Income tax department to pay interest on TDS refund
Government hikes minimum wage for contract workers to Rs 10,000
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
The Income Tax department will now add interest amount to a delayed refund made on excess TDS deductions and will also not litigate with the deductor on this issue in the future, a latest directive has said.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued a directive in this regard to the assessing officers of the IT department based on a 2014 Supreme Court order where the apex court had made it clear that the taxman is "bound" to pay interest on refund made under the tax deducted at source (TDS) category.
TDS is primarily deducted by the employer from the salary paid to an employee.
"In view of the judgement of the apex court it is settled that if a resident deductor is entitled for the refund of tax deposited under Section 195 (other sums) of the Act (Income Tax Act), then it has to be refunded with interest under section 244A (where refund of any amount a becomes due to the assessee they shall be entitled to receive simple interest), from the date of payment of such tax," the CBDT communication issued on Tuesday said.
The CBDT has further directed that "accordingly, it is advised that no appeals may henceforth be filed on this ground by the officers of the department and appeals already filed on this issue may not be pressed upon."
The clarificatory note has been issued by the policy-making body (CBDT) of the IT department as it has been a subject matter of "controversy and litigation."
"While the tax department duly gives interest in case an individual's refund is delayed, there was some grey area in the TDS category. This has been settled now. This is yet another area where the taxman is cutting don on litigation," a senior IT official said.
The basis of the latest communication is a Supreme Court order that had ruled in favour of the deductor of a company on February 26, 2014 stating that "refund due and payable to assessee is debt-owned and payable by the revenue.
"The government, there being no express statutory provisions for payment of interest on the refund of excess amount/tax collected by the revenue cannot shrug of its apparent obligation to reimburse the deductors lawful monies with the accrued interest for the period of undue retention of such monies.
"The state having received the money without right and having retained and used it, is bound to make the party good, just as an individual would be under like circumstances. The obligation to refund money received and retained without right implies and carried with it the right to interest," the apex court had said in the 2014 order.
Source : The Times of India
7th Pay Commission 2016: New pay scales to put extra burden of whopping Rs 1.02 lakh cr in FY17
7th Pay Commission 2016: Implementation of new pay scales recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission is estimated to put an additional burden of Rs 1.02 lakh cr, or 0.7 per cent of GDP, on the exchequer in 2016-17, government said today.
The implementation of recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission report, however, would be after approval of the Cabinet on completion of screening of suggestions by a high-level panel of secretaries, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
The implementation of the new 7th Pay Commission pay scales is estimated to put an additional burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore (or 0.7 per cent of GDP at current market prices) on the exchequer in 2016-17. Subject to acceptance by the government, they will take effect from January 1, 2016.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha also said that the announcement of Dearness Allowance has no impact on the recommendations of the Pay Commission.
Giving details of financial implications of the recommendations, Sinha said the burden on pay head would increase by Rs 39,100 crore to about Rs 2.83 lakh crore in the current fiscal. Without the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, the outgo would have been Rs 2.44 lakh crore.
The outgo towards HRA will increase by Rs 17,200 crore to Rs 29,600 crore. The outgo on pension front will be Rs 1.76 lakh crore (increase of Rs 33,700 crore) and on other allowance will be Rs 36,400 crore (up Rs 12,100 crore).
The Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha to process the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission was set up in January.
The recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission report will have bearing on the remuneration of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.
Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/
NEW DELHI: The minimum wage for contract workers has been increased to Rs 10,000 per month, Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya said on Monday.
The minister of state for labour and employment informed Lok Sabha that the wage hike has been implemented based on a Supreme Court verdict.
Asserting that the government is committed towards the betterment of the working class, he said workers are being protected through all the rights.
"Recently, we have increased minimum wage to Rs 10,000 at the national level taking into consideration the Consumer Price Index and Dearness Allowance. This was based on the verdict of the Supreme Court. We have linked this increase of minimum wage to pension and bonus," he said during Question Hour.
On April 17, Dattatreya had said the government would bring out an executive order to ensure that contract workers get a minimum wage of Rs 10,000 per month.
"It is the endeavour of the central government to make reforms in labour laws and to proceed from minimum wage to universal wage. Because the Opposition is not cooperating in Parliament, we will do it through an executive order," he had said.
"We have taken a decision to make changes to rule 25 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Central Rules. Every contract worker will be entitled to get Rs 10,000 per month," Dattatreya had said.