SBS-Global

Direct Taxes

Partial relaxation with respect to electronic submission of Form lOF by select category of taxpayers in accordance with the DGIT (Systems) Notification №3 Of 2022.

Reference is invited to Notification №03/2022 dated 16th July 2022 issued by Directorate of Income Tax (Systems) New Delhi in the exercise of powers conferred under Rule 131(1)/(2) of the Income-tax Rules mandating, inter alia, furnishing of Form 10F electronically.

On consideration of the practical challenge being faced by non-resident (NR) taxpayers not having PAN in making compliance as per the above notification, and with a view to mitigate genuine hardship to such taxpayers, it has been decided by the Competent Authority that such category of Nonresident taxpayers who are not having PAN and not required to have PAN as per relevant provisions of the Income-tax Act,1961 read with Income-tax Rules, 1962, are exempted from mandatory electronic fil ing of Form lOF till 31’t March 2023. For the sake of clarity, it is reiterated that such ca tegory of taxpayers may make statutory compliance of filing Form 10F till 31’t March 2023 in manual form as was being done prior to issuance of the DGIT(Systems) Notification №3 of 2022.

In-Direct Taxes

48th Meeting of the GST Council (17th December 2022)

The 48th Meeting of the GST Council was held on 17th December, 2022 through Video Conference, under the chairpersonship of the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.

Tax Rates

1. The GST Council has, inter-alia, made following recommendations for changes in GST rates:

Sr. No.DescriptionFromTo1Husk of pulses including chilka and concentrates including chuni/churi, khanda5%Nil2Ethyl alcohol supplied to refineries for blending with motor spirit (petrol)18%5%

2. It was decided to clarify that:

Rab (rab-salawat) is classifiable under CTH 1702 which attracts GST at the rate of 18%.

Fryums manufactured using the process of extrusion is specifically covered under CTH 19059030 and attract GST at the rate of 18%.

The higher rate of compensation cess of 22% is applicable to motor vehicle fulfilling all four conditions, namely, it is popularly known as SUV, has engine capacity exceeding 1500 cc, length exceeding 4000 mm and a ground clearance of 170 mm or above.

Goods falling in lower rate category of 5% under schedule I of notification №1/2017-CTR imported for petroleum operations will attract lower rate of 5% and the rate of 12% shall be applicable only if the general rate is more than 12%.

3. As a relief measure, the Council decided to regularise the intervening period starting from the date of issuance of Circular (3.08.2022) in respect of GST on ‘husk of pulses including chilka and concentrates including chuni/churi, khanda’ on “ as is basis” on account of genuine doubts.

4. No GST is payable where the residential dwelling is rented to a registered person if it is rented it in his/her personal capacity for use as his/her own residence and on his own account and not on account of his business.

5. Incentive paid to banks by Central Government under the scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low value BHIM-UPI transactions are in the nature of subsidy and thus not taxable.

Measures for Facilitation of Trade

1. Decriminalization under GST: The Council has recommended to –

Raise the minimum threshold of tax amount for launching prosecution under GST from Rs. One Crore to Rs. Two Crores, except for the offence of issuance of invoices without supply of goods or services or both;

Reduce the compounding amount from the present range of 50% to 150% of tax amount to the range of 25% to 100%;

Decriminalize certain offences specified under clause (g), (j) and (k) of sub-section (1) of section 132 of CGST Act, 2017, viz.-

Obstruction or preventing any officer in discharge of his duties;

Deliberate tempering of material evidence;

Failure to supply the information.

2. Refund to unregistered persons: There is no procedure for claim of refund of tax borne by the unregistered buyers in cases where the contract/ agreement for supply of services, like construction of flat/house and long-term insurance policy, is cancelled and the time period of issuance of credit note by the concerned supplier is over. The Council recommended amendment in CGST Rules, 2017, along with issuance of a circular, to prescribe the procedure for filing application of refund by the unregistered buyers in such cases.

3. Paras 7, 8(a) and 8(b) were inserted in Schedule III of CGST Act, 2017 with effect from 01.02.2019 to keep certain transactions/ activities, such as supplies of goods from a place outside the taxable territory to another place outside the taxable territory, high sea sales and supply of warehoused goods before their home clearance, outside the purview of GST. In order to remove the doubts and ambiguities regarding taxability of such transactions/ activities during the period 01.07.2017 to 31.01.2019, the Council has recommended to make the said paras effective from 01.07.2017. However, no refund of tax paid shall be available in cases where any tax has already been paid in respect of such transactions/ activities during the period 01.07.2017 to 31.01.2019.

4. The Council has recommended to amend sub-rule (1) of rule 37 of CGST Rules, 2017 retrospectively with effect from 01.10.2022 to provide for reversal of input tax credit, in terms of second proviso to section 16 of CGST Act, only proportionate to the amount not paid to the supplier vis a vis the value of the supply, including tax payable.

5. The Council recommended to insert Rule 37A in CGST Rules, 2017 to prescribe the mechanism for reversal of input tax credit by a registered person in the event of non- payment of tax by the supplier by a specified date and mechanism for re-availment of such credit, if the supplier pays tax subsequently. This would ease the process for complying with the condition for availment of input tax credit under section 16(2)© of CGST Act, 2017.

6. Sub-rule (3) of rule 108 and rule 109 of the CGST Rules, 2017 to be amended to provide clarity on the requirement of submission of certified copy of the order appealed against and the issuance of final acknowledgment by the appellate authority. This would facilitate timely processing of appeals and ease the compliance burden for the appellants.

7. Rule 109C and FORM GST APL-01/03 W to be inserted in the CGST Rules, 2017 to provide the facility for withdrawal of an application of appeal up to certain specified stage. This would help in reducing litigations at the level of appellate authorities.

8. Circular to be issued to clarify that No Claim Bonus offered by the insurance companies to the insured is an admissible deduction for valuation of insurance services.

9. Circular to be issued for clarifying the issue of treatment of statutory dues under GST law in respect of the taxpayers for whom the proceedings have been finalised under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Rule 161 of CGST Rules, 2017 and FORM GST DRC-25 also to be amended for facilitating the same.

10. Circular to be issued for clarifying the issues pertaining to the place of supply of services of transportation of goods in terms of the proviso to sub-section (8) of section 12 of the IGST Act, 2017 and availability of input tax credit to the recipient of such supply. It has also been recommended that proviso to sub-section (8) of section 12 of the IGST Act, 2017 may be omitted.

11. Issuance of the following circulars in order to remove ambiguity and legal disputes on various issues, thus benefiting taxpayers at large:

Procedure for verification of input tax credit in cases involving difference in input tax credit availed in FORM GSTR-3B vis a vis that available as per FORM GSTR-2A during FY 2017–18 and 2018–19.

Clarifying the manner of re-determination of demand in terms of sub-section (2) of section 75 of CGST Act, 2017.

Clarification in respect of applicability of e-invoicing with respect to an entity.

Measures for Streamlining Compliances in GST

12. Proposal to conduct a pilot in State of Gujarat for Biometric-based Aadhaar authentication and risk-based physical verification of registration applicants. Amendment in rule 8 and rule 9 of CGST Rules, 2017 to be made to facilitate the same. This will help in tackling the menace of fake and fraudulent registrations.

13. PAN-linked mobile number and e-mail address (fetched from CBDT database) to be captured and recorded in FORM GST REG-01 and OTP-based verification to be conducted at the time of registration on such PAN-linked mobile number and email address to restrict misuse of PAN of a person by unscrupulous elements without knowledge of the said PAN-holder.

14. Section 37, 39, 44 and 52 of CGST Act, 2017 to be amended to restrict filing of returns/statements to a maximum period of three years from the due date of filing of the relevant return/statement.

15. FORM GSTR-1 to be amended to provide for reporting of details of supplies made through ECOs, covered under section 52 and section 9(5) of CGST Act, 2017, by the supplier and reporting by the ECO in respect of supplies made under section 9(5) of CGST Act, 2017.

16. Rule 88C and FORM GST DRC-01B to be inserted in CGST Rules, 2017 for intimation to the taxpayer, by the common portal, about the difference between liability reported by the taxpayer in FORM GSTR-1 and in FORM GSTR-3B for a tax period, where such difference exceeds a specified amount and/ or percentage, for enabling the taxpayer to either pay the differential liability or explain the difference. Further, clause (d) to be inserted in sub-rule (6) of rule 59 of CGST Rules, 2017 to restrict furnishing of FORM GSTR-1 for a subsequent tax period if the taxpayer has neither deposited the amount specified in the intimation nor has furnished a reply explaining the reasons for the amount remaining unpaid. This would facilitate taxpayers to pay/ explain the reason for the difference in such liabilities reported by them, without intervention of the tax officers.

17. Amendment in definition of “non-taxable online recipient” under section 2(16) of IGST Act, 2017 and definition of “Online Information and Database Access or Retrieval Services (OIDAR)” under section 2(17) of IGST Act, 2017 so as to reduce interpretation issues and litigation on taxation of OIDAR Services.

About SBS

An Accounting Dashboard (AD) is a powerful digital tool for business intelligence on accounting data. The best Accounting Dashboards let accounting and finance professionals save time by tracking key KPIs, reducing massive, real-time data down to vital insights at a glance, and customizing reports for an instant, robust financial understanding. With the right Accounting Dashboards in place, the Finance Manager can see revenue, costs, profit, loss, and many other guiding stars laid out at the fingertips that will help to make accurate decisions for times ahead as well as to change course promptly, if need be.

The right dashboards will give the team the power to spot trends, opportunities, and growing problems and effortlessly visualize large datasets. With easy-to-parse graphical representations, the team can deliver crisp, concise C-suite presentations, and quickly analyze business performance, operational statistics, and key metrics with minimal effort.

These 5 steps must be followed to achieve accounting intelligence through the accounting dashboard:

Step 1 — Accounting Dashboard as Management Tool

The Finance team must develop a Project Strategy of this tool before developing various Metrics and KPIs for the team to monitor. The strategy must be discussed broadly by the finance team as a win-for-all solution on any specific accounting area or more and approved by the leadership to ensure proper development and implementation.

Step 2 — Establish Right Metrics

Once the strategy has been set, the next step is to identify the right number and type of metrics to track the accounting number progress toward its established goals. Metrics can range from harder, more technical goals such as AR/AP outstanding, Ageing, Ratios, Profit margin levels to softer, less technical ones such as Expense by location, budget over-run, daily sales indicators and so on. It is critical to measure the right factors for stated objectives and be careful not to get wrapped up with too many factors initially. Information overload can actually reduce overall dashboard effectiveness and also further complicate system development efforts.

Step 3 — Team Acceptance

Implementing an effective AD system will require a significant change in the way managers view their jobs. A new AD system will result in existing reporting and decision-making practices and hence, all involved users should be fully on board with the new approach in order to make the system successful. The effective way to buy in from users is to provide them with the needed training on the Dashboard concept and involve them in reviewing the metrics and providing feedback on user interface and reporting formats.

Step 4 — Flexible Accounting Dashboard Tool

An Accounting Dashboard tool should not become an intense IT project! The team should select off-the-shelf technologies to build standard business dashboards in a rather quick manner and should allow the users a great deal of flexibility, such as changing their dashboard formats based on their individual habits and tastes. The right toolset should also allow for the integration of corporate data from a variety of sources, ranging from databases to spreadsheets for bringing it together for meaningful analysis and insight into the numbers.

Step 5 — Be Prepared for Surprises

Many Accounting Dashboards may result in new discoveries about existing data and assumptions that have been, in place, without much notice for a long time. This is a good time for Managers to take a critical look at data and validate past assumptions. Remembering, that a dashboard based on inaccurate or inconsistent data will result in many decision-making challenges.

Conclusion

By adopting the above methodology to address the business needs, the team can devise an effective roadmap to implement Accounting Dashboards in an organization and tightly link daily operational activities with strategic goals.

About SBS

SBS Global is an ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 certified company serving since 2007. SBS Global offers a comprehensive range of Outsourced Financial Accounting Services, CFO Services, Compliance (i.e., Company Secretary services) & HR Services catering to the needs of Small & Medium Organizations across industry sectors to meet their changing needs & expectations. Our team includes employees having industry & domain expertise who have insights drawn from years of professional experience.

Introduction

If you’re a business owner, you know that time is money. You also know that being organized and efficient can make all the difference when it comes to running your business. That’s why it’s important for bookkeeping and accounting services to be outsourced. Here are some reasons why:

1. Outsourcing is an Effective Strategy

Outsourcing your bookkeeping and accounting services is an effective strategy for business owners. The main reason for this is that it can help you to focus on your core business, instead of being distracted by the day-to-day operation and management of your finances.

Outsourcing also allows you access to real-time data which is essential in order for you to manage cash flow effectively. Without accurate financials, it’s impossible for business owners to make informed decisions about their operations and growth potentials.

2. Save on Overheads

Outsourcing your bookkeeping and accounting services can save you money in two ways. First, it will reduce the amount of time and effort that you have to spend on these tasks yourself. Second, because outsourced firms are paid by the hour or project basis instead of hourly or daily fees like many traditional firms do, they need not worry about keeping up with their overhead costs as much as a small business owner would.

This means that you can concentrate on running your core business rather than having to deal with multiple tasks at once; this is particularly useful if there’s more than enough work for one person to handle all three responsibilities (accounting & bookkeeping + payroll).

3. Real-time Access to Your Data

When you outsource your bookkeeping and accounting services, you can have access to all of your data in real time. This allows you to see what is going on with your business and make better decisions about where the money is going or losing money. You can also see how much profit each department makes.

For example:

Do you want to know if there is any room for improvement in sales performance this month? Get access to that information immediately so that they don’t miss out on potential opportunities!

Are employees spending too much time doing administrative tasks instead of working on projects? Ask them directly!

4. More Focus on Your Core Business

You can focus on your core business.

A key benefit of outsourcing bookkeeping and accounting services is that the professionals doing it will be focused on the tasks at hand, rather than trying to find ways to get you to spend more money. This means that they’ll be able to provide expert advice on things like how much money you should invest in marketing or whether or not it’s time for an expansion of operations. They’ll also be able to create accurate financial reports based on these decisions, which will help improve decision-making for future projects as well as help keep an eye on what’s happening with your books overall — without having any input into how those numbers look!

5. Predictable Costs to Budget

When you outsource your accounting and bookkeeping services, you can get a fixed monthly fee. This is great if you have limited cash flow and don’t want to pay for more than what is necessary.

If your business does well enough that it becomes profitable, then outsourcing may not be for you. However, if your business doesn’t do well enough or you find yourself struggling financially because of the high cost of doing business (e-commerce), then outsourcing might save some money in the long run.

6. Better Cash Flow Management

Outsourcing your bookkeeping and accounting services to a professional bookkeeping and accounting firm will allow you to better manage your cash flow.

By outsourcing your bookkeeping and accounting needs, you can avoid late payments, unexpected expenses, and other problems that may arise if someone else is handling these tasks on a daily basis. If something happens during the year that causes financial issues for your business (for example, an employee leaves or a customer goes bankrupt), it’s much easier for an outsider who knows nothing about what has gone on in the past week or month to tell whether something was missed because of poor time management by yourself or by those in charge of keeping track of all incoming funds before they were spent by customers like yourself!

7. You can Focus on Profit and Growth

Outsource your bookkeeping and accounting services to a company that understands the needs of small businesses, and can help you focus on your core business. You no longer have to be the one responsible for keeping track of cash flows and other accounting functions. Instead, they’ll handle all those things so that you can focus on growing your company and bringing in a profit.

It’s also important not to forget about staff members when outsourcing bookkeeping and accounting services: if there’s a problem with someone’s work habits or performance level, it might be easier for them (or even awkward) if they don’t know how much money they’ve made over time — and if they do know how much money they’ve made over time, then this could lead them into complacency which would actually result in loss of productivity because nobody likes losing out on their hard-earned income!

8. Save your Time & Money

Outsourced finance and accounting, bookkeeping services are an effective way could help save you time and money.

You can focus on your core business by outsourcing to a professional bookkeeper who will take care of all the accounting tasks that take away from your time.

Outsource to a company that offers an affordable solution for all your accounting needs, such as payroll, inventory management, and tax preparation. This way you won’t have to worry about these tasks at home or deal with employees’ issues when they don’t understand how things work in their department.

Outsourced bookkeeping services are effective because they help predict costs so businesses know what they need ahead of time instead of having unexpected expenses come up later on down the road (i.e., paying interest rates).

Conclusion

Outsourcing your bookkeeping and accounting is a smart move. It can help you save time, money and focus on your core business. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it must be done in an efficient way as well. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can assist with your needs, contact us today!

About SBS

SBS Global is an ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 certified company serving since 2007. SBS Global offers a comprehensive range of Outsourced Financial Accounting Services, CFO Services, Compliance (i.e., Company Secretary services) & HR Services catering to the needs of Small & Medium Organizations across industry sectors to meet their changing needs & expectations. Our team includes employees having industry & domain expertise who have insights drawn from years of professional experience.

Background

During 2019 and 2020, as many as 29 labor laws were amalgamated, simplified, and rationalized into 4 labor codes as below:

The code on Wages 2019

The Industrial Relations Code 2020

The code on Social Security 2020

The Occupancy Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020

These four codes are likely to be implemented soon as around 23 states have already come out with draft rules (as Labour is a Concurrent subject)

How New Labour Code Impact Employees?

The four codes, if implemented, will drastically alter the way industrial houses treat their employees and also impact the working hours, take-home salary, and other rights of employees.

Once the wages code comes into force, there will be significant changes in terms of salary restriction, basic pay, provident fund, and gratuity of employees are calculated.

A key change is that it would impact take-home pay, but increase retirement savings—something that a section of employers are opposed to as it may increase their employee costs.

As per the new code, the basic salary of the employees will have to be 50 percent of the gross salary. The take-home salary of the employees will come down but the PF contributions of both the employees and the employer will increase.

As per the new law, companies will be permitted to make their employees work for 4 days a week instead of the current 5, however, the working hours will increase daily work hours from 9 hours to 12 hours daily as they will have to meet the 48-hour weekly work requirement. If 4 days a week is implemented, employees will enjoy a week off of 3 days. If an employee works beyond the 48-hour week requirement, overtime payment should be given to them (15 minutes or more will be attaching overtime payment to employees)

The new wage code states that a company must pay the full and final settlement of to employees within two days of their last working day. Currently, the complete settlement of salary and dues is given after 45 days to 60 days from an employee’s last working day. As per the new code, where an employee has been – (i) removed or dismissed from service; or (ii) retrenched or has resigned from service, or became unemployed due to closure of the establishment, the wages payable to him shall be paid within two working days of his removal, dismissal, retrenchment or, as the case may be, his resignation.

New Leave Policy introduces in Wage Code. The maternity leaves for female employees will increase to 26 weeks from the current 12-week period. Also, companies cannot place them on the night shift without their consent. Proper facilities and security should have to be ensured. If this code is implemented, the labor force will be entitled to leave after every 180 days against 240 days earlier.

Steps May Be Considered By Corporates

Assess the Wage calculations and financial impact immediately after implementation

Align Compensation Structure to optimize aspirations of employees by considering tax implications, take-home components, etc.

Aligning HR policies

Categorization of employees including Fixed term employees; Gigworkers; any other nontraditional employer-employee engagement model/s

Map current Internal Processes with desired changes required to be compliant

Conclusion

Hence the new labor code has many advantages for employees. Some people consider that certain changes should be made in the laws, while some are eagerly waiting for them to be implemented. The new rules also covering about Work from Home which was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new rules have been drafted to improve the well-being of employees.

About SBS

SBS Global is an ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 certified company serving since 2007. SBS Global offers a comprehensive range of Outsourced Financial Accounting Services, CFO Services, Compliance (i.e., Company Secretary services) & HR Services catering to the needs of Small & Medium Organizations across industry sectors to meet their changing needs & expectations. Our team includes employees having industry & domain expertise who have insights drawn from years of professional experience.

All businesses must adopt efficient expense tracking and reporting system to bring financial discipline across the management team. As the business volume surges with growth, streamlining and improving the process of collecting and organizing receipts, invoices & other supporting documents becomes a constant challenge. The need for management for handling large volumes of expenses to create accurate and easy-to-read reports, verify and approve reports, and then add results to make settlement of expenses does become time-consuming.

Today, businesses are fortunate to have cloud-based solutions, which are not very expensive, and are capable of handling expense tracking and reporting, controlling employee business expenses with ease and less tiresome. Use of mobile apps and smartphones to scan and photograph receipts, quick and easy methods for organizing and submitting expense reports online for timely settlement all help to enhance a uniform and transparent work culture.

Any Expense tracking software – ETS (like Expensify, greyt HR, Expense out) must ensure the following features that would make the process smart, easy, and fast!

ETS must help to avoid duplicate payments or fraudulent activity with real-time visibility of each transaction

Conclusion

The end result of this ETS tool is to ensure that employees feel at ease to spend and get reimbursement, management is able to control and approve with ease and accounting becomes seamless for reporting.

About SBS

SBS Global is an ISO 9001:2015 & ISO 27001:2013 certified company serving since 2007. SBS Global offers a comprehensive range of Outsourced Financial Accounting Services, CFO Services, Compliance (i.e., Company Secretary services) & HR Services catering to the needs of Small & Medium Organizations across industry sectors to meet their changing needs & expectations. Our team includes employees having industry & domain expertise who have insights drawn from years of professional experience.

We provide IT staffing services India. SBS Global is your top provider of contract staffing services, which means you will be working with the best quality of talent.

SBS Global offers Technical & Staffing Services India to Technology companies. Our unique strength consists of sourcing, talent management, evaluating the skills that are apt for the Technology sector. This service offers flexibility to hire short-term or long-term based upon the duration and type of projects.