Page 11 - BANKING FINANCE OCTOBER 2021

ROUNDUP

tant; or in practice as company secre- up for the scheme has been extended ing GST compared with 16 per cent
tary need not pass the online profi- from 31 August to 30 November. When before the Budget.
ciency self-assessment test. It may be the scheme was announced by the GST
recalled that MCA had in October 2019 Council in May, the condition was that GST collection dips to Rs.
mandated that independent directors the returns for the period have to be
will have to take up an online profi- filed between 1 June and end of Au- 1.12 trillion in August 21
ciency self-assessment test if they have gust. GST revenue remained above Rs 1 tril-
to get into or retain board positions. lion-mark for the second straight
As part of the scheme, late fee was
capped at Rs. 500 per return for tax month in August at over Rs 1.12 tril-
75-plus need not file IT payers who did not have a tax liability lion, 30 per cent higher than the col-
lection in the year-ago period, the fi-
returns from AY22-23 for the period and in other cases, at Rs. nance ministry said.
1,000 per return.
In a big relief, senior citizens aged 75 "The gross GST revenue collected in the
or above can give a simple declaration Businesses will also be allowed to use month of August 2021 is Rs 1,12,020
to his/her bank to get exemption from electronic verification code in place of crore of which Central GST is Rs 20,522
filing the Income Tax Return (ITR), ac- digital signature certificate for filing crore, State GST is Rs 26,605 crore,
cording to a new I-T Department rule. tax returns till October. This facility Integrated GST is Rs 56,247 crore (in-
was earlier given till end of August.
The new rule will come into effect from cluding Rs 26,884 crore collected on
April 1, 2021 and the exemption from import of goods) and Cess is Rs 8,646
ITR filing will be available from AY2022- 300 tonnes gold smuggling crore (including Rs 646 crore collected
23. This is a follow-up to the Budget cheats the government of on import of goods)," the finance min-
announcement. istry said in a statement.
Rs. 20,000 cr annually
The Income-Tax Act classifies senior The Indian Gold Policy Centre has esti-
citizens into two categories - senior SEBI bans 85 entities for
mated gold smuggling into the coun-
citizens (60-plus) and super-seniors try at 300 tonnes per annum, leading trade fraud
(above 80 years).
to a revenue loss of Rs. 20,000 crore Sebi barred total 85 entities, including
According to experts, senior citizens as high import duty has led to high Sunrise Asian Ltd, from the capital
account for approximately 11 per cent unofficial gold trade. markets for up to one year for manipu-
of the returns filed and very senior citi- The flourishing unofficial gold trade has lating the company's share price.
zens for 0.66 per cent. Considering that cast a cloud on the government effort In its order, the regulator restrained
in FY20 the total number of returns was
to organise bullion and jewellery trade, Sunrise Asian and its then five directors
6.78 crore, number of senior citizens
said the IGPC, a centre of excellence from the capital markets for one year
and very senior citizens would be at the Indian Institute of Manage- and the 79 connected entities for six
around 74 lakhs and 4 lakhs, respec- ment-Ahmedabad, sponsored by World months.
tively.
Gold Council. The Securities and Exchange Board of
GST amnesty scheme ex- Traditionally, lower duty leads to India (Sebi) had conducted an investi-
higher revenue collection. This fiscal, gation in the scrip of Sunrise Asian for
tended till November end the Centre reduced the Customs duty the period from October 16, 2012 to
The government extended the end to 7.5 per cent from 12.50 per cent in September 30, 2015, based on a ref-
date for businesses to avail of an am- the Budget, but it levied an additional erence received from the Principal Di-
nesty scheme offered to make good 2.5 per cent Agriculture Infrastructure rector of Income Tax (Investigation),
their past defaults in filing Goods and Development cess and 10 per cent Kolkata.
Services Tax (GST) return for the period Social Welfare Surcharge on the cus- The investigation was conducted to
between July 2017 and April 2021. toms duty. ascertain whether there was any vio-
An official statement from the finance This resulted in the duty being reduced lation of the provisions of the PFUTP
ministry said that the last date to sign by only two percentage points includ- (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair

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