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The Institution that he belonged to turned 50 recently. He himself had turned 100, 2.5 years back. However he didn’t live to see the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Institution. In July this year, he bid good bye at a ripe, grand age of 102 years, 5 months. Rarest of rare, isn’t it ? Especially when you consider that he was active till the end. Had a good memory. Walked around. Heard fairly well. Spoke coherently. Most of all took pride in the fact that he belonged to the profession of Company Secretaries – the profession which just turned golden formally on 4th October, 2017. Yours truly belongs to the same profession that is generally low key but carries tremendous responsibility to uphold the governance in corporate India.
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| Shifting gears from Corporate Governance to National Governance, our Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) celebrated its 50th anniversary at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi in a display of grand showmanship, where PM Modi spoke at length about the achievements of his Government. We would have loved to hear more from him on issues directly relevant to our profession and us but we did not miss the big picture on the economy and the concluding call for action from him to the CS – the sentinels of Governance ! |
| On this occasion, I am happy and proud to share with all of you an interview I did with this gentleman ………..Mr. V Krishnamurti (V K Murti), a CA and a CS who had turned 100 in 2015. Today he is no more with us but the nuggets of wisdom I got from that single conversation are worth recalling. |
- One professional qualification is not enough. One needs to constantly upgrade oneself
- Dismiss worries. Do not get disturbed. Ensure there is no mental conflict
- Always felt I can and I will, much before Obama said it
- Be courageous, firm & strong. Be bold in pointing out violations – Uphold sanctity of the section
- Don’t bring work home. Exercise well. Walk every day
- Approach people with tact and caution
- What you write and how you write is critical – be brief, precise, clear and keep it short
- Personal efficiency is most important. Do as best as you can
- Books are an inspiration. Read, condense and write a book in 20 lines. Will do wonders for you
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“A Company Secretary must be kind, considerate, smooth and understanding when public approach him. There should be no room for high handedness just because he is elevated as a KMP (Key Managerial Personnel)”.
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Read the complete @ “Interview with VKM”. You will agree with me that what the grand old man said is true for all professionals.
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The 175th issue of Lexspeak is packed with many, many important regulatory updates. Invariably the major chunk relates to GST which is on the churning path of so-called evolution and ‘in-favour-of-the-economy’ ! For our earlier issues do visit the Resource Centre at sharadasc.com.
Happy Reading
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In order to ease the burden of compliances for small and medium businesses (SMEs), various measures have been recommended at the 22nd GST Council, the highlights of which are as follows: |
- Aggregate turnover increased from Rs. 75 lakhs to Rs. 1 crore for registration under the GST Composition Scheme. For Special category States, except Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand, limit increased from Rs. 50 lacs. to Rs. 75 lacs.
- Irrespective of the aggregate annual turnover, GST registration was earlier mandatorily required for any person making inter-state supplies. It has been now decided to exempt service providers whose aggregate turnover is less than Rs. 20 lakhs (Rs. 10 lakhs in special category states except J&K) from obtaining GST registration.
- SMEs with an annual aggregate turnover of less than Rs.1.5 crores need not file the Forms GSTR-1, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 Return every month. Instead, only quarterly returns are required to be filed and taxes also to be paid on a quarterly basis, commencing from the October – December 2017 quarter.
- The Reverse Charge Mechanism suspended till 31.03.2018.
- TDS/TCS Provisions postponed till 31.03.2018.
- E-way bill system to be in effect from 01.04.2018.
- Taxpayers with annual aggregate turnover up to Rs. 1.5 crores will not be required to pay GST at the time of receipt of advances on account of supply of goods. The GST on such advance received will be payable only when the supply of goods is made.
- Services provided by Goods Transport Agency (GTA) to an unregistered person to be exempted from GST.
- Invoicing Rules are being modified to provide relief to certain classes of registered persons.
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| Name of Return |
Period of Filing |
Due date for filing |
| GSTR-3B |
For the month of September, 2017 |
20th October, 2017 |
| For the month of October, 2017 |
20th November, 2017 |
| For the month of November, 2017 |
20th December, 2017 |
| For the month of December, 2017 |
20th January, 2018 |
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The date for filing TRAN-1 has been extended to October 31, 2017.
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Casual Taxable persons who are making inter-state taxable supplies of handicraft goods and availing the benefit of notification 8/2017 of the IGST Act, dated 14th Sept 2017, whose aggregate value of supplies computed on all India basis is less than Rs. 20 lakhs or Rs. 10 lakhs on all India basis for persons located in special category states need not obtain registration. However, they will still be required to obtain an Income Tax PAN and generate e-way bill in accordance with the CGST Rules, 2017.
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Under the CGST Rules, 2017, a new sub-rule 3A has been inserted which provides that a person who has obtained a provisional registration by migration under Rule 24 of the CGST Rules, 2017 or who has applied under Rule 8 for a new registration, may opt for payment of tax under Composition Scheme of the CGST Act and Rules from 1st October 2017 by filing form CMP-02 on the GST portal and filing form ITC-03 within 90 days from the said date. Further the notification prohibits the filing of TRAN-1 after filing ITC-03.
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Only exporters with turnover of Rs. 1 crore and above, were eligible to issue LUT, in respect of exports without payment of IGST. The facility of furnishing LUT is now extended to all exporters, which is sure to benefit small exporters who were facing problems in submission of bonds / Letter of Undertaking (LUT) for exports.
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Real estate construction services are taxable @ 18%. The value of supply is eligible for one-third deemed deduction where the property includes transfer of land or undivided share of land. They have now clarified that this provision is also applicable in respect of joint venture agreements. However, the deemed deduction is not available to the units transferred to the land owner by the developer.
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Clarification has been provided by MCA regarding the implementation of Ind AS wherein the holding company has either Payment Banks or Small Finance Banks as its subsidiaries.
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If the Holding Company is following the Corporate sector roadmap for implementation of Ind AS, and if it has Payment Bank or Small Finance Bank as its subsidiary, then subsidiary shall follow the banking sector roadmap prescribed by RBI. Such subsidiary shall provide the Ind AS financial data to its holding Company for the purpose of consolidation.
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In addition to Private Companies, now IFSC Public Company may accept deposits from its members not exceeding 100% of aggregate of the paid up share capital, free reserves and securities premium account and details of monies so accepted shall be filed in Form DPT-3.
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Exemption has been given to the following classes of private companies, i.e.:-
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(i) a Start-up private company (for five years from the date of its incorporation);
(ii) a private company which fulfils all of the following conditions, namely:-
(a) which is not an associate or a subsidiary company of any other company;
(b) the borrowings of such a company from banks or financial institutions or any body corporate is less than twice of its paid up share capital or fifty crore rupees, whichever is less, and
(c) such a company has not defaulted in the repayment of such borrowings subsisting at the time of accepting deposits under section 73:
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New form DPT-3 is yet to be made operational. It is likely to be released in November, 2017.
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W.e.f 20th September, 2017, proviso to Section 2(87) of the Act dealing with limit imposed on having two layers of subsidiaries has come into effect. Companies (Restriction on Number of Layers) Rules, 2017 has also been notified.
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- Now, no Company, other than banking company, a systematically important NBFC registered with the RBI, an insurance company, or a government company, can have more than 2 layers of subsidiaries.
- The cap of 2 layers will not affect a company from acquiring an overseas company that has subsidiaries beyond 2 layers as per the laws of such country.
- One layer which consists of one or more wholly owned subsidiary (ies) shall not be taken into account while computing the layers of subsidiaries.
- The said Rules will apply prospectively and the existing holding companies do not need to reduce their existing layers of subsidiaries, in our understanding.
- Companies having more than 2 layers of subsidiaries must report to ROC in Form CRL-1 within 150 days from date of publication of these Rules.
- Such companies shall not add additional layer of subsidiaries hereafter.
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As per Section 164 of the Companies Act, 2013, any person who is or has been a director in a company which has not filed financial statements or annual returns for any continuous period of three financial years shall not be eligible for re-appointment as a director in that company or appointed in other company for a period of five years from the date on which the said company fails to do so. Further, Section 167 of the Act provides that on suffering the aforesaid disqualification, the Director shall vacate the office in all other companies.
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MCA has now identified more than 1 lakh directors of shell companies for disqualification, who are now barred to continue to act as director of any company. Their DIN has also been blocked. This is coming as a shock to many entrepreneurs who have floated companies in the past and have conveniently forgotten to ensure annual filing!!! Do check out the list of such disqualified directors uploaded state-wise on www.mca.gov.in.
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Note: The contents of this Newsletter are only a summary and has not dealt with any issue in detail. Any action taken or proposed to be taken must be in consultation with professionals and not merely based on the articles / news updates. S. C. Sharada & Associates disclaims all liability on action taken without professional advice.
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