SERVICE TAX SWACHH BHARA CESS TO BE INTRODUCED FROM 15 NOVEMBER 2015 AT 0.5%

Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC)  has issued the Notification for date and rate of Swachh Bharat Cess from 15th November 2015 at .5% on value of taxable services. So from 15th Nov 2015 Service Provider has to charge 14% Service Tax and .5% Swachh Bharat Cess on value of taxable services

[TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRAORDINARY, PART II, SECTION 3, SUB-SECTION (i)]

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE)

New Delhi, the 6th November, 2015

 

Notification No. 22/2015-Service Tax

G.S.R. —(E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 93 of the Finance Act, 1994 (32 of 1994) read with sub-section (5) of section 119 of the Finance Act, 2015 (20 of 2015), the Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts all taxable services from payment of such amount of the Swachh Bharat Cess leviable under sub-section (2) of section 119 of the said Act, which is in excess of Swachh Bharat Cess calculated at the rate of 0.5 percent. of the value of taxable services:

Provided that Swachh Bharat Cess shall not be leviable on services which are exempt from service tax by a notification issued under sub-section (1) of section 93 of the Finance Act, 1994 or otherwise not leviable to service tax under section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994.

This notification shall come into force from the 15th day of November, 2015.

 

Extension of Due Date for Filing AOC-4 and MGT 7 to 30th Nov 2015

MCA has extended the due date for filing AOC-4 and MGT-7 E FORM under the Companies Act 2013 to 30th Nov 2015. As AOC-4 XBRL due date was already extended to 30th Nov 2015 through General Circular No.10/2015 dated 13.07.2015.

General Circular No. 14/2015

F. No.01/34/2013-CL.V

Government of India

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

5th  Floor, A wing, Shastri Bhawan

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi

Dated: 28th October, 2015

To

All Regional Directors,

All Registrar of Companies,

All stakeholders

Subject : Relaxation of additional fees and extension of last date of filing of AOC-4, AOC-4 XBRL and MGT-7 E-Forms under the Companies Act, 2013 – reg.

Sir,

In continuation of this Ministry’s General Circular No.10/2015 dated 13.07.2015, keeping in view the request received from various stakeholders, it has been decided to relax the additional fee payable on forms AOC-4 and AOC-4 XBRL upto 30th November, 2015. The additional fee requirement for MGT-7 E-Form is also relaxed for all such forms filed till 30th November, 2015, wherever additional fee is applicable.

2. This issues with the approval of competent authority.

Yours faithfully,

(K.M.S. Narayanan)

Assistant Director

Extension of Due Date of Returns of Income and Audit reports u/s 44AB to 31st Oct 2015

Central Board of Direct Taxes (Income Tax Dept) has extended the due date of Filing Income Tax Return and Audit Report from 30th Sept 2015 to 31st Oct 2015.

F.No.22S/207 /201S/1T A.II

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

North Block, ITA.rr Division

New Delhi dated the 1 st of October, 2015

Order under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 In supersession of orders under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’) dated 30th September, 20 15 vide file of even number, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, in exercise of powers conferred under Section 119 of the Act, hereby orders that the returns of income and audit reports u/s 44AB due for e-filing by 30th September, 20 15 may be filed, across the country, by 3 1 st October, 2015.

(Rohit Garg)

Deputy Secretary to the Government of India

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No Extension of Date for filing of Tax Audit Report and Returns Due by 30th September 2015

Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued the press release and clarified the doubts relating to the extension of time for filing of Tax Audit Report and E-Return filing by the Companies and the Tax Payer required to file return on or before 30th Sept 2015. CBDT has accepted that there was delay in issue of return by 4 months but considering no major changes in the ITR and TAR no extension is required and suggested that tax payer should be file ITR before due date to avoid last minute rush.

Income-tax returns for Assessment Year 2015-16 for certain categories of assessees viz companies, and firms, individuals engaged in proprietary business/profession etc whose accounts are required to be audited, are to be filed by 30th September, 2015. The audit report is also required to be filed by the said date. The Government has received representations from various stakeholders seeking extension of date for filing of returns and tax audit reports beyond 30th September 2015. The reasons cited are delay in notifying the returns and related delay in availability of forms on the e-filing website. The matter has been considered. Income-tax returns forms 3,4,5,6 and 7 which are used by the above mentioned categories of assessees were notified for Assessment Year 2015-16 on 29.07.2015. The forms were e-enabled and were available on the e-filing website of the Department from 7th August 2015 giving enough time for compliance. The changes made to these forms are not extensive as compared to the earlier years. Further taxpayers entering into either international transactions or specified domestic transactions are required to file their returns by 30th November 2015 only. After consideration of all facts, it has been decided that the last date for filing of returns due by 30th September 2015 will not be extended. Taxpayers are advised to file their returns well in time to avoid last minute rush.

Canara Bank Online Application for Empanelment of Concurrent Auditors

Canara Bank invites applications from the eligible/interested Chartered Accountant Proprietary Concerns / Firms / Companies for empanelment as Concurrent Auditors for conducting Concurrent Audit in the identified 650 branches / units for the period from 01.07.2015 to 30.06.2016. Eligible/interested Proprietary Concerns / Firms / Companies, who are agreeable to the above terms & conditions, may apply online only in the application, on or before 26.06.2015.

MANDATORY Conditions for appointment:

1. Applicant should be either a Partnership or Proprietorship firm or a Company, already in the panel of the R B I, which are circulated among the Banks for Statutory Audit of the Banks from time to time. Registration of firm with RBI and category is mandatory.

2. The auditors who are already doing the Concurrent Audit of our branches are eligible for re-empanelment. However, those Audit Firms which are conducting Concurrent Audit of our branches continuously for a period of THREE years or THREE terms are not eligible for re-empanelment. They are eligible for reempanelment after a cooling period of one year.

3. The empanelment and allocation of branches to the auditors will be purely the prerogative of the Bank. Such empanelment shall be initially for a period of one year and can be extended upto a maximum period of 3 years ( subject to clause 2 above) subject to satisfactory performance of the auditor.

4. The Concurrent Audit firm should furnish the name and qualification of the persons, who shall be conducting audit in the branch, to the Bank before commencing audit assignment and such persons will have to continue audit for all the months.

5. The Concurrent Audit firm will undertake that they will not sub contract the audit assignment.

6. The Concurrent Audit firm will not lobby directly or indirectly for considering any credit proposals of their friends/clients to the Bank.

7. The eligible auditor / firms should be qualified under provisions of Section 141 of Companies Act 2013 for appointment as auditors of the Bank. Auditors should not have been disqualified under Section 226 of the Companies Act, 1956 to accept this appointment.

8. The Concurrent Audit firm / or the partners or any of their clients should not have any credit facilities with the auditee branch for which they are applying for except credit facilities against their own deposits.

9. The firm/any partners/Directors of the firm/ Company should not have statutory audit, credit audit, valuation of fixed / current assets or any other similar assignments with any branch of Canara Bank.

10.The firm/any partners/ Directors of the firm/ Company should not have any disciplinary matters pending with ICAI/RBI and they should not have suffered any disqualification.

11.The firms should be having sufficient experience in conducting audits in Banks / our Bank. Other things being equal the Audit Firms with Proprietor/ partner with CISA /DISA qualification will be given preference.

12.The firm should have their office / infrastructure in the proposed Centre/ town / city opted for.

13.Only one branch will be allotted to a selected firm. However, the Bank has the discretion to change the allocation of the branches based on any administrative exigencies.

14.Whenever any of the Proprietor / Partner/ Director of the Audit firm/ Company is related to any of the employees/ Directors of the Bank, the relationship with such employees/ Directors should be specifically mentioned in the application.

15.The Bank has the discretion to consider or reject any of the applications based on any of the RBI / Government / Internal guidelines of the Bank.

16.Only the audit firm provisionally selected for empanelment will be communicated through e-mail. No individual intimation will be sent to the audit firm whose application is not considered for empanelment.

17.The audit firm should give their consent in writing / undertaking letter in the prescribed format agreeing to comply with and bound by the terms and conditions prescribed by the Bank.

18.The Audit Firm selected is eligible for reappointment subject to Annual Review by the Bank upto a maximum period of 3 Terms / 3 Years. The re-appointment may be to the same branch or to any other branch at the discretion of the Bank.

19.The Audit firm shall submit the reports in the prescribed format covering all the Audit areas advised from time to time which includes quarterly Risk Rating of branches. The Auditors shall certify all the reports under branch Statutory Audit system covering NPA provisioning, Insurance Coverage, P & L A/c, CRAR, Certification regarding Tax Audit and other areas to be advised from time to time.

20.The Audit Firm shall sign on the Do’s & Don’ts statement in order to have proper arms length relationship with the Branch / Department for which they will be conducting Audit.

 

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DUE DATE FOR FILLING INCOME TAX RETURN FOR FY 2014-15 i.e. AY 2015-16 is 31st August 2015

CBDT has extended the due date for filing income tax return for FY 2014-15 i.e. AY 2015-2016 from 31st July 2015 to 31st August 2015. Due date is for all the assessee whose accounts are not required to be audited under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force. Again Same has been extended to 7th Sept for tax payers required to efile the return

Section 139: Income Tax Return 

(1) Every person,—

(a)  being a company or a firm; or

(b)  being a person other than a company or a firm, if his total income or the total income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous year exceeded the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax,

shall, on or before the due date, furnish a return of his income or the income of such other person during the previous year, in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed :

In this sub-section, “due date” means,—

(a) where the assessee other than an assessee referred to in clause (aa) is—

 (i)  a company; or

(ii)  a person (other than a company) whose accounts are required to be audited under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force; or

 (iii) a working partner of a firm whose accounts are required to be audited under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force,

the 30th day of September of the assessment year;

(aa) in the case of an assessee who is required to furnish a report referred to in section 92E, the 30th day of November of the assessment year;

(b) in the case of a person other than a company, referred to in the first proviso to this sub-section, the 31st day of October of the assessment year;

(c) in the case of any other assessee, the 31st day of July of the assessment year.

F.No.225/154/201511TA.II
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
North Block, !TAM Division

New Delhi, the 10m June, 2015.

Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act 1961

Subject:- Extension of due date of filing return of income for Assessment Year 2015-16 — regarding.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes, in exercise of powers conferred under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, hereby extends the ‘due-date’ for filing Returns of Income, in terms of clause (c) of Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for Assessment Year 2015-16 from 31 July, 2015 to 31 August, 2015 in respect of income tax assessees concerned.

(Richa Rastogi)
Under secretary to the Government of India Copy to:-
1. PS to F.M. / OSD to FM / PS to MOS(R) / OSD to MOS(R).
2. PS to Secretary (Revenue).
3. Chairperson (DT), All Members, Central Board of Direct Taxes
4. All PCCsIT / PDGsIT
5. All Joint Secretaries / CsIT, CBDT
6. Directors / Deputy Secretaries / Under Secretaries of Central Board of
Direct Taxes.
7. DIT (RSP&PR) / Systems, New Delhi, for appropriate publicity by
putting it on departmental website.
8. The C&AG of India (30 copies).
9. The JS & Legal Advisor, Ministry of Law & Justice, New Delhi
10. The DG, NADT, Nagpur
11. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, IP Estate, New Delhi-
110003
12. All Chambers of Commerce
13. CIT(OSD) Official Spokesperson of CBDT
1/4….,14( Addl. CIT, Data Base Cell for putting it on irsofficersonline.govin

 

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Section 180: Restrictions on Powers of Board

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India has published a circular with clarification with regard to Section 180 of the Companies Act, 2013.

The MCA acknowledged of receiving many representations regarding various difficulties arising out of implementation of Section 180 of the Act with reference to borrowings and/or creation of security, based on the basis of ordinary resolution.

The Ministry clarified that the resolution passed under Section 293 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 of the Companies Act, 2013 for a period of one year from the date of notification of Section 180 of the Act.

As per General Circular No. 04/2014 issued by MCA on 25/03/2014 clearly explain in the circular that the company has passed a ordinary resolution before 12/09/2013 so it can use borrowing funds till 11/09/2014 and immediately after this date the company has passed a special resolution in General meeting for continues using these funds in the future.

Thus, need of special resolution for the decision or borrow money (funds) which exceeding the paid up capital and free reserves of the company.

Further, borrowing powers now require approval by shareholders and applicable to both Public and Private Limited Companies, i.e., All companies covered u/s 180 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Corresponding Provisions of the Companies Act, 1956: Section 293

This section shall be read with Section 221 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Exercise of power without consent of members is exercise of powers beyond the authority of the Board and is ultra vires. And if the Board of Directors borrows in excess of the limits and without consent of members by Special Resolution, then the debt incurred by the Company shall not be valid or effectual. Since no specific penalty or punishment is prescribed for contravention of the Section, general penalty prescribed under Section 450 of the Act is applicable.

In Re.: United Spirits Limited, 2015(2) AKR 243

The sale of an undertaking is covered u/s 293(1)(a) of the Companies Act, 1956 upto 11/09/2013 and with effect from 12/09/2013 u/s 180(1)(a) and sub-section (49 of the Companies Act, 2013, which speaks of the restrictions of the powers of the Board. Therefore, in terms of Section 180 of the Companies Act, 2013 the approval of the BOD is required. In case a sale of an undertaking required the approval of the Honorable High Court, then such a condition would exist in Section 180. However, Section 180 does not provide for any approval by the High Court. Therefore, the Scheme of Demerger does not require the approval of the High Court u/s 180. In a Scheme of Demerger, Regional Director (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) objected that the Scheme of Demerger was only a high-off by way of a slump sale.

Reference:

According to Companies Act, 2013

Section 180: Restrictions on powers of Board

(1) The Board of Directors of a company shall exercise the following powers only with the consent of the company by a special resolution, namely:—

(a) To sell, lease or otherwise dispose of the whole or substantially the whole of the undertaking of the company or where the company owns more than one undertaking, of the whole or substantially the whole of any of such undertakings.

Explanation. — for the purposes of this clause,—

(i) “Undertaking” shall mean an undertaking in which the investment of the company exceeds twenty per cent of its net worth as per the audited balance sheet of the preceding financial year or an undertaking which generates twenty per cent of the total income of the company during the previous financial year.

(ii) The expression “substantially the whole of the undertaking” in any financial year shall mean twenty per cent or more of the value of the undertaking as per the audited balance sheet of the preceding financial year.

(b) To invest otherwise in trust securities the amount of compensation received by it as a result of any merger or amalgamation

(c) To borrow money, where the money to be borrowed, together with the money already borrowed by the company will exceed aggregate of its paid-up share capital and free reserves, apart from temporary loans obtained from the company’s bankers in the ordinary course of business:

Provided that the acceptance by a banking company, in the ordinary course of its business, of deposits of money from the public, repayable on demand or otherwise, and withdrawable by cheque, draft, order or otherwise, shall not be deemed to be a borrowing of monies by the banking company within the meaning of this clause.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this clause, the expression “temporary loans” means loans repayable on demand or within six months from the date of the loan such as short-term, cash credit arrangements, the discounting of bills and the issue of other short-term loans of a seasonal character, but does not include loans raised for the purpose of financial expenditure of a capital nature; Restrictions on powers of Board.

(d) To remit, or give time for the repayment of, any debt due from a director.

(2) Every special resolution passed by the company in general meeting in relation to the exercise of the powers referred to in clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall specify the total amount up to which monies may be borrowed by the Board of Directors.

(3) Nothing contained in clause (a) of sub-section (1) shall affect—

(a) the title of a buyer or other person who buys or takes on lease any property, investment or undertaking as is referred to in that clause, in good faith.

(b) The sale or lease of any property of the company where the ordinary business of the company consists of, or comprises, such selling or leasing.

(4) Any special resolution passed by the company consenting to the transaction as is referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (1) may stipulate such conditions as may be specified in such resolution, including conditions regarding the use, disposal or investment of the sale proceeds which may result from the transactions:

Provided that this sub-section shall not be deemed to authorize the company to effect any reduction in its capital except in accordance with the provisions contained in this Act.

(5) No debt incurred by the company in excess of the limit imposed by clause (c) of sub-section (1) shall be valid or effectual, unless the lender proves that he advanced the loan in good faith and without knowledge that the limit imposed by that clause had been exceeded.

Punjab & Sind Bank Online Application Empanelment of Chartered Accountant for Concurrent Audit

Punjab & Sind Bank Online Application Empanelment of Chartered Accountant for Concurrent Audit. Last Date for Empanelment Application is by 31st May 2015. 

Eligibility Criteria For Chartered Accountant for Concurrent Audit 

  • Partnership firm with at least one FCA Partner.
  • Firm should be 3 year old
  • The firms Should be Registered with the RBI panel (UCN Number with Category)
  • Atleat one Partner or Employee should be qualified Information System Auditor (CISA/DISA) with adequate exposure of more than 1 year in systems audit.
  • Tenure of the concurrent audit would be initially for one year and can be extended for a further period of one year (overall two years)

The following criteria shall be adopted while selecting a firm for concurrent audit assignment:

i. The Chartered Accountants firm should preferably be a partnership firm with at least one FCA partner. The auditor has to attend branch/office for at least 14 days in a calendar month. The FCA would visit the branch personally at least 4 times in a month or as decided by the bank.

ii. The Sole Proprietorship Chartered Accountant firms will be discouraged, however, in case proprietor is a FCA and has employed an ex-banker of scale-II & above for conducting concurrent audit, the Bank, on merit of each such case, would consider the application. The auditor has to attend branch/office for at least 14 days in a calendar month. Further, in such cases the FCA would visit the branch personally at least 4 times in a month or as decided by the bank.

iii. The license of the proprietor / Key Person of the partnership concern has been issued for Full Time practice by The Institute of Chartered Accountants and the proprietor/ Key Person of the partnership firm is not in another Full Time Service.

iv. The firms will be selected from the RBI panel as per gradation suggested for Branch Statutory Auditor appointment.

v. The firms should prefferable have qualified Information System Auditor (CISA/DISA) with adequate exposure of more than 1 year in systems audit. IS audit would be conducted in accordance with IS Audit policy of the Bank & as per format provided by the bank, which should form an integral part of concurrent audit.

vi. The firms should have been established for at least 3 years prior to the date of application. The audit firm or any sister / associate concern / network firm should not have been debarred/de-paneled/ is not conducting the statutory audit of the Bank or any of its branches. Preference will be given to the firms where the partners themselves were ex-bankers or the firm has got tie-up with ex-bankers, of scale-II & above, with requisite experience and exposure. In case, CA firm is doing auditing work/providing any professional Services to any of the customers of the Bank, this must be disclosed by way of an undertaking/declaration given below: “ We have been allotted Concurrent Audit work of your Branch Office……………… for the period………..to ………….. . In this regard, it is declared that our firm is / has been providing Professional Services/ is an Auditor of the following customers of the Branch. This declaration must be enclosed with every monthly/quarterly report sent by you.”

vii. The firm is not in any case disqualified under provision of Sec.226 of Companies Act, 1956. The firm or any of its associate firm(s) have never been de-paneled due to poor performance.

viii. Preference should be given to those firms who have adequate exposure in conducting concurrent audit of the Bank branches of public sector / major private sector banks.

ix. The firms should have necessary office set up within same city or periphery of the allotted branch/office and adequate personnel to ensure proper deployment and timely completion of the assignments.

x. The firm has to undertake Risk Based Concurrent Audit as per checklist & audit formats of the Bank. On the implementation of Risk Based Concurrent Audit system in the bank the concurrent auditors would give rating or grade, as per policy of the bank, for the audit entity. This rating should be based on his observations about branch functioning.

xi. The firm would mandatorily sign the Do’s & Don’t statement & abide by Do’s & Don’ts issued by the Bank.

xii. The tenure of the concurrent audit would be initially for one year and can be extended for a further period of one year (overall two years), based on the performance of the auditor in the first year, provided the firm applies afresh online for the year and the firms may be considered for audit assignment in other audit units/ locations or areas. However, after having conducted concurrent audit for two years continuously, the concerned CCA will be given one year break (Cooling period), before reappointing them or their associate concern(s).

xiii. At any point of time, not more than one audit assignment would be awarded to any single firm. An audit assignment that needs to be carried out across the branches/ units at different locations would be considered as a single assignment for this purpose.

xiv. Cooling period of two years would be observed for a firm to become eligible for appointment in the same audit unit purely at the discretion of the Bank and no rights whatsoever accrue to the firm for such appointment.

xv. The audit coverage should be strictly as per the scope of audit as may be decided by the Bank from time to time.

xvi. The concurrent auditor should not undertake any other activity/ assignment on behalf of the branch or unit without obtaining the prior concurrence of the audit department in writing.

xvii. The present fee structure is as under:

Sr. No. Criteria for Remuneration (Deposits + Advances) at branch  Amount of Remunerationpayable per month (lump sum)  in Rupees
1 Up to 100 Crore

10000/-

2 Over Rs.100 Crore & up to Rs.300 Crore

12000/-

3 Over Rs.300 Crore & up to Rs.500 Crore

14000/-

4 Over Rs.500 Crore & up to Rs.1000 Crore

16000/-

5 Over Rs.1000 Crore

18000/-

6 Service Branches

7500/-

7 Treasury & Dealing Rooms (HO Foreign Exchange Dept)

12000/-

8 Investment Portfolio (HO Investment Dept.)

12000/-

9 H.O.I.T Department

12000/-

The above fee is exclusive of Service Tax.

xviii. No out of pocket expenses or traveling allowance / halting allowance would be paid to the concurrent audit firms for carrying out the assignment. However, the service tax, education cess etc. would be paid as applicable from time to time in addition to the basic fee. The concurrent auditors may be reimbursed actual out of pocket expenses incurred in connection with travel involved for conducting stock audits. The payment to the concurrent auditors would be subject to deduction of tax at source at appropriate rates.

xix. All the necessary certificates that need to be given as a part of the concurrent audit assignment (Bills of Entry verification, A1/A2 Forms etc.) would be given by the audit firm under its letterhead without any additional certification fee.

xx. On the implementation of Risk Based Concurrent Audit system in the bank the concurrent auditors would give rating or grade, as per policy of the bank, for the audit entity. This rating should be based on his observations about branch functioning.

xxi. The Concurrent auditor shall use the checklist and other operating guidelines provided by the Bank. Need based training / consultation would be provided to them for enhancing the quality of the audit.

xxii.The Concurrent auditor i.e. Chartered Accountant Firm will also undertake stock audit function for which they will be suitably remunerated, as per policy of the Bank.

xxiii.All matters of grave nature, as defined & communicated by the Bank from time to time, which are likely to cause loss to the bank, in respect of which immediate action is called for on the part of the Branch/Zonal/Head Office have to be informed immediately by way of Confidential/Flash Reports. Before drawing up the report, the Concurrent Auditor should have a thorough discussion with the in-charge of audit unit to ascertain all relevant points/facts on the subject to be covered in the confidential/flash report. The copies of reports need not be given to the Branch. Such reports should be sent to General Manager (Inspection) with a copy to respective Zonal Manager. The Concurrent Auditor should invariably furnish therein his views/opinion/conclusions based on his findings.

xxiv.The concurrent audit report is to be submitted to Branch, Zonal Office and respective Zonal Inspectorate, however, CCAR for quarter end is to be submitted to HO. Inspection Dept. also.

xxv.A formal wrap-up discussion with the in-charges of audit unit along with the concurrent auditors will be held once in quarter with the Zonal Manager, at Zonal Office. In case of audit of departments at Head Office, the wrap up discussion with HOD alongwith concurrent auditors would be held with General Manger (Inspection) once in a quarter at Head Office.

xxvi.The CCA should ensure that the deficiencies pointed out in the concurrent audit reports are rectified & closed within a reasonable period, as prescribed by the bank. The pending issues of the previous reports need to be mentioned as a persisting irregularity/deficiency in the subsequent reports and the audit reports i.e. monthly and quarter ended. The concurrent audit reports of quarter end are to be formally closed once in a quarter.

xxvii.The concurrent auditor is to submit the report (a softcopy through email followed by Hard copy) strictly as per the schedule prescribed. Any delay in submission should result in withholding the professional fee, which should be released after the approval from General Manager (Inspection). Repeated instance would lead to cancellation of assignment.

xxviii.The concurrent auditor to carry out assignment in a professional manner and in case of any misconduct & negligence the Bank will report the matter to ICAI / RBI. This will be in addition to the disengagement from the assignment.

xxix.In the event of colluding with customer/third part causing pecuniary loss/damage to the bank, the bank shall recommend the name of the concurrent auditor to IBA for inclusion in its caution list circulated among banks on the advice of RBI, besides termination of assignment.

xxx. In addition to above, the audit firms shall:

a) Execute undertaking of fidelity and secrecy on its letterhead in the format prescribed by the Bank.

b) Not sub-contract the audit work assigned to any outside firm or other persons even though such persons are qualified Chartered Accountants.

c) Furnish a declaration that credit facilities availed by the firm or partners or firms in which they are partners or directors including any facility availed by a third party for which the firm or its partners are guarantor/s have not turned or are existing as non- performing assets as per the prudential norms of RBI. In case the declaration is found incorrect, the assignment would get terminated besides the firm being liable for any action under ICAI / RBI guidelines.

d) Print of Online application, ICAI Constitution Certificate, ICAI Membership Certificate, DISA/CISA certificate should be submitted latest by 31st May 2015 to:

Deputy General Manager (I) Punjab & Sind Bank
H.O. Inspection Department,
06,Scindia House, Connaught Place,
New Delhi-110001
E-mail – [email protected]
Phone – 011- 23716646/23716647/23718685
Fax- 23714911

Any other terms and conditions of the assignment would be decided by the Bank on a case-to-case basis.

United Bank of Indian Application by Chartered Accountant for Empanelment of Concurrent & Revenue Audit

United Bank of India has invited the Application from Chartered Accountant Firms for Empanelment of Concurrent & Revenue Audit. Last Date for Online Application is 1st June 2015.

Notice for CA firms applying for empanelment as Concurrent/Revenue Auditor

1. United Bank of India invites application from practicing Firms of Chartered Accountants in India who fulfill the eligibility criteria as mentioned here under and are willing to have their firms empanelled as Concurrent Auditor and Revenue Auditor of the Bank for conducting Concurrent Audit and Revenue Audit of branches/offices.

2. The Application should be submitted on-line in the prescribed format given in Bank’s website www.unitedbankofindia.com

3. Incomplete application will not be entertained.

4. Mere submission of application does not, in any way, constitute guarantee for empanelment / allotment of the audit job of any nature from the bank. The empanelment and allocation of the branches to the auditors will be purely the prerogative of the Bank.

5. Only those CA Firms, who would be allotted the Audit assignments, would be required to submit their testimonials along with the hardcopy of the submitted online application form duly signed with seal. No other typed or handwritten application form shall be accepted.

6. The CA firms earlier empanelled with the bank for above purpose prior to this notification are also to submit their applications as our entire previous empanelment stands cancelled.

The eligibility criteria for such empanelment of CA firms with the Bank are as under:

1. The Firm should be in RBI empanelment.

2. The firm shall have experience of Concurrent Audit/ Statutory Audit of minimum three other Banks.

3. The firm having DISA (ICAI)/ CISA (IASCA) qualified chartered accountants and/or having completed certified course on Concurrent Audit from ICAI will be preferred.

4. For North Eastern States, chartered accountants may be empanelled having no experience of Bank Audit but should be doing practice for at least 5 years.

5. For Branches located in hardship/difficult areas other than in North Eastern States, firms having experience of Concurrent Audit / Statutory Audit of at least one Bank may be empanelled.

The CA firms fulfilling the above criteria as applicable to them and narrated under para-1 to para-5 only are requested to submit their application online through our Bank’s Website www.unitedbankofindia.com latest by 01.06.2015 up to 6.00 p.m. In case of any difficulty in filing of the online application, the CA firms are requested to mail the problem to the mail ids [email protected] or [email protected] along with the screenshot of the webpage where problem is encountered.

NEW SERVICE TAX RATE OF 14% EFFECTIVE FROM 1st JUNE 2015

Government of India i.e. Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) has issued the notification no D.O.F.No.334/5/2015-TRU on 19th may 2015 regarding the change in service tax rate from 12% to 14% and new service tax rate of 14% will be effective from 1st June 2015. Current Service Tax Rate of 12%+2%+1%=12.36% will remain applicable till 30th May 2015 from 1st June 2015 new rate of 14% shall come into force. Another addition of 2% i.e. Swachh Bharat Cess to this rate of 14% will remain pending till notified by the central government.

New Delhi, the 19th May, 2015
D.O.F.No.334/5/2015-TRU

The Finance Bill, 2015, has received the assent of the Honorable President and has been notified. In the Budget, 2015, certain amendments in the Finance Act, 1994 have been incorporated through the Finance Act, 2015, which will come into effect from a date to be notified. In this regard, 1st June, 2015 is being notified as the date on which the provisions as specified in paragraph 2 below will come into effect. Certain provisions in some notifications already issued, will also come into effect from 1st June, 2015.

2. Following provisions will come into effect from 1st June, 2015.

2.1 Section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994, prescribes the service tax rate. It has been amended by Section 108 of the Finance Act, 2015. The rate of Service Tax is being increased from 12% to 14% (including cesses). The increase in Service Tax rate will come into effect from 1st June, 2015. (Notification No.14/2015-Service Tax, dated 19th May, 2015 refers)

2.2 Sections 153 and 159 of the Finance Act, 2015 provide that section 95 of the Finance (No.2) Act, 2004 and section 140 of the Finance Act, 2007, levying Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess, respectively, on taxable services, shall cease to have effect from a date to be notified by the Central Government. The above provisions levying Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess should also cease to have effect from 1st June, 2015. (Notification No.14/2015-Service Tax, dated 19th May, 2015 refers), that is the date with effect from which the increase in the Service Tax rate comes into effect.

2.3 The Negative List entry [section 66D (j)] that covers “admission to entertainment event or access to amusement facility” is to be omitted vide section 109 (4) of The Finance Act, 2015. Section 65B (9) and 65B (24) of the Finance Act, 1994 defines amusement facility and entertainment event, respectively. These entries in the definitions have been omitted by the Section 107 (a) and (c) of the Finance Act, 2015. These changes will come into effect from 1st June, 2015. The implication of these changes are as follows,-
(a) Service Tax shall be levied on the service provided by way of access to amusement facility providing fun or recreation by means of rides, gaming devices or bowling alleys in amusement parks, amusement arcades, water parks and theme parks.
(b) Service tax shall be levied on service by way of admission to entertainment event of concerts, pageants, musical performances concerts, award functions and sporting events other than the recognized sporting event, if the amount charged is more than Rs. 500 per person for the right to admission to such an event.
This levy would come into effect from 1st June, 2015. (Notification No.14/2015-Service Tax, dated 19th May, 2015 refers)

2.3.1 However, the existing exemption, by way of the Negative List entry, to service by way of admission to entertainment event, namely, exhibition of cinematographic film, circus, recognized sporting event, dance, theatrical performance including drama and ballet shall be continued, through the route of exemption. Entry 47 and definition of “recognised sporting event” [paragraph 2 entry „zab‟] has been inserted in notification No. 25/2012-ST vide S.No.1.(xii) and S. No. 2.(b) respectively of notification No. 06/2015-ST dated 1st March, 2015. This entry will also come into effect from 1st June, 2015. (Notification No.16/2015-Service Tax, dated 19th May, 2015)

2.4 The entry in the Negative List [section 66D (f)] that covers service by way of any process amounting to manufacture or production of goods has been amended vide section 109(2) of Finance Act, 2015, to exclude any service by way of carrying out any processes for production or manufacture of alcoholic liquor for human consumption. Consequently, Service Tax shall be levied on contract manufacturing/job work for production of potable liquor for a consideration. In this context, the definition of the term “process amounting to manufacture or production of goods” [section 65 B (40)] has also been amended vide section 107 (f) of the Finance Act, 2015. This levy would come into effect from 1st June, 2015. (Notification No.14/2015-Service Tax, dated 19th May, 2015 refers)

2.4.1 A consequential amendment in S. No. 30 of notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20th June, 2012, to exclude intermediate production of alcoholic liquor for human consumption from ambit of the exemption, will also come into effect from 1st June, 2015. [Notification No. 06/2015-ST dated 1st March 2015 Entry at Sl. No. 1.(ix)] (Notification No.16/2015-Service Tax, dated 19th May, 2015 refers)

2.5 An entry in the Negative list covers betting, gambling or lottery [Section 66D (i)]. This entry has been amended by section 109 (3) of the Finance Act, 2015 so as to include an explanation that “betting, gambling or lottery” shall not include the activity carried out by a lottery distributor or selling agent in relation to promotion, marketing, organising, selling of lottery or facilitating in organising lottery of any kind, in any other manner. The objective of making these exclusions was to make it explicitly clear that while lottery per se is not subject to service tax, aforesaid services in relation to lottery will be taxable. This will come into effect from 1st June, 2015. (Notification No.14/2015-Service Tax, dated 19th May, 2015 refers)

2.6 In respect of certain services like money changing service, service provided by air travel agent, insurance service and service provided by lottery distributor and selling agent, the service provider has been allowed to pay service tax at an alternative rate subject to the conditions as prescribed under rules 6(7), 6(7A), 6(7B) and 6(7C) of the Service Tax Rules, 1994. Consequent to the upward revision in Service Tax rate, the said alternative rates shall also be revised proportionately.

2.6.1 Amendments to this effect have been made in the Service Tax Rules which will also come into effect from 1st June, 2015, that is the date with effect from which the increase in the Service Tax rate is made effective. [Notification No. 05/2015-ST 1st March 2015 Entry at Sl. No. 2(a)(e)(ii)] (Notification No.15/2015-Service Tax, dated 19th May, 2015 refers)
3. Presently, services provided by Government or a local authority, excluding certain services specified under clause (a) of section 66D, are covered in the Negative List. An enabling provision has been made, by amending section 66D (a) (iv), to exclude all services provided by the Government or local authority to a business entity from the Negative List [section 109(1) of Finance Act, 2015]. Consequently, the definition of “support service” [section 65 B (49)] is also to be omitted from date to be notified [section 107(h) of Finance Act, 2015].

As and when this amendment is given effect to, all services provided by the Government or local authority to a business entity, except the services that are specifically exempted, or covered by any another entry in the Negative List, shall be liable to service tax. The date from which this amendment would come into effect will be notified in due course.

4. An enabling provision has been incorporated in the Finance Act, 2015 vide section 117 (Chapter VI) to impose a Swachh Bharat Cess on all or any of the taxable services at a rate of 2% or lower on the value of such taxable services. This cess shall be levied on such services at such rate from such date as may be notified by the Central Government. The date from which this amendment would come into effect will be notified in due course.

5. In other words, date of effect of the provisions discussed in para 3 & 4 above are not being notified at present.

6. Amendments have been made by Sections 113, 114 and 115 in the Finance Act, 1994, in order to impart greater clarity and align the service tax provisions with those in Central Excise by adding provisions relating to closure of proceedings in sections 76, 78 and 78B. A similar alignment with the central excise provisions has been done in sections 76(2) and 78(2) with respect to cases where the appellate authority increases the duty or penalty. These changes have come into effect immediately after enactment of Finance Bill, 2015.

7. All the above changes may be brought to the notice of trade and industry and wide publicity may be made in this regard.