Government of India Ministry of Commerce & Industry Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (FC Section) Circular 1 of 2014 Subject: Consolidated FDI Policy. The “Consolidated FDI Policy”. This circular will take effect from April 17, 2014.

The MCA has notified Section 148 of The Companies Act, 2013 regarding maintenance of Cost Accounts / Cost Audit to be effective from 1st April 2014. The MCA however has not notified “Final Rules” under Section 148.
The inference that can be drawn from a combined reading of Sub Section (1) and Sub Section (2) (a) & (b) of Section 465 (“Repeal of Certain Enactments and Savings") is that,The Companies (Cost Accounting Records) Rules, 2011 and The Companies (Cost audit Report) Rules, 2011 and other associated notifications, orders, etc. issued under the Companies Act, 1956, will continue to be in force.

The Finance Ministry has released a revised and comprehensive “Direct Taxes Code 2013?. The said Code contains several significant changes with far-reaching implications to the law and practice of income-tax. The Most far reaching from a practitioner standpoint is the modification of the Accountant definition to Include Coat Accountants and Company Secretaries. The Finance Ministry has also issued a paper highlighting the salient features of the Direct Taxes Code 2013

MCA notifies most of the remaining Sec of the Companies Act, 2013,(without the rules) to be effective from 1-4-14, hopefully they will be out soon

Resolution passed U/s 293 (Restrictions on powers of Board ) of the Companies Act, 1956 prior to 12.09.2013 with reference to borrowings (subject to the limits prescribed) and / or creation of security on assets of the company will be regarded as sufficient compliance of the requirements of section 180 (Restrictions on powers of Board) of the Companies Act, 2013 for a period of one year from the date of notification of section 180 of the Act..

Highlights of the notified rules are: Expansion of Schedule VII,clarification of applicability to foreign cos & clarity on what qualifies as CSR expenditure. Contribution of any amount directly/indirectly to any political party under Sec 182 shall not be considered as CSR activity.
Projects/programs/activities that benefit only the employees of the company/their families not to count as CSR activities

Exemption as provided in section 372A (8) (d) of the Companies Act, 1956 shall be applicable to any guarantee given or security Provided by a holding company in aspect of loans made by a bank or financial institution to its subsidiary company, till section 186 of the Companies Act, 2013 is notified.

Auditing and Assurance Standards Board under the authority of the Council of ICAI issues Important Amendments to Auditor's Report Format.

CBDT extends the date for filing ITR-V Form for Assessment years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 till 31.03.2014 for returns e-Filed with refund claims within the time allowed under section 139 of the Act . CBDT also relaxes the time-frame of issuing the intimation as provided in second proviso to sub section (1) of section 143 of the Act and directs that such returns shall be processed within a period of six months from end of the month in which ITR-V is received.

The Minister has “assured that the new cost rules will be finalised after careful study of the suggestions given by the institute as well as inputs received from other stakeholders,” ICAI said in a statement today.

Circular 3/2014, Dated 24th January, 2014-Finance Act, 2013 ? Explanatory Notes to the Provisions of the Finance Act, 2013

New PAN allotment process to be effective from 03.02.2014 requires PAN applicants to submit self-attested copies of Proof of Identity (POI), Proof of Address (POA) and Date of Birth (DOB) documents and also produce original documents of such POI/POA/DOB documents, for verification at the counter of PAN Facilitation Centres.

Report u/s 394A of the Companies Act, 1956- Regional Director concerned shall invite specific comments from Income Tax Department within 15 days from the receipt of notice before filing response to the Court.

The RBI has today issued a advisory stating that after March 31, 2014, all banknotes issued prior to 2005 will be withdrawn from circulation. From April 1,2014, the public will be required to approach banks for exchanging these notes.

Clarification Regarding TDS under chapter XVII-B on Service tax component comprised in the payments made to residents
NO TDS on the Service tax component if it is indicated separately in the Agreement

CBEC issues a clarificatory Circular on SC’s Fiat judgment. SC in Fiat Case had ruled excise valuation to be based on cost of production. Transaction value not be rejected merely because it is lower than manufacturing cost & profit. Info submitted by the manufacturer duly certified by a Cost Accountant should be normally accepted. Cost Audit of a Unit only in cases where investigation is necessary

RBI allows optionality clauses in equity shares and compulsorily and mandatorily convertible preference shares/debentures to be issued to a person resident outside India under the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Scheme. The optionality clause will oblige the buy-back of securities from the investor at the price prevailing/value determined at the time of exercise of the optionality so as to enable the investor to exit without any assured return. The provision of optionality clause shall be subject conditions specified in the circular:

MCA releases finalised Rules on remuneration/service terms of National Company Law Tribunal under Companies Act,2013 [to be notified in the Official Gazette].

CBDT issues Notification 96/2013 revising forms 49A and 49AA and revising the documentation requirement for allotment of PAN

Clarification with regard to holding of shares of exercising power in a fiduciary capacity - Holding and Subsidiary relationship under Section 2(87) of the Companies Act.2013.

The suggestions to the Draft companies (Cost Records and Cost Audit) Rules, 2013, filed by the Central Council of the institute of Cost Accountants of India, along with the suggested Draft of The Companies (Cost Accounting Records) Rules, 2013 and Draft of the Companies (Cost Audit Report) Rules, 2013 as finalised by the Council

The CBDT has issued an Order dated 13.12.2013 under section 119(2)(ia) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 extending the last date of payment of the December Quarter Instalment of Advance Tax for the financial year 2013-14 from 15th December 2013 to 17th December 2013 for all the assessees, Corporate and other than Corporates.

Appeal from CMA Girish HS to Sh. Sachin Pilot to restore the position established after the issuance of notifications in 2011 & 2012.

Draft (Cost Records/ Audit) rules, 2013 is in contravention of section 148(1) of the Companies Act, 2013. Section148(1) has no scope for specifying the criteria of Turnover or Net worth or Government funding/concession for maintenance of cost accounting records. The Scope for specifying criteria of Turnover or Net worth is given only in Section 148 (2) which is with respect to Cost Audit ONLY.

DRAFT RULES FOR COST AUDIT UNDER 6TH TRANCHE HAS BEEN PUT FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS. LAST DATE FOR GIVING SUGGESTIONS IS 6/12/2013

RBI permits third party payments for export /import transactions. the key condition being the existence of irrevocable Sale/Purchase Order backed by tripartite agreement

Relaxation of last date and additional fee in filing of e Form 23C for Appointment of Cost Auditor up to 30th Nov 2013
-General Circular 17 / 2013 Dated 1st Nov 2013

GHSA wishes all its Clients and Employees a very Happy Deepavali ! and a bright year ahead.

The CBDT has issued an order dated 24.10.2013 under section 119 of the Act in continuation of the order dated 26.09.2013 directing that in cases where the ‘due date’ of furnishing reports of audit and corresponding income-tax returns was 30th September 2013 and where the same are furnished electronically on or before 31st October 2013, such reports of audit and returns of income shall be deemed to have been furnished within the ‘due date’ prescribed under section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961

Vide Notification dated 23.09.2013 CBDT notifies , Rules 10U to 10UC of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 to provide for the entire procedure for monitoring the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR). The relevant forms have also been notified. The said Rules will come into effect on 1st April 2016.

The draft Rules for 9 chapters under the Companies Act 2013 has been made live for public comments in 2nd phase. The last date of receiving comments on these rules is 19/10/2013: visit and provide your feedback.

Safe Harbour Rules Finalized after Considering Comments of Various Stake Holders ; Rules to be Applicable for 5 Assessment Years Beginning from Assessment Year 2013-14.In case of transactions in the nature of routine ITES and ITS activities the earlier ceiling of Rs 100 crore has been removed. Transactions upto Rs. 500 crore have been provided safe harbour margin of 20% and transaction above Rs.500 crore have beenprovided safe harbour margin of 22% .

Forms under Draft Rules in First Phase made live for Public comments. relevant Form No to be selected under the "Select Rule No." field while giving comments

MCA has issued circular 15/2013 Clarifing the implementation of the following sections namely, Sub-section (68) of section 2, Section 102, Section 133, Section 180, in response to difficulties expressed by the stakeholders in the implementation these provisions of the said Act.

In an aggressive move towards implementing the Companies Act, 2013, The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has notified 98 sections of the Companies Act 2013 by way of notification dated 12th September 2013. These sections has come into immediate effect from 12th September 2013. This implies that both Companies Act 1956 and Act 2013 will have to be read together.
The manner in which sections have been notified MCA is also very interesting since in some notified sections, certain sub-sections etc.. have not been notified therefore such sections will have to be complied with the exception of portions/sub-sections which have not been notified..

Draft rules for 16 chapters of Companies Act, 2013 have been issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for public opnion On September 7 2013. The last date for receiving comments on these draft rules ins 8/10/2013

The Companies Bill 2013 received assent from the President Pranab Mukherjee on August 29, 2013. The bill was earlier passed by the rajya sabha on Aug 8, 2013.The new law would replace the nearly 6 decade old Companies Act, 1956 that governs the corporates in India. The Corporate Affairs Ministry is in the process of making the rules for the new legislation and is would be put out on the Ministry's website soon.

Relaxation of last date and additional fee in filing of e Form 23C for Appointment of Cost Auditor up to 31st October 2013
-General Circular 14 2013 Dated 3rd Sep 2013

COST AUDIT ORDER NO. F. No. 52/26/CAB-2010 dated 06.11.2012 will be applicable to all the financial years commencing on or after 1st January 2013 (i.e. FY 2013-14 and onwards) to ALL COMPANIES engaged in production, processing, manufacturing or mining of products/activities (irrespective of whether Central Excise Duty is levied or not), The only exception being those products/activities falling under the 11 chapters of CETA which are not covered by the said order.

The Offline Excel utility for filing half-yearly Service Tax return (ST 3) for the period 1st October, 2012 to 31st March, 2013 is now available in ACES. The same can be downloaded from http://acesdownload.nic.in/. It can also be accessed from 'DOWNLOADS' section of ACES website, www.aces.gov.in. The online version of the same will be made available shortly and the exact date will be intimated on ACES website. All assessees are advised to carefully read the 'Instructions' given in a separate sheet in the ST-3 offline excel utility before filling up the details.

Consequent upon the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Commissioner of Central Excise, MumbaiVs. M/s Fiat India (P) Ltd. & ANR. dated 29th August, 2012, it has been observed that greater responsibilities have been thrown on the shoulders of the Cost Accountants in Practice while undertaking Special Audit under Section 14A of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

CBEC extends the date of e-filing of the new Service Tax Return (ST-3) for the period from 1st July 2012 to 30th September 2012, from 25th March, 2013 to 15th April, 2013.
The electronic version of the ST 3 Return is under development and is expected to be available on ACES around 20th March, 2013.

The Finance Bill 2013, as introduced in Parliament today, 28th February 2013

Key highlights of the Union Budget 2013-12 that was presented today (28th Feb)

Seeks to amend the Service Tax Rules 1994 so as to prescribe the revised return Form ST3 and also stipulate that the last date for filing a return for the period July 2012 to September 2012, is 25th March 2013

TDS return under digital signature optional, new TDS forms and an insertion of new rule to claim TDS refund..... Read more

The Institute releases Guidance Note on Cost Accounting Standard on Administrative Overheads (CAS - 11).

The Institute of Cost Accountants of India releases COST ACCOUNTING STANDARD ON SELLING AND DISTRIBUTION OVERHEADS (CAS-15) )

Extension of last date for "Filing of Cost Audit Report and Compliance Report in the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) mode" to February 28, 2013 - General circular 2/2013