Indian government launches amnesty scheme for appeals against GST orders
The Indian Finance Ministry is launching an amnesty scheme for filing appeals against Goods and Services Tax (GST) demand orders.
The scheme, which will be open until 31 January 2024, will be available for entities that were unable to submit their appeals against orders issued by the tax officer on or before 31 March 2023, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has confirmed.
Currently, the GST law allows the assessed party to file an appeal against an assessment order seeking taxes within three months of the tax officer passing such a demand order. This can be extended by one more month.
In its last meeting on October 7, the GST Council approved this amnesty scheme for filing appeals. Organisations wanting to access the scheme will have to pay a deposit of 12.5% of the tax demand, against 10% currently.
The move will be welcomed by a large number of taxpayers who could not file an appeal in the past within the specified time period, the Ministry said.
AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said the scheme “would be a lifeline for those who might have missed the appeal deadline due to administrative errors or unforeseen circumstances”.
He said the initiative will also promote compliance among taxpayers. By offering a fair and lenient approach to appeal filing, it encourages better cooperation with tax authorities and a willingness to resolve disputes or clarify tax matters, he said.
“Additionally, by allowing disputes to be resolved more efficiently, the scheme may reduce the burden on the legal system. This benefits both taxpayers and the tax administration by streamlining the appeal process and potentially reducing the need for prolonged litigation,” Mohan added.
Japan tops list for technology collaborations
India’s manufacturing sector accounted for 78% of the total reported Foreign Technical Collaborations (FTCs) with Japan, the US and Germany remaining the top three countries for technology partnerships, according to a new survey from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The central bank said that of the 709 Indian entities that participated in the latest survey round, 674 FTCs agreements were reported by 356 entities.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) companies accounted for an overwhelming majority of the FTCs.
Further, foreign subsidiaries (single foreign investor holding over 50% of the total equity) and foreign associate companies (foreign investors’ equity holding ranging from 10%-50%) reported a 71% and 18% of FTC agreements respectively.
“Among economic sectors, manufacturing and services sectors accounted for 78% and 17% of the total reported FTCs respectively; machinery, transport equipment, chemicals and chemical products together accounted for over 40% share in the manufacturing sector,” the survey said. The construction sector accounted for nearly 35 of the total FTCs.
The survey captures information on financial parameters and operations of the Indian companies having technical collaboration with foreign companies during the reference period.
It was the 14th round of the RBI’s biennial survey on foreign collaboration in Indian industry covering 2021-22 and 2022-23 fiscal years.
Over two-thirds of the FTC agreements involved the transfer of technical knowledge or use of trademarks and brand names by foreign collaborators.
The survey also found that royalty payments were the preferred payment method for more than 70% of the FTCs, with some having additional clauses for lump-sum technical fees.
The RBI said in terms of partner countries, technical collaborations with Japan continued to have the most export restriction clauses built into them, followed by the US and Germany.
The bank’s report said that companies with FTC agreements for entities in the motor vehicle sector had the highest share in total production of FTC companies – the motor vehicles sector recorded 28.4% production growth during 2022-23 as against 24.3% growth registered by all FTC companies.
