Income Tax department attaches benami properties worth Rs 39 billion

Show cause notices for provisional attachment of benami properties were issued in over 1,500 cases.

Business News : Income tax department has provisionally attached benami properties of over Rs 39 billion in more than 1,200 cases, the Finance Ministry informed the Rajya Sabha today.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla also said the tax department has identified more than 1,600 benami transactions till end-February.

“Show cause notices for provisional attachment of benami properties were issued in over 1,500 cases and provisional attachment has been made in over 1,200 cases.

The value of properties under attachment is over Rs 39 billion,” he said.

In another reply, Shukla said till date, in three phases of ‘operation clean money’, the income tax department has identified around 22.69 lakh persons whose tax profile was found to be inconsistent with the case deposits made by them during the demonetisation period.

“Total case to the tune of Rs 5.27 lakh crore has been found to be deposited in bank accounts in case of these 22.69 lakh taxpayers during demonetisation period,” Shukla said.

However, the unaccounted income in such transactions, if any, can be quantified only after completion of the verification/assessment process.

→ Benami Property Act ←

GST: What is an e-way bill and why is it important? All you need to know

A trader opting to discharge GST liability under the composition scheme will not be eligible to claim input tax credit of GST paid on inward supplies.

Business News : What is an e-way bill ?

• An e-way bill is a document that a person in charge of a conveyance carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding Rs 50,000 is required to carry. It is a mandatory document that is generated from the GST Common Portal by registered persons or transporters who undertake movement of goods. A transporter needs to generate the e-way bill before the movement of goods commences.

Is there any scheme under GST for payment of taxes by small traders?

• Composition levy is an alternative method of levying tax that is designed for small taxpayers whose turnover is up to Rs 10 million. This scheme is optional and is meant mainly for small traders, manufacturers and restaurant owners. However, it is not available to a trader engaged in inter-state supplies. Further, a trader opting to discharge GST liability under the composition scheme will not be eligible to claim input tax credit of GST paid on inward supplies.

In the pre-GST regime, a special economic zone (SEZ) customer was required to provide Form A-2 to claim exemption from payment of service tax. Will a service provider be required to obtain a similar form from his customers for not charging GST?

• Under the pre-GST regime, a service provider was not required to charge service tax on his invoice for services rendered to an SEZ customer if the latter provided Form A-2 wherein he was authorised to receive specified services from such service providers.
• However, under GST law, there has been a change of procedure.
• Under this law, supplies to SEZs have been treated as zero rated subject to execution of Letter of Undertaking/Bond by the service provider. GST law doesn’t require the SEZ customer to provide any specific form (such as Form A-2 under the service tax law).

If the GST rate on outward supply is less than the GST rate on inputs, what will be the treatment of input tax credit that gets accumulated? If refund is available, then at what time can one apply and within what time will one get it?

• GST law contains a specific provision wherein the supplier of goods or services can apply for refund of input tax credit accumulated on account of inverted duty structure, except for a few categories.
• The refund can be applied for before the expiry of two years from the date on which the claim for refund arises. Further, the supplier would be granted provisional refund within seven days from the receipt of acknowledgment from the tax department.

Click to Read More → GST Eway Bill