VIA Taxation & Corporate Law Forum organized “Making March Meaningful†for creating awareness for better tax compliances. Expert speakers of the program Adv Kapil Hirani for Income Tax, CA Mahendra Jain, Past Chairman of Sales Tax Bar Association, Nagpur on Indirect Taxes (GST) & CA Omprakash Bagdia, Past Chairman of Nagpur Branch of WIRC of ICAI, Nagpur on Company Laws & Precautions Banks Perspective.
CA Naresh Jakhotia, Treasurer – VIA in his opening remark said we had conducted this program more than 13th consecutive year and which gives good take always to the attendees.
Suresh Rathi, President – VIA said that VIA Taxation Forum is organising meaningful tax awareness program for the benefits of industrial fraternity.
Adv Kapil Hirani, an expert in Income Tax started stating that precautions should be taken by trade and industry so far as March is concerned as interest, late fees, penalty can be avoided which can arise due to slight ignorance or mistake for which business will be at ultimate loss. He said that while calculating the Advance Tax Surcharge should also be considered. He added that PAN and Aadhar should be linked before March 31 to avoid Rs.10,000 penalty. He further said that a tentative Balance Sheet should be prepared in any case upto March 29, which will bring into light many small issues which might be over looked previously and it will be more appropriate to get opinion of professional so that if required corrective measures can be taken within time.
Adv Kapil also said that entire expenses pertaining to this financial year should be accountant for in current year only, else if it is found during assessments that any expenses related to previous financial year are claimed in assessment year the expenses will treated as prior period expenses and will be disallowed. He cautioned that if any amount is payable to MSE which are under dispute for any reason a mail regarding to such dispute should be sent to payee stating the reason for dispute and denial of payment, this will help to avoid filling Insolvency application at NCLT against payer. With regards to TDS he said that correct TDS deduction and timely payment not only saves you from disallowance, interest and penalty it saves you more particularly from prosecution. He further added on TDS issue that interest payable on loans from NBFCs interest paid to these companies are subject to TDS. Deductor should get in touch with NBFCs and ask for interest amount, deduct TDS, pay TDS, issue certificate of deduction and ask NBFC’s to adjust TDS amount against the outstanding loan. Adv Hirani emphasized that take utmost care of accounting and taxation, so that a Clear balance is prepared.
On agriculture income he said that appropriate documents relating to agriculture income should be kept. One should not sale capital asset in March instead sale it in April, this will give an advantage of indexation and extra time will be available for capital gain deduction. He cautioned before execution sale deed one should compare if there is any negative difference in stamp duty valuation and sale deed value and where that answer is yes then take valuation report from CBDT approved valuer before sale deed so that a valid document is available to support your transaction at the time of assessment.
CA Mahendra Jain, Past Chairman of Sales Tax Bar Association, Nagpur on Indirect Taxes (GST) has deliberated his talk on indirect taxes covering GST and Professional Tax. He stated that under GST regime reconciliation of books of accounts with GSTR1 and GSTR3B must be prepared before March 31. He advised to choose vendor carefully, as the crediting rating proposed by GST law is not yet functioning, and a self judgement mechanism should be developed.
He further added that GSTR 2A data to be matched to have clear picture of ITC claimed, if there are any mismatch then ask the supplier to amend his return wherever required to give correct ITC. Under GST law it is not only March, it is every month where compliances are to be done. Payment for input supplies should be done within 180 days, otherwise ITC will be denied and also interest liability will arise. He said that unclaimed RCM for current financial year can be claimed in March closing return.
CA Omprakash Bagdia, Past Chairman of Nagpur Branch of WIRC of ICAI, Nagpur on Company Laws & Precautions Banks Perspective said we should understand legislature in lay language. He said earlier private limited companies were given relaxation from compliance of many company law provisions but with introduction of Company Act 2013 the relaxations to private limited companies are diluted and new restrictions and compliances are imposed. Under company law companies cannot avoid filing of requisite form; if any compliance is pending it has to be filed with late fees and penalty. The directors, shareholders or relative of shareholder cannot give loan to company out of borrowed money. For precaution, company should take a declaration from lender that loan is given out of capital and not out of borrowed fund. He advised to keep note of all the related party transactions as they are to be reported in Director’s Report.
CA Bagdia explained the new provisions of Company Laws, where the law is more of compliance than governance. He further deliberated that precaution should be that outstanding payment to SME’s over 45 days should be avoided, as it will give them chance to file petition at NCLT. He informed that a compulsory half yearly return to be filed by all companies declaring the outstanding over 45 days due from MSME/ SME. He informed that where a company wants to increase its paid up capital, the issuing company should seek share valuation report and new shares cannot be issued at price below the valuation price. He also explained all the new forms recently brought by Company Law. He finally opined that the increased compliances in all the regulatory laws are diluting the government’s motto of Ease of doing Business.
From Banking perspective, CA Bagdia stated that auditors have to report, if the stock and debtors statement is the same which is submitted to Bank, this statement is to be issued on quarterly basis. Thus, the chance of any clerical error in stock and debtors statements submitted to Bank and in financials will be neutralized. He further asked the participants to check the interest charged on loan as they might be some errors in calculation.
Earlier, CA Ashok Chandak, Chairman of Taxation & Corporate Law Forum welcomed Adv Kapil Hirani; CA Sachin Jajodia welcomed CA Mahendra Jain and Vishal Agrawal welcomed CA Omprakash Bagdia with floral bouquets. CA Ashok Chandak, in his welcome address, he said that in this era where everything is computalised, hiding of transactions will be next to impossible because all the departments are now computerized and compliances are also online. Now tracing of non-compliances is very easy for department and costly for industry. As the compliances are increasing day by day a list should be prepared so that it can be checked whether requisite all the compliances are done and done in time. This will result in avoiding interest, penalty, late fees and even prosecution in some cases. He suggested that industries must have an internal auditor, who can certify that the compliances are done in correct manner, which will also be useful for Directors to prove that all efforts are taken for timely compliance.
CA Sachin Jajodia, Convener – VIA Taxation & Corporate Law Forum proposed a formal vote of Thanks.
