section 143(3)(i) of the Companies Act 2013 shall not apply to certain private companies as exempted through notification dated 13-06-2017, shall be applicable. MCA has clarified that exemption to private companies as provided in respect of Auditors’ Report on internal financial control, shall be applicable for those audit reports in respect of financial statements pertaining to financial years commencing on or after 1stApril, 2016, which are made on or after the date of the said notification.

CBEC – Customs:

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has decided to extend the Single Window Interface for Facilitation of Trade(SWIFT) in Exports with WCCB to all EDI locations. Earlier this year, SWIFT was extended on export side to online clearance for CITES/ wild life items on pilot basis at Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi Air Cargo Complexes. Under this procedure, Shipping Bills filed on ICEGATE or through the Service Centre were referred online to the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) for a ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC), if any required for CITES/wildlife items. It has now been decided to extend online referral of WCCB to all Customs EDI locations with effect from 31st July, 2017. The mapping of Customs EDI locations to WCCB offices shall remain the same as it was for imports. The Local System Managers of ICES shall map the roles in ICES to the respective officers from WCCB. These roles have been defined as part of the SW NOC module in Exports and are outlined in the user manual developed by DG (Systems).

RBI:

The Cabinet has approved a framework to speed up mergers of public sector banks, the first of which could take place by March. The mergers will not involve any cash but only share swaps. The government also said there would be no job losses after any of the mergers. The Cabinet has given in-principle approval for Public Sector Banks to amalgamate through an Alternative Mechanism (AM). The decision would facilitate consolidation among the Nationalised Banks to create strong and competitive banks, however the decision would be solely based on commercial considerations. The proposal must start from the Boards of Banks and then shall be placed before the Alternative Mechanism (AM). After in-principle approval, the Banks will take steps in accordance with law and SEBI’s requirements. The final scheme will be notified by Central Government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India.

GST

GST Authorities have issued clarification w.r.t Selling of space for advertisement in print media on the basis of the queries being raised regarding GSTapplicability on the same. Selling of space for advertisement in print media is leviable to GST @ 5%.If the advertisement agency works on principal to principal basis, that is, buys space from the newspaper and sells such space for advertisement to clients on its own account, that is, as a principal, it would be liable to pay GST @5% on the full amount charged by advertisement agency from the client. On the other hand, if the advertisement agency sells space for advertisement as an agent of the newspaper on commission basis, it would be liable to pay GST@ 18% on the sale commission it receives from the Newspaper. ITC of GST paid on such sale commission would be available to Newspaper. However, if the advertisement agency supplies any service other than selling of space for advertisement, such as designing or drafting the advertisement, and such supply is not a part of any composite supply, the same would be liable to tax @18%. If such supplies are part of any composite supply, the rate applicable for the principal supply shall apply. It has been clarified that, everything depends on the terms of the contract between the newspaper, advertisement agency and the client and GST shall be levied accordingly.

News from NIRC of ICSI

NIRC is celebrating CSBF Week from 21st August, 2017 to 26th August, 2017. On 26th August, 2017, a Cultural Evening dedicated to CSBF being organised by NIRC-ICSI from 6 PM onwards at Airforce Auditorium, Subroto Park, New Delhi. Live performance by Bollywood Singer Tarun Sagar & Performance by Song & Drama Division, Ministry of I & B. Free for members who become member of CSBF at the venue of the cultural evening or Donate Rs. 7,500/- to CSBF at the venue. Free for Corporate Members of NIRC. Fee for others : Rs. 600/-.

Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005

Ministry of Finance has notified further amendments to the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, which may be called the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Third Amendment Rules, 2017 which shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. New proviso in rule 2(1)(fb)(iii), has been inserted, namely:-“Provided that this limit on balance shall not be considered while making deposits through government grants, welfare benefits and payment against procurement”.

GST

The Central Government on the recommendations of the Council has notified amendments in the notification of the Government of India, in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), No.10/2017- Integrated Tax (Rate), dated the 28th June, 2017. It has been notified that the “Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)” formed and registered under the provisions of the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 shall also be considered as a partnership firm or a firm”.