F No 370149/230/2017

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central.Board of Direct Taxes

(TPL Division]

New Delhi, June 24, 2019

OFFICE ORDER

1. In order to review the existing Income-tax Act, 1961 and to draft a new direct tax law in consonance with economic needs of the country, the Government had constituted a Task Force vide Office Order of even number dated 22.11.2017, the Terms of Reference (ToR) being drafting an appropriate direct tax legislation keeping in view:

(i) the direct tax system prevalent in various countries,

(il) the international best practices.

(iii) the economic needs of the country and

(iv) any other matter connected there to.

2. The Task Force was reconstituted under the Convenorship of Shri Akhilesh Ranjan, Member (Legislation], CBDT vide Order of even number dated 26.11.2018 and the Convenor was authorised to co-opt any person as Member. Accordingly, Ms Pragya S Saksena IRS 87004 has been co-opted as Member on 21.12.2018.

3. Shri Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA] was a permanent special invitee to the Task Force as per the order dated 22.11.2017. He has since demitted the office and Shri Krishnamurthy Subramanian has taken over as the CEA. It has been decided to nominate Shri Subramanian as member of the Task Force.

4. It has been further decided that the ToR shall be broadened to include:

(i) The Faceless and anonymised verification/ scrutiny/ assessment

(ii) The mechanism for system based cross verification of the financial transactions

(iii) Reduction in litigation and expeditious disposal of appeals before the CIT (Appeals), ITAT, High Courts and Supreme Court

(iv) Reduction of compliance burden by simplification of procedures ,

(v). Sharing of information between GST, Customs, CBDT, FIU

5. In view of the expanded ToR which includes sharing of data between agencies, it has been decided to nominate Shri Ritvik Pandey, Joint Secretary (Revenue) as member of the Task Force as well.

6. Other terms and conditions of the orders Issued till now shall remain the same.

7. This issues with approval of the Finance Minister.

Press Information Bureau 
Government of India
Ministry of Finance

12 JUN 2019

Ratification of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved theratification of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI)

Impact:

The Convention will modify India's treaties in order to curb revenue loss through treaty abuse and base erosion and profit shifting strategies by ensuring that profits are taxed where substantive economic activities generating the profits are carried out and where value is created.

Details:

i.      India has ratified the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, which was signed by the Hon'ble Finance Minister Sh. Arun Jaitley at Paris on 07/06/2017 on behalf of India.

ii.     The Multilateral Convention is an outcome of the OECD / G20 Project to tackle Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the "BEPS Project") i.e., tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in little or no tax being paid. The BEPS Project identified 15 actions to address base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) in a comprehensive manner.

iii.    India was part of the Ad Hoc Group of more than 100 countries and jurisdictions from G20, OECD, BEPS associates and other interested countries, which worked on an equal footing on the finalization of the text of the Multilateral Convention, starting May 2015. The text of the Convention and the accompanying Explanatory Statement was adopted by the Ad hoc Group on 24 November 2016.

iv.     The Convention enables all signatories, inter alia, to meet treaty-related minimum standards that were agreed as part of the Final BEPS package, including the minimum standard for the prevention of treaty abuse under Action 6.

v.    The Convention will operate to modify tax treaties between two or more Parties to the Convention. It will not function in the same way as an amending protocol to a single existing treaty, which would directly amend the text of the Covered Tax Agreement. Instead, it will be applied alongside existing tax treaties, modifying their application in order to implement the BEPS measures.

vi.   The Convention will modify India's treaties in order to curb revenue loss through treaty abuse and base erosion and profit shifting strategies by ensuring that profits are taxed where substantive economic activities generating the profits are carried out and where value is created.

Background:

The Convention is one of the outcomes of the OECD/G20 project, of which India is a member, to tackle base erosion and profit shifting. The Convention enables countries to implement the tax treaty related changes to achieve anti-abuse BEPS outcomes through the multilateral route without the need to bilaterally re-negotiate each such agreement which is burdensome and time consuming. It ensures consistency and certainty in the implementation of the BEPS Project in a multilateral context. Ratification of the Multilateral Convention will enable application of BEPS outcomes through modification of existing tax treaties of India in a swift manner. The Cabinet Note seeking ratification of the MLI was sent to the Cabinet on 16.04.2019 for consideration. Since the said Note for Cabinet could not be taken up in the Cabinet, due to urgency, the Hon'ble Prime Minister vide Cabinet Secretariat I.D. No. 216/1/2/2019-Cab dated 27.05,2019 has approved Ratification of MLI and India's Final Position under Rule 12 of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 with a direction that ex-post facto approval of the Cabinet be obtained within a month. Consequent to approval under Rule 12, a separate request has already been sent to L&T Division, MEA for obtaining instrument of ratification from the Hon'ble President of India vide this office OM F.No. 500/71/2015-FTD-I/150 dated 31/05/2019.

 

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

12 JUN 2019

Cabinet approves the Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved to introduce a Bill, namely, the Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill, 2019 that is the Bill to replace the Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 (12 of 2019).  The Bill will be introduced in ensuing session of the Parliament.

After the amendment of sub-section (v) of section 2 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, a trust or any entity notified by the Central Government will be eligible to be considered for grant of permission to set up a unit in Special Economic Zones.

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Dated: 06 JUN 2019

Agreement for Exchange of Information between India and Marshall Islands notified

The Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands for the Exchange of Information with respect to taxes (India – Marshall Islands TIEA) was signed on 18thMarch, 2016 at Majuro, the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The India-Marshall Islands TIEA has been notified in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) on 21st May, 2019.

The Agreement enables exchange of information, including banking and ownership information, between the two countries for tax purposes. It is based on international standards of tax transparency and exchange of information and enables sharing of information on request. The Agreement also provides for representatives of one country to undertake tax examinations in the other country.

The Agreement will enhance mutual co-operation between India and Marshall Islands by providing an effective framework for exchange of information in tax matters which will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance.

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DSM/RM/KMN

Click here to read and download the Government of India Notification No.40/2019 /F.No. 503/1/2018-FT & TR– IV dated May 21, 2019

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Dated: 04 JUN 2019

CBDT extends due date for filing of TDS statement in Form 24Q

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had earlier notified amended Form 24Q for filing TDS statement by deductors of tax vide Notification No. 36/2019 dated 12th April, 2019. Subsequently, the File Validation Utility (FVU) for online filing of Form 24Q was updated by NSDL on 21st of May, 2019.

With a view to redress genuine hardship of deductors in timely filing of TDS statement in Form 24Q on account of revision of its format and consequent updating of the File Validation Utility for its online filing, CBDT has ordered the following:

(i) Extended the due date of filing of TDS statement in Form 24Q for financial year 2018-19 from 31st of May, 2019 to 30th of June, 2019 and

(ii) Extended the due date for issue of TDS certificate in Form 16 for financial year 2018-19 from 15th of June, 2019 to 10th of July, 2019.

Order dated 04.06.2019 issued under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 to this effect is available on www.incometaxindia.gov.in.

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DSM/RM/KMN