My Beloved Members,

NATIONAL TAX CONFERENCE – VARANASI 2015
‘MANTHAN’ ON TAX LAWS

With great pride, I must say that the above Conference organised by All India Federation of Tax Practitioners (AIFTP), (North Zone), and Income Tax Bar Association, Varanasi, at Hotel Clarks, Varanasi, on 10th and 11th October, 2015, for in-depth deliberations on tax laws was a unique success in as much as, it was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Hon’ble Justice Mr. R. K. Agarwal, Judge, Supreme Court of India and the Guest of Honour Hon’ble Mr. K. V. Chaudhary, Central Vigilance Commissioner, Government of India. Hon’ble Chief Guest at the inaugural address stressed the importance of taxes as the nation is governed/administered and developed on taxes only. At the same time, he stated that the structure and implementation of taxes is quite complex apart from its high incidence, and requires to be simplified for the benefit of the taxpayer, as was emphasised by great author and thinker ‘Chanakya’ in his ‘Arthashastra’, which advice is valid even today and we must follow it. Guest of Honour Mr. K. V. Chaudhary, Central Vigilance Commissioner, Government of India, informed the distinguished gathering, that huge unquantified black money is going out of the country in respect of which Government of India has no accounts. Therefore, according to him, it is necessary to make the law to arrest such outflow of huge money out of the economy of the country. In this respect, he made categorical statement that the citizens of this country who have stacked black money in various other countries must be proceeded with as per law, and monitored strictly by financial cyber crime agency of the nation.

The Conference Chairman Mr. Bharat Ji Agarwal, Sr. Advocate and Past President of the AIFTP also addressed the distinguished gathering on the importance of such conferences wherein continued study of tax laws and updating the knowledge takes place, which is of vital importance for the Bar, Bench as well as the Administration, who also takes part in such ‘Manthan’ and enrich themselves of the current developments that takes place in the field of direct and indirect taxes, which affects the fabric of the society as a whole.

In recognition of Mr. Bharat Ji Agarwal’s contribution in the development of direct and indirect tax laws of the country as well as shouldering the responsibilities as Chairman/President of the various Bar Associations, the Conference awarded him the citation of ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ which was presented to him by Mr. P. C. Joshi, Advocate and Past President of the AIFTP.

Thereafter, technical sessions of direct and indirect taxes took place in which eminent faculties / authorities on the subjects deliberated extensively on the assigned subjects.

The unique feature of the Conference was panel discussion, appropriately titled, ‘Mann Ki Baat’ with the Senior officials of the IT, ST, VAT, Company Law, Depts. and the Industries Leaders, who exchanged freely and frankly their difficulties in resolving the grievances of the Trade and Industry, in mutual interests. This session of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ proved quite fruitful and at the end of the session, everybody participating in the session wore a very smiling face and reiterating that in future such sessions should be held regularly to resolve the difficulties of both i.e., the administration and taxpayers.

As usual the last session was of ‘Brain Trust’ in which Trustees answered queries received from the delegates to their satisfaction.

All in all, after undergoing hectic sessions of the Conference, the delegates visited the Temple of “Lord Kashi Vishwanath” for prayers and offered Ganga Pooja and Aarti, and then the delegates departed the venue of the Conference with great satisfaction.

Last but not the least, the leaders of AIFTP (NZ) and Income Tax Bar Association, Varanasi, deserves great appreciation for their hard work put in organising the above Conference.

ENSUING GST VISITED WITH GLOOM

Earlier, Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers’ Panel, released a draft report of ‘The Jt. Committee on businesses and processes for GST’ April 2015 on GST payment process. Thereafter, the said Committee released a draft report on Registration in July 2015 and the 3rd draft report on Refund process August 2015 for the deliberations of the public at large. Now, as per TOI (Times Business) report dated 14-10-2015, the GST Panel suggested black-listing defaulting dealers. It also suggested compliance rating of dealers, which obviously will hurt, buyers who will be denied input tax credit. This approach of the GST Panel is quite disturbing and putting a curtain of gloom on the entire exercise of expediting GST coming to India soon. As per suggestions, there are number of pain bearing points few of them are as under: –

• A system of GST compliance rating could result in blacklisting of defaulting dealers. However, it is the buyer who will be denied input tax credit.

• There is no centralised registration for Central GST and integrated GST.

• Exporters will no longer be able to obtain non-duty paid inputs and will have to claim input credit / rebate at a later stage.

• A partial refund will not be made upfront and automatically when a claim is filed; the entire refund will be made after due processing at one go, within the set time period.

• Considering the above red-tape practices adopted at the initial stage of promoting GST, it is highly impossible to go for it. So, the trade and industry together with tax practitioners in general should be on alert whether they should advocate the GST still knowing that it will cause great hardships of no end to them.

CLAIMING MEDICAL EXPENDITURE UNDER I-T FOR TAX PURPOSES MADE EASY

The CBDT is always late when it comes to resolving the dues of income tax payers. The recent CBDT Notification No. 78/2015 dated 12-10-2015 is a testimony of its working. U/s 80DDB r/w amended Rule 11DD dated 12-10-2015, it had relaxed the condition of obtaining the certificate for claim of expenditure u/s. 80DDB in respect of specified ailments from a specialist doctors working in a Government hospital. Under the amended rule, it will not be mandatory to obtain a certificate from a specialist doctor working in a Govt. hospital but a certificate from a specialist treating the patient will suffice for the purpose of claiming deduction u/s. 80DDB r/w. Rule 11DD.

I-T GETS KUDOS FOR FASTER REFUND!

The Government has speeded up for tax refunds with some taxpayers getting them within a week of filing returns. But it appears that those who got it may be blessed by the Govt. Those who received reacted “Historic! I-T refund in less than a month of filing!” Jai Ho! tweeted Bhaskar Bhattacharya. Others such as Chartered Accountant Kamlesh Vikamsey and Krish tweeted accordingly (TOI dated. 24-8-2015). But we common persons will not receive refunds so fast. Thus, it appears that CPC is following pick and choose method for releasing refunds, one wonders! May we therefore appeal to CBDT to look into the matter?

With best wishes and regards,

J.D. Nankani
National President