Service tax on Reality sector Clarification

Realty service tax: Separate body planned to certify completion

HOME BUYERS and property developers need not worry about being levied a service tax if they cannot procure a completion certificate from the local authority.The government could allow some independent authority to certify that the property is complete.

We are examining the issue and will see if a similar certificate from an outside agency can suffice, a finance ministry official told ET.Local authorities in some states do not issue completion certificates while others take many years to issue one.The budget for 2010-11 has proposed to expand the scope of construction service to impose service tax on houses that are still being built.

The service tax will be levied only on 33% of the base price of a flat sold at construction stage.The effective service tax rate will work out to 3.3%,or 10% of 33%.Charges such as development fee,parking fee and premium location usually paid at the time of completion of construction will also be included in the base price.

The new rule will come into effect when Parliament approves the budget.Service tax will be levied only if payment is made before the completion of construction.Sale of fully completed houses will be exempt from the tax if a completion certificate from a local authority is provided.The finance ministry may admit a certificate from an architect or builders association as a sufficient proof of completion.

If the government takes the decision to outsource the whole process to an accredited agency,it will take the pressure off realty firms. Non-availability of completion certificate can increase the cost of a property as the 3.3% service tax would be significant,taking the tax element to nearly 10% after stamp duty.

This clarification has given big relief for developer and home buyers.

Source: Economic times

Euro IV emission norms effective from 1st of April 2010 and impact on fuel price????

Listing some of the steps that are being taken for cleaner air quality, he said, from April 1, all vehicles would have to comply with Euro-IV emission norms across 13 major cities. Euro-III emission norms would be applicable across the country later this year. In addition, lead pollution standards had been tightened and attention was now being paid to mercury pollution, the minister added

Bangaloreans,get ready to pay 40 ps more a litre for a litre of motor fuels.The rise will be on account of Euro-IV fuels,to be introduced in Bangalore and 12 other cities from April.

According to the policy, which was approved by the Centre in October 2003, Euro-IV petrol and diesel will be introduced in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Kanpur, Delhi, Agra and Kolkata. For the rest of the country, vehicles exhaust emissions should conform to Euro-III petrol and diesel or equivalent norms by 2010.

The main advantage of introducing Euro-IV fuel is that it is less dangerous to health as the emissions will be less by using this better quality fuel.

In diesel, the permissible sulphur content was reduced from 500 PPM in Euro-II diesel to 350 PPM in Euro-III diesel. In Euro-IV diesel it will be 50 PPM. “This results in reduction of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and suspended particulate matter, during fuel combustion, that are emitted into the atmosphere thereby improving the quality of air.

BBMP election result?????

The State Election Commission has finally announced the BBMP council elections schedule, with March 28th 2010 as the day of elections.

Dates are as follow:

March 7th 2010 - Election code of conduct comes into force


March 8th 2010 - Notification will be issued

March 15th 2010 - Last date for filing nominations

March 17th 2010 - Scrutiny of nominations filed

March 19th 2010 - Last date for withdrawal of nominations

March 28th 2010 - Elections will be held from 7 am to 5 pm : Search you name in voter list

April 4th 2010 - Repolling (if necessary)

April 5th 2010 - Counting and announcement of results
 
List of voters in BBMP

Project preparation help

Now a day’s project is part of curriculum where in from your Bachelor's degree till your master’s one need to conduct project and submit the project report to their respective institution.

Project requires the preparation of synapses in some universities like IGNOU where in student is required to submit the brief details of their project and methodology followed in conducting project. Once approved one can get started with the project.

But in case of BBA(Bachelor of business administration) B.com (Bachelor’s of commerce),M.com, MBA where in students will take-up the project based on specialization which may be marketing,finance,HR,Information technology etc…

One main thing involved or purpose of project will be to make the student more practical oriented than a theory worm. So one need to pay utmost attention in project work and understand the practical aspect of the industry.

They can approach companies based on their topics for help in getting the needed resources, data, questionnaire completed. Originality of the project is very crucial and one cannot submit the project which is prepared by some other student and submitted for obtaining degree or master degree.

Timeline is very crucial for project as it may range between 3 to 6 months and initial phase one will be spending most of their time in data collection, understanding the working of an organization relevant to their project topic.

Choosing project topic is very crucial as the whole project revolve around the same.

Summary of your recommendations and suggestions will be the main crux of your project. Here you have to explain your inference on your project. Data collection and interpreting data is very crucial.

If someone need guidance relating to project work, choosing topic ,data collection help and finalizing the project feel free to mail or call me back.(09902977233)

LLPs will be allowed 49% FDI

FOREIGN investors may soon be able to set up limited liability partnerships,or LLPs,in India,as the government is all set to allow foreign direct investment in this new form of business organisation.

Initially,FDI up to 49% may be allowed in LLPs in select sectors such as manufacturing,a DIPP official told ET.This could help make this form of business organisation more popular.So far,only 914 LLPs have been registered in the country.

We are ready with a discussion paper on the FDI framework for LLP, the official,who did not wish to be named,said.The current thinking within the government is to allow FDI in LLP selectively and cap it at 49% even in sectors where companies can have 100% foreign investment,he added.

LLPs are business entities that are a hybrid between companies and partnership firms.As the name suggests,partners liability is limited to the extent of their stake in the LLP.

Unlike private limited companies where the number of shareholders is limited to 50,an LLP can have unlimited number of partners.Besides,LLPs are not burdened with cumbersome compliance such as meetings and maintenance of statutory records.

Any move to ensure that LLPs have a level playing field will help the structure take-off, said Aseem Chawla,partner,Amarchand & Mangaldas,adding that it was important that regulators in various services industry recognised this structure.However,Akash Gupt,executive director,PwC,felt more was needed for this structure to take off.While allowing FDI in LLPs there is also a need to address sector regulatory issues that prohibit these entities from carrying on a particular activity, he added.

LLPs,for instance,cannot bid for a road project as per guidelines of the National Highway Authority of India.

Currently,FDI is not permitted in partnerships firms,but is allowed in companies subject to sectoral caps.In a number of manufacturing sectors 100% FDI is allowed through the automatic route.Sole proprietorship firms can also get non-resident investment on a nonrepatriable basis.

Many countries allow 100% foreign investment in LLPs though they may not be allowed to undertake certain sectoral activities.

The official said that the 49% cap on FDI will ensure that control in LLP rests in Indian hands.The RBI had written to the finance ministry and the DIPP that FDI should be allowed in all sectors for LLPs but capped at 49%.It had also favoured mandatory Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance for any FDI in LLPs.

The government had notified the LLP Act on April 1,2009.But the taxation of LLPs,which is akin to partnership firms,could be clarified only in the July budget 2009-10.

The budget for 2010-11 proposes to exempt capital gains on account of transfer of assets on conversion of a company into an LLP from tax if the total sales,turnover or gross receipts of the company do not exceed Rs 60 lakh in any three preceding years.

New pattern for IAS/IPS - Civil service exams from 2011

New test for civil services aspirants

Papers Will Lay Special Emphasis On Testing Aptitude & Decision-Making Ability

New Delhi: Aspirants for the civil services will face a different pattern of examination from next year as the government has approved a proposal to introduce an aptitude test in place of the existing preliminary examination to shortlist candidates for the main exam.

Accordingly,the candidates will have to appear in two objective type papers having special emphasis on testing their aptitude for civil services as well as on ethical and moral dimension of decision making under a Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).

Both these papers having equal weightage will be common to all candidates in place of the one common paper (general awareness) and one optional paper (any particular subject of choice) under the existing system which lays greater emphasis on subject knowledge.

As of now,the change will be effective only for the first stage of the Civil Services Examination (CSE) from 2011 onwards.The second and third stages CS (Main) Examination and interview respectively may remain the same till a committee of experts goes into various aspects of the entire system and submits its report.

Confirming the change for the first stage of CSE,minister of state for personnel Prithviraj Chavan told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the proposal for introduction of CSAT in place of the existing CS (Preliminary) Examination.In his written reply,he said: CSAT is expected to come into effect from CSE,2011.

The proposal to this effect was sent to the PMO last year by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) which conducts CSE every year to select candidates for elite all-India services,including IAS,IPS,IFS,IRS and others Group A and Group B central jobs.

Officials familiar with the proposal which has got the PMs nod explained that the changes were suggested by various committees,including the second Administrative Reforms Commission,in their reports submitted over the years.Most of the panels had advocated laying greater emphasis on the aptitude of candidates than their knowledge of a subject,arguing that specialists or experts in any particular subject may not necessarily be good civil servants.

Referring to introduction of CSAT,an official said: The new system will also provide a level-playing field and equity,since all candidates will have to attempt common papers unlike the current format which provides for only one common paper.

Though a scaling system is currently used in the preliminary examination in order to ensure that no candidate who has opted for any particular optional paper gets undue advantage because of varying degree of difficulty of any paper or inherent scorability,the government has received a number of complaints objecting to the method on one ground or the other.One related matter has even been pending in Supreme Court for long.

YET ANOTHER CHALLENGE

Govt has approved a proposal to introduce an aptitude test in place of the existing preliminary examination

The candidates will have to appear in two objective type papers having special emphasis on testing their aptitude for civil services as well as on ethical and moral dimension of decision making under a Civil Services Aptitude Test .Both these papers having equal weightage will be common to all candidates

The change will be effective only for the first stage of the Civil Services Examination from 2011 onwards


New syllabus for IAS/IPS 2011


New syllabus for IAS/IPS as announced by UPSC

http://www.knowinfonow.com/2010/08/civil-services-aptitude-test-approved.html

Sample test paper based on new syllabus as annouced by UPSC

Free Income tax return filing for 2010

Applying for passport made easy

Bangalore: No more long-winding queues and unending wait while applying for passports.The state will have four passport seva kendras (PSK) and one mini-PSK for Gulbarga.Karnataka is the second state after Punjab to have these kendras.

External affairs minister S M Krishna,who inaugurated the pilot PSK on Lalbagh Road on Saturday,said the two pilot projects in Bangalore and Chandigarh will pave the way to set up 77 such centres across India.

They will make the application process more user-friendly;front-end activities will be outsourced to private partners.Also,online links will be established with district police headquarters in all states for quick verification of the applicants credentials.

These reforms were needed due to unintentional delays.A serious exercise has begun to bring about structural reforms too.Police clearance is usually time-consuming and security concerns have to be addressed as well, Krishna said.

Currently,the number of passports issued is 57 lakh,but its likely to reach the 1-crore mark in 2011.PSKs have been started to meet increasing demand.The main data centre for PSKs will be in Delhi;a data recovery centre will be in Chennai and other network operations unit will be based in Delhi, Krishna said.

WHAT WILL IT DO

Citizens can take appointments directly on the phone and in 17 languages.They can get information on the status of their application any time they want.

FEATURES OF PSKs

77 to be opened across India Government employees to perform sensitive functions such as granting,printing,despatching and monitoring passports Centralized IT system to which all PSKs,passport offices and district police headquarters will be connected Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the service provider for these operations The pilot PSKs in Bangalore and Chandigarh will be operational soon Online services present for fixing appointments and end-to-end tracking of applications

VARIOUS SERVICES

Issue fresh passport (after police verification): Despatch following three working days after submission Issue fresh passport (pre-police verification): Three working days plus time taken for police verification Re-issue of passport: Despatch after three working days following submission Issue/re-issue passport under tatkal scheme: Same day Change of name/ other particulars: Three working days

Source : Times of india

Tax rate applicable from April 2010

The following are the income tax rates announced in union budget 2010 applicable for financial year 2010-11.

Individual Male (Below the Age 65 Years)
Up to 1,60,000                                    NIL
From 1,60,001 to 5,00,000                 10%
From 5,00,001 to 8,00,000                  20%
Above Than 8,00,000                          30%

Individual Female (Below the Age of 65 Years)
Up to 1,90,000                                  NIL
From 1,90,001 to 5,00,000               10%
From 5,00,001 to 8,00,000               20%
Above Than 8,00,000                       30%

Senior Citizen (Above than 65 years of age)

Up to 2,40,000                              NIL
2,40,001 to 5,00,000                    10%
5,00,001 to 8,00,000                    20%
Above Than 8,00,000                   30%