Seminar on Current Issues in International Taxation on 16th October 2014 
L to R : Mr. Nitin P. Shingala (President), Mr. Mayur Desai, Prof. Mr. Kees Vaan Raad (Speaker), Prof. Dr. Michael Lang (Speaker), and Mr. Rashmin Sanghvi.
BCAS, jointly with CTC, organised a Seminar on International Taxation at the Status Hotel, Mumbai.
In the first Technical session, Prof. Dr. Michael Lang, Head of the
Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law of WU, Vienna
University of Economics and Business, deliberated on the subject of
“Impact of BEPS on Tax Treaties”. He explained that G20 has initiated an
action plan against Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) in respect
of avoidance of taxes by the MNCs who shift their profits/activities to a
low or no tax jurisdictions through dubious structuring and sham
transactions. The OECD, under the instruction from G20, has issued
series of action plans on various aspects of BEPS with possible
solutions. According to Prof. Lang mere changes in OECD Commentary to
address BEPS issue may not be sufficient unless countries make changes
in their bilateral tax treaties incorporating specific anti-abuse
provisions such as Limitation of Benefit (LOB) Article. He expressed
concern over the speed with which OECD is attempting to implement action
plans on BEPS. The Action Plan on “Preventing Granting Treaty Benefits”
may increase complexities. In the second Technical session, Prof. Kees
Van Raad, Chairman of the International Tax Center Leiden and Director
of the Leiden Adv LLM Program in International Tax Law, spoke on “Future
of Source Country Taxation of Active Business Income”.
Prof.
Raad discussed at length the origin of the concept of Permanent
Establishment (PE), attribution of profits to PE and its relevance or
otherwise in today’s digital world. Prof. Raad opined that there is a
gross misunderstanding as to where the profits are made, i.e., value is
created especially when sale is made in a country other than where
innovation and production takes place. Thresholds of
physical/project/agency PE are no more relevant in today’s digital
world. In any case PE was meant to be only a threshold. Perhaps we need
to relook at the entire concept of PE, he added. He said that splitting
of profits of an integrated internationally operating enterprise is
never going to be an easy task. May be then, the world needs to take the
difficult road the European Commission is walking with its Common
Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) proposal.
Intensive Workshop on Internal Financial Control as required under the Companies Act, 2013 on 17th& 18th October 2014
Mr. Y. M. Kale (Keynote Speaker)
L to R: Mr. Shivkumar Muthukrishnan (Speaker), Mr. Rajesh Muni, Mr. Y. M. Kale (Keynote Speaker), Mr. Harish Motiwalla, Mr. Himanshu Vasa, and Mr. Nitin Singhala (President).
This intensive workshop organised by the Accounting & Auditing Committee deliberated on various aspects of Internal Financial Control and helped the participants to better understand the various facets involved in developing the IFC which included:
- scoping and materiality considerations,
- identification of processes and sub processes,
- design of control framework and mapping them to an acceptable control framework,
- preparing test plans,
- sampling strategy,
- evaluations of controls etc.
The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Y. M. Kale. The faculties for this workshop were Ms. Preeti Dani and Mr. Shivkumar Muthukrishnan.
National Conference on Companies Act-2013 on 18th October 2014
The BCAS in association with the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) conducted a National Conference on The Companies Act, 2013 on 18th October, 2014 at Hyderabad where the following Topics were covered:
L to R : Mr. Anil Reddy Vennam, Mr. Harish Motiwalla, Mr. Mr. Abhay Kumar Jain, Mr. Shiv Kumar Rungta, Mr. C. Murali Krishna and Mr. Nitin Shingala (President)
Mr. Shiv Kumar Rungta, President, FAPCCI mentioned that Corporate Governance is an issue of vital interest to the business community and with the passage of the new Companies Act, 2013, there is now a larger focus on corporate governance. Every Director, whether independent/ non independent, executive/non-executive has a distinct role in the functioning of the company. It is only when the entire board functions effectively which results to good corporate governance and benefit minority as well as majority shareholder in the long term.
Mr. Nitin Shingala, President, BCAS also lauded the legislation of the Companies Act, 2013 and compared some of the provisions of the Act with the Sarbanes Oxley Act. Mr. Abhay Kumar Jain, Chairman, Corporate Laws, Legal and IPR Committee of FAPPCI was happy that the Joint National Conference by FAPPCI and BCAS is a momentous event and a first of its kind collaboration where both the industry and professionals have come together on a common platform which has given an opportunity to understand, work and perform the respective roles efficiently.
Mr. V. S. Raju, Advisor and Past President of FAPCCI introduced the keynote speaker Mr. Murali Krishna. The Keynote Speaker said that the Concept of True and Fair which was earlier restricted to the auditor has now been made the responsibility of the management. He also touched upon various other issues such as Internal Audit, Selection, Appointment and Rotation of auditors, Schedule III, Depreciation, Share Application Money, Independent Directors and Deposits. He felt that creating Jobs is the biggest Corporate Social Responsibility, Creating job is connected to every factor of the Economy, the GDP factor, the wellness factor or the human satisfaction index etc. He suggested for spending more on the employee, so that in turn they will spend into the economy and the whole economic system blooms and blossoms.
Lecture Meeting on International & Domestic Transfer Pricing – Recent Developments on 5th November 2014
Mr. T.P. Ostwal (Speaker)
This lecture meeting was held at the Walchand Hirachand Hall, IMC, Churchgate, Mumbai. Mr. T. P. Ostwal, Chartered Accountant shared his experience on the recent developments in International & Domestic Transfer Pricing with regards to Finance Bill 2014. He also explained the key challenges of the amendments with relevant case studies. More than 275 members gained immensely from the knowledge of the speaker. The presentation and video of the lecture is available at www.bcasonline.org&www. bcasonline.tv, respectively, for the benefit of all.
Workshop on Tax Audit (Advanced) on 8th November 2014
L to R : Mr. Kishore Karia, Mr. Ameet Patel (Speaker), Mr. Nitin Shingala (President), Mr. Mukund Chitale (Speaker) and Ms. Saroj Maniar
The Taxation Committee of the Society organised this Workshop at the Walchand Hirachand Hall, IMC, Churchgate, Mumbai. The objective of the workshop was to address the critical aspects of tax audits and the responsibilities of tax auditors with regards to the revised Forms for Tax Audit issued by the CBDT in July 2014, due to which the reporting requirements have escalated dramatically and several practical issues have arisen. The Following Topics were covered at the workshop:
