Tiruchirapalli, January 30:The committee constituted by Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to suggest ways to check and bring back black money stashed away in tax havens abroad, would submit its report to the Ministry of Finance soon, according to CA G Ramaswamy, President of the ICAI.
According to him, the committee would submit the report in 10 to 15 days time.
He said, ”the citizens of the US and the UK have to declare his/ her incomes abroad and we have asked the government to introduce a similar law in India also to cull information about black money reserves. In the report, we have also suggested that those who declare their assets and pay the taxes be given concessions on the penalty.”
Replying to a question, he said they want to improve the numerous small and medium level practitioners in the country. International accounting standards have been adapted to Indian market conditions and when applied, could help us face the challenges of a growing economy.
From the 2013-14 academic year, all educational institutions in the country will be brought under a uniform financial reporting structure. This will be carried out in different phases. In the first phase, all higher educational institutions registered with bodies such as All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be trained in the new format of financial reporting, he said.
Responding to another query he said to provide an opportunity for students syudying chartered accountancy to complete an MBA or a research programme in other disciplines, the ICAI has recently signed an MoU with the University of Madras. The agreement, which is the fifth of its kind in the institute’s history, will allow students to take up these programmes where they will be exempted from writing certain papers.
He said there were 127 branches in India and 22 international chapters with the next branch slated for inauguration in Kannur, Kerala, shortly. In Tamil Nadu there are 10 ICAI branches.
He said there were 1,83,000 members and 9 lakh students across the country, of which in Tamil Nadu, there were 2.5 to 3 lakh students, he said.
Mr Ramasamy also pointed out that the Chartered Accountants Amendment Bill has been passed by both the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha, thus, paving the way for limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and multidisciplinary partnerships subject to notification of the relevant provisions, after the assent of President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil and issuance of guidelines for multidisciplinary partnerships by the Council.
He said the bill will allow chartered accountants to have a choice to form a business model of LLPs to offer their services. This legislation will expectedly help them achieve a leadership position in the services sector.
He said they recently submitted the Pre-Budget Memorandum on direct taxes as well as on Indirect Taxes to the CBDT and the CBEC respectively. The recommendations in Pre-Budget Memorandum, 2012 have been finalised on the basis of representations, suggestions received and subsequent discussions held. The core issues regarding the Direct Taxes had also been placed before the CBDT Chairman M C Joshi in a Pre- Budget meeting, he added.
In the Pre-Budget Memorandum, on the Direct Tax front, he said that they have suggested to introduce a requirement to upload the tax audit report digitally signed by the tax auditor to prevent the misuse of details of members in the returns filed by the assessees who are subject to tax audit.
We also suggested for suitable measures to provide relief to the genuine hardship faced by the assessees on account of imposition of penalty where there is no actual concealment of income or no inaccurate particulars of income have been furnished by the assessee, Mr Ramasamy said.
A scheme on the lines of Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme (KVSS) was recommended too for introduction. Another very important recommendation is suggesting deduction of expenditure incurred by corporates on community/social development (both capital and revenue) to provide suitable tax incentives in respect of such CSR Costs.
‘We submitted that this deduction will accelerate the process of development and ensure that our country achieves the goal of being a developed nation,’ he added.
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