KSA Infomatrix

India Inc is set to face first ever tax audit under the goods and services tax (GST) regime. The GST authorities have begun issuing notices for the tax audit exercise, which involves detailed scrutiny of the accounts and records for FY18. Tax authorities have issued notices seeking audit of accounts and records from July 2017 till March 2018, the first year of GST implementation. India had rolled out GST, subsuming multiple state and central taxes, from July 1, 2017. “The notices are being issued for the first time, and taxpayers are being asked to furnish detailed records of GST forms, income tax papers, input service invoices, electronic cash/credit ledger and business agreements, among others,” a person familiar with the development said. Tax authorities had issued a detailed GST manual earlier in June, making it clear that at least 70% of taxpayers in each commissionerate have to be audited. However, extensions given for filing of returns for 2017-18 in 2019 several tim...

India’s Finance Ministry has delivered a challenge to its revenue collectors: meet tax targets despite $20 billion of corporate tax cuts. Through a video conference on Dec. 16, officials were exhorted to meet the direct tax mop-up target of Rs 13.4 lakh crore ($187 billion), a government official told reporters. Collection in the eight months to November grew at 5% from a year earlier, against the desired 17%. The missive shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s urgent need to buoy public finances in a slowing economy where April-November tax collections were half the amount budgeted. Authorities withheld some payments to states and have capped ministries’ expenditure as the fiscal deficit ballooned beyond target. The government’s efforts to maintain its deficit goal goes against advice from some quarters, including central bank Governor Shaktikanta Das, who urged more spending to spur economic growth. It’s uncertain though how much room Modi’s administration has to boost expen...