CBEC – SERVICE TAX:
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has issued Circular to supersede earlier guidelines for detailed scrutiny of ST-3 Returns to be followed by the Central Excise Officers with effect from 01-08-2015. Preliminary scrutiny to be done Online by the ACES System to ensure completeness of the information furnished in the return and returns having errors will be marked for Review and Correction and thereafter processed by the Range Officers. The list of returns to be taken up for detailed scrutiny would be finalized by the Additional/Joint Commissioner in-charge of the of Division and the Detailed Manual Scrutiny of Service Tax Returns is to be done by range officers headed by the Range Superintendent. The purpose of detailed manual scrutiny of returns is to ensure the correctness of the assessment made by the assessee which includes checking the taxability of the service, the correctness of the value of taxable services, effective rate of tax after taking into account the admissibility of an exemption notification, abatement, or exports, if any etc and main focus shall be on small assessee whose total tax paid (Cash + Cenvat) during Financial Year 2014-15 is less than Rs. 50 Lakhs. Scrutiny process of an assessee should be completed in a period not exceeding 3 months.
CBDT – DTAA
The Government of India has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of the United States of America to improve international tax compliance and to implement FATCA. Signing this agreement with U.S. to implement FATCA, is a very important step for the Government of India, to tackle offshore tax evasion. It reaffirms the Government of India’s commitment to fight the menace of black money. It is hoped that the exchange of information on automatic basis, regarding offshore accounts under FATCA would deter tax offenders, would enhance tax transparency and eventually bring in higher equity in to the direct tax regime which necessary for a healthy economy."
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