From The President

Dear Esteemed Readers,

Well, by the time you receive this message, the majority of
you folks will be relaxing from post September tax work. We, especially CAs,
need to learn to relax. After a day’s hard work (often putting in more than 10
hours), it is not uncommon to find a CA carrying some work to do at home. The
reason for this state of affairs is that we are unable to work in water-tight
compartments. In my childhood, I had learnt a poem, “Work while you work,
play while you play, it is way to be happy and gay”. Unfortunately, we not only
take work home but also whilst on vacation. As a result, we return home
exhausted despite the vacation. Let us stop being workaholics and start living,
which is all about balancing. In the words of Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca
Enterprises (1959-1994), “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five
balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends, and spirit –
and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work
is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls
– family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of
these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even
shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for
balance in your life”.

It reminds me of one of the seven habits of highly effective
people, as discussed by Stephen Covey, i.e. “Begin with the end in mind”. Let us
work toward our goals in different areas of life rather than concentrating on
only one area of life.

Generally, CAs and taxmen are perceived to be practical,
being occupied with so-called boring figure work. They are perceived to be
non-creative, being away from art and culture. Labeling a class of people one
way or the other is not appropriate. Art and culture is a matter of individual
traits and tastes. The Income tax Department is celebrating 150 years of its
existence, to commemorate which, a unique Art Exhibition was organized at the
Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai during 24-27 Sep. 2010. I had the privilege of
witnessing the creativity of the IT officials. The Art Exhibition displayed
paintings, essays, books and poetry— all the work of taxmen. It was heartwarming
to see the different facets of the taxmen’s collective personality. We were
already aware of the word picture (by delivering well-articulated assessment
orders) by some smart taxmen; this Art Exhibition showed the picture painted.
Our compliments to one and all artistic taxmen and also to the Income tax
Department.

Today, we are living in an era of all-pervading negativity.
Television channels, in their quest to beat each other, are sensationalizing
news and scaring people. For TV Channels, every news is breaking news. Most of
the news is picked up from police files resulting in more of a crime reporting.
Flood or drought, fire or earthquake, any small or big incident is projected as
the beginning of an end of the world i.e. Pralay, in 2012. As it is,
India is struggling with floods in North India, unrest in the Kashmir valley,
attacks by Maoists, terror threats and epidemics such as Malaria, Dengue and
Swine Flu. To add to this, irresponsible TV Channels, and some newspapers are
thoughtlessly adding fuel to the fire. More than natural calamities, this
country suffers from perverted TV serials, which tend to sully our
national/social fabric. The aam junta tries to find solutions to their problems
through TV serials; what is worse is that they (especially teenagers) identify
themselves with the stars of these serials. This is dangerous, as extra marital
affairs, cheating and betraying in families are the corner stones of most of the
prime time TV serials. In the name of reality shows, all unreal things are
projected which is socially detrimental. It is a patent misuse of freedom of
expression. Well, if the power of media is rightly and wisely used, it can make
politicians and bureaucrats accountable and provide good entertainment to tired
souls. The media being the most powerful medium of communication and capable of
influencing the masses, should exercise restraint of the highest order and
discharge its social responsibility.

We must contribute our might to spread positivity. The Right
to Information Act is a powerful weapon in the hands of ordinary citizens to get
justice and instil accountability in public servants.

The much awaited Direct Tax Code (DTC) was introduced in
Parliament on 30th August, 2010 in its new avatar. Critics say it is old
wine in a new bottle. After a lot of hue and cry about the first version, the
second version of the DTC seems to be taking care of many
objections/representations made in the first draft. However, the amendments are
falling short of expectations. Any way, the law is unfolding and the Government
would welcome suggestions. Let us hope that representations from professional
bodies and trade associations are given due consideration before the DTC becomes
the law. Stringent General Anti Avoidance Regulations (GAAR) should not be
introduced without proper checks and balances lest they become a handle to
harass innocent tax payers. Provisions relating to Safe Haven and the likes
should be embedded in GAAR to provide relief to Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSMEs). “Place of effective Management” should be clearly defined
in order to avoid litigation in respect of determination of residential status
of foreign companies. Notwithstanding these irritants, CBDT deserves kudos for
simplification of the tax law (DTC) to be effective from 1st Aril 2012.

Coming back to the BCAS, last month, there was a lull in the
society’s activities as it was busy season. However, a few notable events took
place such as the workshop on “How to Conduct a Tax Audit”, addressed by Messrs
Anil Sathe and Himanshu Kishnadwala, and a Lecture Meeting on Transfer Pricing
by Vispi Patel. Two Webinars were held on the subject of “Introduction to XBRL”
on 11th and 22nd September 2010. The Webinars elicited good participatory
response from local and outstation members as well as those staying overseas.
The Webinars were conducted by Vinod Kashyap. It was the first time such a
Webinar was organised, thanks to the painstaking efforts by the “Infotech and 4i
Committee”. XBRL stands for Extensible Business Reporting Language, which is a
language for electronic communication of business and financial data, which is
revolutionising business reporting around the world. It offers major benefits to
all those who have to create, transmit, use or analyse such information. XBRL
India is facilitated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Members of XBRL India include various regulators such as RBI, IRDA, SEBI, MCA,
BSE and NSE. CAs can play a role in the implementation of XBRL and this may well
be a new avenue of practice.

Last but not the least, the countdown has begun for the
Commonwealth Games. Let us hope that our athletes bring back to India its lost
glory.

And now that the verdict on the Ayodhya dispute is finally
out, let us pray that people will respect it and maintain communal harmony – the
core essence of India’s cultural heritage.