P N Joshi & Co.Chartered Accountants

Dear All,
If you are thinking of Retirement Planning Investment then look at this PPF option (Public Provident Fund) & understand why I am saying it

Advantage -
1.PPF is 15 years account.One must deposit every year for a minimum of 15 years.You can deposit minimum of 500 per year to maximum of 150000 in it.( If you think even 500 to be high at one time you can also deposits 42 per month)

2.The amount invested in PPF is eligible for deduction under Income Tax (sec.80C)

3.The interest rate in PPF is 8.1% per annum (I think far better than Fixed Deposit option)

4.The entire interest earned is exempt from Income Tax (Interest on FD is taxable)

5.No court of law in India has the power to order attachment of balance in PPF account(Good if bad day fails on someone)

6.You can get loan from bank on PPF balance .

7.Very much secure than mutual fund or SIP option ( If you are risk adverse)

8.if you are thinking fund will be block for 15 years then you can withdraw from PPF starting from seventh year.
Also govt has allowed premature closure of for reasons like treatment of serious ailments or life threating disease or for higher education of minor .

8.I suggest immediately after reading this post please go & get PPF account opened .WHY so early .one more advantage is that PPF account follows the fiscal year so if you open account before 31st March one year over on31st march & only 14 years will be left..

FINAL GST SLAB RATES OUT -
Slabs Fixed At 5%,12%,18% & 28%

Dear All,
As per the latest circular dated 1st July 2016 issued by the Director General of Police ( Maharashtra) , any consumers or flat purchasers aggrieved against the builders for not giving the possession of flats in time as per the agreement and as per the provisions of Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963 or any other violation of MOFA, 1963 including not giving conveyance , not guving OC or not forming society etc can file an FIR in the nearest police station and all the police station has been advised to take the necessary FIR against such erring or defaulting developers and builders..
All are requested to take the full advantage of this latest circular issued by the police department.

Today 15.04.2016 is the due date of e payment of Provident Fund for the month of March 2016.
No Grace Period of 5 days available

The CBDT has issued an Office Memorandum dated 07.03.2016 stating that in view of the large volume of pending refunds which are subject to proceedings u/s 245 and the timeline of 30 days for responding to the notice allowed to the assessee and the same time period allowed to the assessing officer to confirm/ correct the demand, it is taking too long for the demand to be verified and the refunds to be issued, leading to rise of grievances. With a view to clear the pendency of refunds which are subject to verification under section 245, the CBDT has been decided that the timeline of 30 days for the assessee and the assessing officer specified in the O.M. dated 29.01.2016 may be reduced to 15 days with regard to the notices under section 245 to be issued in the balance period of the current financial year. This is a one-time measure to clear the backlog of refunds and accordingly the reduced timeline of 15 days shall be valid only till 31.03.2016

BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

•Relief to small taxpayers, measures for moving towards pension society, reducing litigation, simplification of taxation

•Ceiling of tax rebate at Rs.5,000 for income less than Rs.5 lakh

•Relief to people living in rented houses—Deduction for rent paid will be raised from Rs.20,000 to Rs.60,000 to benefit those living in rented houses

•Presumptive taxation schemes—to increase turnover limit to Rs.2 crore—relief for many in MSME category

•Extend presumptive taxation scheme to all professionals with gross receipts up to Rs.50 lakh

•Corporate tax rate reduction should be calibrated with benefits of phasing out exemptions

•Corporate tax rate for establishments with turnover less than Rs.5 crore lowered to 29% of surcharge plus cess

•Make in India—100% deduction of profits for start-ups adhering to certain conditions; MAT will apply

•To implement GAAR from 1 April 2017

•To reduce customs duty on refrigerated containers

•Exemptions for braille paper

•Pension society—Exemption of service tax for NPS, EPFO to employees

•Affordable housing—100% deduction on profits for flats up to 30 sq.m in metro cities from 2016-19; MAT will apply

•First-time home buyers—relief on housing loans for up to Rs.50 lakh

•Surcharge on luxury cars costing more than Rs.10 lakh

•0.5% Krishi Kalyan surcharge cess on all taxable services from 1 June 2016, to be given to agriculture development

•Environment—Pollution cess on all vehicles

•To impose additional duty on jewellery

•Change excise duty on branded ready-made garments

•Revive clean energy cess on coal, others

•Increase duty on to***co products (other than beedi) by 10-15%

Reducing litigation:

•Tax evasion will be countered strongly

•Limited period compliance window to declare undisclosed income

•Black money—3 lakh tax cases pending before authority—a new dispute resolution scheme will be set up where taxpayer can settle case by paying disputed tax and interest with certain conditions

•On retrospective tax amendments—committed to providing stable tax regime; committee will be chaired by revenue secretary

•One-time scheme for dispute resolution for pending retrospective tax amendment case

•Justice Easwar committee recommendation—abolishing 13% cesses levied by various ministries

•Rationalizing TDS provisions for income tax

•Non-residents without PAN—higher rate won’t apply on furnishing alternate ID

•To amend customs act

Highlights of Railway Budget

1. No hike in passenger fares.
2. Action has been initiated on 139 budget announcements made last year.
3 Eliminate all unmanned level crossings by 2020.
4 Swacch Bharat: 17000 biotoilets and additional toilets in 475 stations before the close of this financial year.
5 Increased quota for senior citizens and women travellers this year.
6 Wifi at 100 stations this year and 400 stations next year.
7 Enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system from 2,000 tickets/min to 7,200/min. Supporting 1.2 lakh concurrent users now, as opposed to 40,000 earlier.
8 All major stations to be brought under CCTV surveillance in a phased manner.
9 Deen Dayal coaches for long distance trains for unreserved passengers. These coaches will include potable water and higher number of mobile charging points.
10 IRCTC to manage catering service in phased manner. Local cuisine of choice will be made available to passengers.
11 Cleaning of toilets by requests through SMS.
12 Children's menu, baby foods, baby boards to be made available for travelling mothers.
13 GPS-based digital display in coaches for showing upcoming stations.
14 Will open cancellation facility through 139 helpline number.
15 Introduce bar-coded tickets on pilot basis to tackle menace of ticketless travel

Recent Updates from VAT : As per Trade Circular 5 T of 2016,Refund Claims of the Dealer shall be processed & eligible refund should be granted within 45 days of filing Audit Report & if application for the same has been filed before due date of filing audit report.

Updates : Last date for filing for Income Tax Return for Financial Year 2013-2014 is on 31.03.2016.
If you haven't file your return get it filed before 31.03.2016.After that your return for Financial Year 2013-14 will be time barred & you can not file return thereafter.

FYI - An opportunity to file 6 year ITR where TDS remain unclaimed.

Presently , An Assessee Can only file return for last 2 years and claim refund if any due and not beyond that. In case he missed to file return within prescribe timeline he has no choice other than to forget his refund claim. Income Tax Department in Latest circular No 9/ 2015 has guided on how an assessee who has failed to file return and claim Refund according to section 119(2) (B) can now make an application and get Refund due up to last 6 Assessment years.

STEP ONE : FILE AN APPLICATION

In case the amount is less than Rs 10 Lacs CsIT for any one assessment year. The Application shall be made to the Pr.CsIT/CIT. CIT will review the application & communicate with reason acceptance/rejection of such applications/claims.--In case the amount is more than Rs 10 Lacs the Application to be made to Chief Commissioner of Income Tax--In case the amount is more than Rs 50 Lacs then to CBDT.

STEP TWO ; MAY FILE UPTO 6 YEARS

Condonation Application can be file up to six previous years---Even Loss can be Claimed for Carry forward---The officer will be ensured that the income/loss declared and /or refund claimed is correct and genuine and also that the case is of genuine hardship on merits.

STEP THREE; CLEARENCE FROM AUTHORTIES

The power of accepting or rejecting the Condonation Application of Delay shall be subject to following Condition that The Income of Assessee is not assessable in the hands of other person under any provision of Income Tax Act. Further No Interest will be admissible on belated claim of Refunds and The Refund has arisen due to excess payment of Advance Tax or Self-Assessment Tax or due to excess deduction of TDS.
STEP FOUR ; SUPPLEMENTARY CLAIMS

A belated application for supplementary claim of refund (claim of additional amount of refund after completion of assessment for the same year) can be admitted for condonation provided other conditions as referred above are fulfilled. Assessee will not receive interest on belated claim of refunds.

STEP FIVE: CUMULATIVE ITEREST BEYOND SIX YEARS

In the case of 8% Savings (Taxable) Bonds, 2003 issued by Government of India opting for scheme of cumulative interest on maturity but has accounted interest earned on mercantile basis and the intermediary bank at the time of maturity has deducted tax at source on the entire amount of interest paid without apportioning the accrued interest/TDS, over various financial years involved, the time limit of six years for making such refund claims will not be applicable -