Revenue Department Initiatives: Boosting Growth, Investment and Strong Law Enforcement

Revenue Department Initiatives: Boosting Growth, Investment and Strong Law Enforcement

Question: What recent initiatives has the Department of revenue taken to create the following
(1) Strong business environment promoting investment and growth
(2) Strong financial law enforcement framework. Describe each initiative in detail.

Department of Revenue has created a 2 pronged approach of encouraging a strong business environment for growth and investment as well as a strong financial law enforcement framework

Department has taken the following initiatives:

- Introduction of GST Constitution Amendment Bill in the Parliament

- The most significant milestone has been introduction of the GST Constitution 122nd AA Bill in the Parliament which seeks to introduce goods and services tax in the nation

- It will harmonise indirect tax regime inn the nation and broaden the tax base resulting in better compliance based on strong IT infrastructure

- Seamless transfer of input tax credit across shares will integrate the market and incentivise the tax compliance by trading communities

- Make in India Initiative

To encourage domestic manufacturing, Make in India has been proposed to boost the following:

Investment: investment allowance of 15% has been announced for capital expenditures going beyond INR 25 crore undertaken by manufacturing units

- 10 year tax holiday has been provided to power generation, distribution and transmission of power undertakings which commerce operations by 31 March 2017

- Accelerated depreciation on wind power projects has also been restored

- With respect to indirect tax, customs and excise duties have been reduced

- Investment allowance of 15% has been announced for capital expenditures superseding INR 25 crore undertaken by manufacturing units

- Manufacturing

- Growth

- Employment

- Simplification of direct tax laws

- Direct tax laws have been eased

- Non adversarial and non intrusive tax has been promoted via modernisation of business processes of tax administration

Trade facilitation measures have been introduced including the following:

- 24x7 customs clearance facilities in 17 airports and 18 seaports;

- Customs Single Window Clearance Project at Nhava Sheva Sea Port and ICD, Tughlakabad;

- Decrease in the number of Customs documents required for export and import;

- Allowing use of digital signatures in central excise, customs and service tax;

- Simplification of central excise and service tax registration process

Rationalisation of indirect taxes and duties

- e-enabling of tax payer services have also been facilitated

- Constitution of the SIT and Enactment of Black Money Law

- Measures have been taken to ensure transparency in financial law enforcement mechanism

- SIT has also been constituted to handle issues pertaining to black money

- Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 has also been enacted providing for stringent penalties and prosecutions

- Benami Transactions Prohibition Amendment Bill has also been launched for curbing domestic black money

- Law will promote confiscation of benami property and provide for prosecution

- Amendment in PMLA and FEMA

- Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002/PMLA and FEMA have also been amended to give them more teeth. Definition of proceeds of crime under PMLA has been amended to include attachment as well as confiscation of equivalent assets in India

- FEMA has also bee maddened to include foreign exchange security or immovable property outside India

Facts and Stats

- India entered into an agreement with the US for Automatic Exchange of Information of Financial Accounts

- It also signed the MICAA/Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for this purpose