SHALOM AUDIT ASSOCIATES: December 2009

Tuesday, 29 December 2009

Surgeons and service tax

Dec 23, 2009

Service tax has been imposed on cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery services by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2009 with effect from 1st September, 2009 vide Notification No 26/2009-ST dated 19.8.2009.Earlier the intention of the Government seemed to be to treat the medical profession as service in public domain and hence medical profession was kept out of the purview of service tax. This can be seen from the fact that CBEC had earlier clarified vide Circular B. No. 11/1/2002 TRU dated 01.08.2002 that cosmetic surgery or plastic surgery to improve appearance would not be liable to service tax under the category of beauty treatment services. The introduction of this service category seems to be an attempt by the Government to gradually bring in a wide range of services that are provided by the medical fraternity into the tax net.

Date for rolling out of GST could be announced on January 8

Dec 27, 2009

The date for rolling out the Goods and Services Tax could be announced on January 8, the Chairman of the Empowered Committee on State Finance Ministers, Asim Dasgupta, said today. "There will be a joint statement after a meeting with Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on January 8 on GST rollout," Dasgupta told reporters on the sidelines of the 23rd industrial trade fair, organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
"We (state finance ministers) have a two-day meeting from January 7. We will meet Pranab Mukherjee before giving a statement on this," he said.

Dasgupta's statement came just a day after the Union finance minister said the scheduled April 1 date to introduce the new tax regime may be missed due to a lack of consensus among all the 28 states.

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Direct Tax code (DTC) may be rewritten: FM

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday indicated the government could rewrite the new direct tax code to make it acceptable to all stakeholders. On the tax code, he said, the government would attempt to build consensus on the proposals. "I have laid a certain proposal in the form of a direct tax code. But it is not the Bhagwad Gita and it cannot be said that it cannot be changed," he added.

The new draft direct tax code has evoked strong reactions from all quarters—individuals, industry, politicians, ministries and departments. The code proposes to phase out tax exemptions, tax individual retirement savings at the time of withdrawal and impose a minimum alternate tax on gross assets of companies.

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Employee may continue Mediclaim policy taken by his employer after change of Job

General insurers, both private and public, have started offering continuity of features of group mediclaim policies to employees even after one quits an organisation where the cover was originally offered. People retiring can also continue to avail of the facilities of the group health policies. The only catch is that it no longer remains a group policy and gets struck off the list of covered employees of the company. It is now treated as an individual policy.

Premiums for the policy, therefore, are higher than what the former employer paid for the individual. But, features like inclusion of pre-existing diseases and continuity clauses remain with the policy while waiting periods for covering certain ailments are waived.

Although group policies are generally tailor-made for each company, their continuity with individuals after they quit are being increasingly allowed by a number of general insurers like ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Allainz General Insurance as well as the four public sector companies – United India Insurance, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and New India Assurance.

"However, tailored mediclaim policies often include maternity covers which will not be extended when it is converted into an individual policy. Other things like waiver of waiting period, pre-existing diseases will be offered in the individual policy. We get the claims history of an individual when he/she was covered under the group policy," said Shreeraj Deshpande, head, health insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company.

Soruce : http://www.taxguru.in/general-info/employee-may-continue-his-mediclaim-policy-after-change-of-job.html#ixzz0ZMJqGWJl

Central GST may be applicable on Businesses with more than Rs 10 lakh turnover

Businesses with more than Rs 10 lakh turnover may end up paying the central goods and services tax, with the Centre not agreeing to states' suggestion of keeping the threshold at Rs 1.5 crore. The empowered committee of state finance ministers had suggested separate thresholds for central GST and state GST, wherein businesses below a gross annual turnover between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 10 lakh would be subjected only to SGST, and not CGST.

The rationale behind the empowered committee's suggestion for different thresholds was to protect the "interests of small traders and small-scale industries, and to avoid dual control. The government suggested compensating small businesses with turnover below Rs 1.5 crore by simplifying and reducing their paperwork, instead of keeping them out of CGST.

It (the threshold) should be Rs 10 lakh for both Centre and states. We have suggested a simplified procedure for threshold below Rs 1.5 crore. They may not have to file returns frequently; registration process could be simplified; minimum audit could be prescribed for them based on risk parameters; and benefits under the compounding scheme could be extended.

The Centre is worried that a variance in threshold limit could change the revenue neutral rate and also lead to problems in collecting inter-state GST (IGST), which would be applied on inter-state transfer of goods and services.

Source: http://www.taxguru.in/goods-and-service-tax/central-goods-and-service-tax-may-be-applicable-on-businesses-with-more-than-rs-10-lakh-turnover.html#ixzz0ZMJ8R1NP

SHALOM AUDIT ASSOCIATES