India is now the hottest destination in the retail space

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Retail in India overtakes China in H1; global brands, hypermarkets expand presence: CBRE

India has topped the Global Retail Development Index in 2017, overtaking China. During the first six months of the year, there were 70 new brands which marked their presence in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.

According to CBRE’s India Retail MarketView Report – H1, 2017, seven new global brands entered the country and investments into the segment by firms/wealth funds touched $200 million.

Additionally, several retail developments were completed across select cities, resulting in around 1.5 million sq.ft. of fresh supply entering the market. During the first half of the year, demand for quality retail space remained robust with a majority of this supply concentrated in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi- NCR.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South-East Asia, CBRE, said: “Our ranking on the 2017 Global Retail Index for developing countries as well as continued investment by private equity players is a demonstration of the sustained preference of international brands to set up, or expand their operations in India.

“With several laws and policies in implementation mode, we are already seeing an increase in consumer and investor confidence. This will have a cascading effect on the retail segment. Overall, retail real estate will continue to grow and witness healthy demand across tier-I and -II cities.”

Vivek Kaul, Head, Retail Services, said, “The fact that demand for quality space continues to outstrip supply is indicative that the retail real estate segment across key cities in India is growing exponentially. While global brands continue to evaluate and consider quality retail developments in the top cities, with growing globalisation, smaller cities are also gaining prominence and witnessing traction.

“While there still remains some ambiguity around the highway liquor ban, resulting in F&B operators being in wait-and-watch mode, the overall market sentiment continues to be positive.”

During the first half of the year, a number of international brands already present in the country expanded their presence. Several hypermarkets too were in expansionary mode, including Big Bazaar, which opened new stores in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Clothing retailers such as Max and Pantaloons were also active during the review period.

According to the report, rental trends continued to vary across key high streets in major cities during the review period. While high streets such as Connaught Place, Khan Market, and South Extension in Delhi and Park Street and Elgin Road in Kolkata witnessed a rental appreciation, rentals in most other high streets remained stable.

At the same time, some high streets such as Linking Road in Mumbai and MG Road in Pune saw a marginal dip in rentals.

Source: The Hindu Businessline

GST Return Filing: How to handle discounts and additional cost

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In order to eliminate ambiguities and avoid litigation due to inaccurate or flawed valuation of goods and services, valuation methods have been provided by the law which act as guidelines to businesses while determining the accurate taxable value.

One of the sea changes brought about by the GST era is the way we determine the value of goods and services.

As a business, one needs to be aware of the changes in the valuation method and also how to go about valuation in some special cases, for e.g. additional charges / discounts, branch transfers (which are taxable under GST) and when a supply is made with money not being the consideration.

In order to eliminate ambiguities and avoid litigation due to inaccurate or flawed valuation of goods and services, valuation methods have been provided by the law which act as guidelines to businesses while determining the accurate taxable value.

Valuation of Taxable Supplies under GST
In the previous tax regime, different methods were adopted to determine the value of the supply, for e.g. –
a) Excise – Based on transaction value or quantity of goods or MRP

b) VAT – Based on sale value

c) Service Tax – Based on taxable value of taxable service rendered

However, in the GST regime, the value of goods and / or services supplied will solely be the transaction value, i.e. the price paid / payable at each point in the supply chain.

 GST Return Filing: How to handle discounts and additional cost

Additional Charges & Expenses
This may lead us to our next question – how do we account for additional charges and expenses, such as discount, packing charges etc. – under the GST regime? Should they be included or excluded from the transaction value?
Similarly, the following are some charges/expenses of supply, which are included in the transaction value –
a) Incidental expenses such as commission
b) Interest/late fee/penalty charged by supplier for delayed payment
c) Subsidies excluding those provided by the Central and State governments
d) Any tax other than GST

e) Any amount payable by supplier, but incurred by receiver

Thus, the transnational value is basis, for including or excluding the charges, in the valuation under GST.

Read more at: The Economic Times

 

Forex reserves hit record high of $393.612 billion

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The gold reserves remained unchanged at $19.943 billion.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 163.8 million to touch a new life-time high of USD 393.612 billion in the week ended August 11, helped by rise in foreign currency assets (FCAs), the Reserve Bank data showed.

In the previous week, the reserves had increased by USD 581.1 million to USD 393.448 billion.

FCAs, a major portion of the overall reserves, rose by USD 175.6 million to USD 369.899 billion, the data showed.

Expressed in US dollar terms, FCAs include effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, the pound and the yen held in the reserves.

The gold reserves remained unchanged at USD 19.943 billion.

 

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declined by USD 5.8 million to USD 1.498 billion.

The country’s reserve position with the IMF also dipped by USD 6 million to USD 2.271 billion, the apex bank said.

Forex reserves in India set to hit $400 bn mark; gain strongest in Asia

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It already touched a new high of $393.61 billion as on August 11, 2017, and the pace of forex reserves accretion has been the strongest since 2005.

India’s foreign exchange reserves are set to hit the $400-billion mark. It already touched a new high of $393.61 billion as on August 11, 2017, and the pace of forex reserves accretion has been the strongest since 2005.

The gain in the country’s forex reserves has been one of the strongest in Asia in the past 12 months.

India remains among the top-ten countries in forex reserve position and has a comfortable import cover of 12 months, as against the norm of three months.

India’s forex reserves touched an all-time low of $5.8 billion at end of March 1991, which could barely finance three weeks’ worth of imports.

It led the Centre to airlift national gold reserves as a pledge to the IMF in exchange for a loan to cover balance of payment debts.

 

The rise in forex reserves has been because of robust foreign direct and institutional investment flows, which made the rupee appreciate over 6% since January this year.

 

As a result of high forex reserves, the Economic Survey volume 2 has highlighted that most reserve-based external sector vulnerability indicators have improved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/forex-reserves-in-india-set-to-hit-400-bn-mark-gain-strongest-in-asia-in-brief-all-you-need-to-know/814706/

I-T plans to pursue property-holders who have never filed income tax returns

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The tax authorities now have the ability to analyse the data they get from multiple sources to identify evaders.

Income tax authorities plan to pursue those who have properties in their name but haven’t ever filed income tax returns on the suspicion that these may be benami holdings on behalf of people looking to conceal their wealth. The exercise is part of the government’s crackdown on black money.

The findings have emerged from the analysis of vast amounts of data that the government has collected. “We have a lot of data from various sources including on investments in property by people who have never filed returns,” said an income tax official. This information will be verified to ascertain the source of income used for the purchase of the properties and to see if these are being held by benami owners.

Enforcement action will be taken only in cases where there is concrete evidence, the official said. Otherwise, tax authorities will follow a non-intrusive approach. In some instances, the properties purchased exceed the income declared and in others, no income tax return has been filed.
The tax authorities now have the ability to analyse the data they get from multiple sources to identify evaders.

Spending and investment data are used to create profiles of individuals and matched with incomes declared in returns. Aside from this, more than 550,000 people have been identified for further probe as part of the second phase of Operation Clean Money for having deposited cash incommensurate with their declared income.

Besides this, some individuals reportedly carried out property transactions after demonetisation. The government had resolved to put in place a stringent framework to deal with black money soon after taking over in May 2014, in line with election promises. It has since taken a series of measures including the establishment of a special investigation team on black money and put in place a new law to deal with undisclosed overseas assets, apart from the benami legislation. Demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November last year was also pitched as a battle against black money.

The income-tax department launched Operation Clean Money soon after the demonetisation exercise. It identified 1.8 million persons for e-verification of large cash deposits.

 

The department has now moved on to phase two of the operation, which also includes a crackdown on benami properties.

The Benami Properties (Prohibition) Act empowers the income tax authorities to confiscate and prosecute both the depositor and the person whose illegal money he or she has “adjusted” in their account. It attracts a heavy fine that could be as much 25% of the fair market value of the asset and rigorous imprisonment of up to seven years.

ET View: Bring Real Estate Under GST
Real estate is a sink for money laundering. The annual information returns, that identify potential tax payers by examining their spending patterns, is useful to track evaders. Property registrars also file information returns. As the department gets a mine of information, it must deploy big data analytics to analyse these transactions. The need is also to bring real estate under the ambit of the goods and services tax to curb benami deals.

 

Source: The Economic Times

Big relief for taxpayers, GST deadline to file returns extended by CBEC to August 28

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In what could bring relief to small taxpayers with cash flow issues, CBEC has extended the deadline for taxpayers claiming input tax credit on transition (pre-GST) stocks to file the first interim returns for July by a week to August 28.

In what could bring relief to small taxpayers with cash flow issues, the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) has extended the deadline for taxpayers claiming input tax credit on transition (pre-GST) stocks to file the first interim returns for July by a week to August 28. However, these taxpayers will have to settle their tax liability by the earlier deadline of August 20.

The deadline for filing returns will continue to be August 20 for assessees who do not opt to claim ITC in July for goods bought before the GST roll-out. “The taxpayers who want to avail the transitional input tax credit should also calculate their tax liability after estimating the amount of transitional credit as per Form TRANS I. They have to make full settlement of the liability after adjusting the transitional input tax credit before 20th August, 2017,” the CBEC said.

The board, however, added that in such cases, the taxpayers will get time till August 28 to submit Form TRANS I and Form 3B on the GST Network, the IT back end. “In case of shortfall in the amount already paid vis-à-vis the amount payable on submission of Form 3B, the same will have to be paid with interest at18% for the period between 21st August, 2017 till the payment of such differential amount,” the CBEC added.

Also, the GST Network is expected to release TRAN-1 and TRAN-2 forms — to be used for claiming ITC on transition stock – on August 21. These new forms will have provision for claiming ITC for pre-GST stocks, addressing the industry’s concerns over absence of the same in the earlier Form 3B.

“While past input tax credit might not bother multinationals and large companies, smaller companies can’t afford to let their working capital inflate,” R.N Iyer, managing director of the GST suvudha provider Vayana Network said.

Although the initial trends suggested a slow rate of tax filings, GSTN officials said that most a substantial chunk of taxpayers tend to file their return on the last two days of the deadline. “GSTN system is capable of handling even half the total load of filers on the last two days as the redundancy was built based on a study that showed the same return-filing trend even in VAT regime,” the official had said.

Till August 5, nearly 87 lakh taxpayers had registered on the GSTN portal as taxpayers under GST. Of this, nearly 71 lakh businesses have migrated from earlier VAT or central excise or service tax regime, while 16 lakh new taxpayers too have registered with the portal. The GSTN had earlier said over 30% of the firms registered on the portal had not completed the second form. This would prevent these businesses from filing returns.

 

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/economy/big-relief-for-taxpayers-gst-deadline-to-file-returns-extended-by-cbec-to-august-28/813156/