Full Day Seminar on “GAAR and Anti-avoidance Provisions” held on 16th November 2018
The International Taxation Committee organised a one-day Seminar on GAAR and other Anti-Avoidance Provisions at St. Regis, Parel. The seminar was aimed at appraising the participants of the intricacies and issues coming out of these provisions through panel discussions on burning topics related to the subject.
CA. Pinakin Desai provided a thought-provoking Key Note Address which set the tone for the remainder of the day. The session was chaired by CA. Dilip Thakkar who also released the latest publication by BCAS on “GAAR (Including other Anti-Avoidance Provisions) – A Compendium”. The Compendium comprises of 30 articles spread over 2 volumes authored by some of the best minds in the profession.
The book launch was followed by a panel discussion amongst CA. Geeta Jani, CA. Padamchand Khincha and Mr. Kamlesh Varshney which was chaired by CA. Kishor Karia. The panel dealt with various issues related to GAAR, SAAR, JAAR, PPT and their interplay. Mr. Varshney made insightful remarks in to what could be the Revenue’s approach in applying these provisions.
The second panel was chaired by CA. Rashmin Sanghvi and the panellists – CA. Sushil Lakhani, CA. Yogesh Thar and CA. Karishma Phaterphekar who took up various issues surrounding recent domestic anti-avoidance provisions of POEM, Section 56(2) and Section 94B respectively.
The final panel of the day took up Case Studies on a diverse set of topics which would be impacted by GAAR. The panel was chaired by CA T P Ostwal. CA. Pranav Sayta provided insights on Structuring of inbound investments while CA. Ketal Dalal took up issues related to Holding Company Structures. CA Anup Shah provided his views on issues which would affect Restructuring of companies.
All the panellists ably brought out that GAAR and other anti-avoidance provisions are something that every professional dealing with taxation will need to reckon with; and drove home the point that a fresh look will be required – not only for new structures, but even for existing ones. The Chairman, CA. Mayur Nayak ended the day’s proceedings by thanking the faculty and encouraging the participants to take benefit from BCAS’ publication on GAAR. The meeting was a huge takeaway for the participants.
Full Day Seminar on “Burning Issues in Real Estate” held jointly with IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 17th November, 2018
Corporate & Allied Laws Committee of BCAS organised a Full Day Seminar on Burning Issues in Real Estate, jointly with IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on 17th November, 2018 at IMC, Churchgate wherein the key topics on Direct Tax, RERA, Issues and Opportunities in Funding, GST and JV/JD Structuring were discussed by the eminent speakers and Panellists as under:
Direct Tax: Moderated by CA. Chetan Shah and Panelists: CA. Pinakin Desai, CA. Gautam Nayak, CA Uday Ved and Mr. Yasin Virani of K Raheja Corp.
RERA: Moderated by Advocate Sudip Mullick of Khaitan & Co and Panalists: Advocate Parimal Shroff of Parimal K Shroff & Co, Rajan Bandelkar (Naredco) and Mr. Ravi Sinha (Track2Realty)
Issues and Opportunities in Funding: Moderator Amit Goenka (Nisus) and Panelists: Ram Yadav (Edelwiess), Shobhit Agrawal (Anarock) and Sharad Mittal (Motilal Oswal).
GST: Moderated by CA. Sunil Gabhawalla and Panelists: CA. Parind Mehta, Mr. Sajal Gupta (Rustomjee) and Advocate Vikram Nankani.
JV/JD Structuring: Moderator CA. Ketan Dalal and Panelists: CA. Bhairav Dalal, CA. (Dr) Anup Shah, Mr Piyush Vora (Lodha Developers) and CA. Naushad Panjwani.
The meeting was attended by 110 participants who learnt a lot from the rich experience of the speakers and panelists.
“Half Day Workshop on GST Audit” held on 23rd November, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
BCAS, as a NACIN accredited training partner has been in the forefront in creating awareness about GST and supported the Government in ushering this reform by organising various lecture meetings, seminars and workshops related to GST. As a part of this endeavour, Indirect Taxation Committee organised a Half Day Workshop on GST Audit on 23rd November, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall. The workshop was divided into two sessions. The 1st session on “Overview of GST Audit Process, Various Reconciliations involved in GST Audit & Overview of Annual Return and its contents” which was taken up by CA. Udayan Choksi and the 2nd session on “GSTR-9C, Audit Checklist and Issues involved in GST Audit” which was taken up by CA. Jigar Doshi.
On this occasion, BCAS Publication “Concept of Supply under GST Law” was also released. The workshop was very well received and the participants took benefit of the same.
Full day programme on “Accounting and Auditing in SAP – Issues in Process and Controls” held on 24th November, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
Technology Initiatives Committee conducted a full day programme on “Accounting and Auditing in SAP – Issues in Process and Controls” on 24th November, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall. The program was jointly led by CA. Jairam Motwani (who has domain experience in Novereof in solutioning, architecting, customizing, execution and coordinating SAP projects and audits) and CA. Mahesh Ahuja, having extensive experience in Internal Audits, Risk & Controls review, SAP Role based controls and GRC implementation and review.
Both the speakers dealt with the topic by providing a step by step process for Accounting and Auditing in SAP. They also discussed various issues and Control points to mitigate the issues while using the SAP.
The session was very interactive and the participants got enlightened a lot from the discussion.
Training Session for CA Article Students on “GST Annual Return’ and ‘GST Audit from Article’s Perspective” held on 30th November, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
The Students Forum under the auspices of HRD Committee organised a Training Session for CA Article Students on the above-mentioned topics on 30th November, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall.
The first session on GST Annual Return was taken by Student Speaker Ms. Neelam Soneja under the mentorship of CA. Raj Khona followed by a session on GST Audit by CA. Jigar Shah. Mr. Jason Joseph, the student co-ordinator introduced the mentor and speakers for the session. CA. Anand Kothari, the convenor of the HRD Committee spoke about various activities conducted by BCAS Students Forum.
CA. Raj Khona in his opening remarks highlighted few key areas which article students should keep in mind while filing the annual returns. Ms. Neelam Soneja then explained the entire Form GSTR-9 clause by clause and dealt with the various issues / complexities involved in the annual return form. In the 2nd session, CA. Jigar Shah gave a brief insight on various aspects of GST Audit with useful tips on how to effectively conduct GST Audit. The training session was attended by 175+ students. Both the sessions were interactive whereby the speakers answered all the queries raised by the participants.
Suburban Study Circle Meeting on “GST Annual Return – GSTR 9 – Detailed Analysis and Issues in Filing” held on 1st December, 2018
The Suburban Study Circle organised a meeting on “GST Annual Return – GSTR 9 – Detailed Analysis and Issues in Filing” on 1st December, 2018 at Bathiya & Associates, Andheri which was addressed by CA. Chirag Mehta.
The Speaker started the session with statutory background and legal provisions regarding the GST Annual Return – GSTR – 9. He explained in detail the various clauses of GSTR 1 and GSTR 3B and the specific clauses to be considered while consolidating the annual figures. He further explained the structure of GSTR – 9 Annual return and what is expected from the registered dealers in each section.
The detailed analysis of each clause of the GSTR – 9 was done along with explanation on the data to be entered under each clause. CA. Chirag Mehta raised very important issues which the dealers may face while preparing the annual return and also provided his views on the said issues. The speaker highlighted the importance of self study and practical exposure to be the key factors in successful filing of annual returns.
The participants got enlightened from the presentation shared by the speaker.
TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES STUDY CIRCLE
Technology Initiative Study Circle on “Productivity Apps for Workplaces-Part III” held on 4th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
Technology Initiatives Committee conducted a Study Circle Meeting on Productivity Apps for Workplaces Part III on 4th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall which was led by CA. Rajesh Pabari who is an HR Consultant by Profession and aspiring management consultant by Passion.
It was the third session on Productivity Apps for Workplaces followed by sessions held on 23rd August 2018 and 21st September 2018. CA. Rajesh Pabari covered effective use of few more Google Chrome Extensions which are extremely helpful but were not covered in earlier sessions. He also demonstrated few tips for more effective Google searches syntax which will help to refine search results like search in title of pages, date wise, file type and specific website etc. He also explained some extremely useful tips for enabling to save time while using laptops/desktop shortcuts on day to day basis.
At this session, the Committee tried to experiment Live session online on Youtube for participants to go online through their Desktop and Smartphones. The video is available on Youtube.
The session was followed by Q&A session where the Speaker thoroughly addressed all the queries of the participants. The study circle was truly enthralling, and the participants appreciated the in-depth insight given by the learned speaker.
Intensive Study Course on “Data Analytics for Internal Audit” held on 7th & 8th December, 2018
The GRC subgroup of the Accounting and Auditing Committee organised a 2-day hands-on workshop on “Data Analytics for Internal Audit – using IDEA”: the workshop, anchored by CA. Deepjee Singhal, was divided into 1-day of seminar sessions, followed by 1-day of hands on training on the IDEA data analytics tool, for which each of the participants was provided a limited period IDEA licence along with data sets to get a feel of different IDEA features that can be effectively used for Internal Audit.
The workshop, inaugurated by president CA. Sunil Gabhawalla, had participants from the CA profession as also from the industry. CA. Deepjee Singhal provided a crisp overview of the Current Trends in Use of Data Analytics, with specific reference to internal Audit. A panel discussion with CA. Amit Pandit, CA. Jyotin Mehta and CA. Satish Shenoy provided insights to the participants as to the way in which data analytics has been integrated with the Governance-Risk-Compliance Advisory over the past decade and what the future may hold.
Mr Jairam Rajshekhar and Mr Saurabh Patkar demonstrated the various features of IDEA tool on day-1 and on day-2, they led the hands-on sessions where the participants got an opportunity to actually use these features on their own computers.
The case study based teaching method adopted for the workshop, with real data, enabled the participants to gain a first-hand experience of using the IDEA tool for data analytics.
The participants expressed deep appreciation for the in-depth and hands-on training provided in the upcoming field of data analytics with a special focus on Internal Audit.
INTENSIVE STUDY GROUP ON GST
Intensive Study Group Meeting on “Goods and Services Tax – Clause by Clause Study and Analysis of GST Act” held on 20th & 21st July, 24th & 25th August, 26th & 27th October, 16th November & 7th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
After the successful in-depth study and response in Batch-I held during March and April 2018, it was decided to further extend the study for few more months specially for some of the uncovered topics during Batch-I. The Batch-II was planned with 8 sessions (During July to December 2018) on Fridays and Saturdays by Bombay Chartered Accountant’s Society wherein section-wise study of the GST Act was held. There was an in-depth study and all the sessions were quite interactive. Each session was held under the guidance of 2 to 3 mentors who have a great expertise on the subject.
Each session was attended by more than 25 participants. It was highly appreciated by the members who shared their practical experience and got benefited as the coverage of the subject was detailed one.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES COMMITTEE
Human Development Study Circle on the topic “Building Civic Leaders” held on 11th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
Human Development Study Circle organised a meeting on the topic “Building Civic Leaders” on 11th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall which was addressed by Ms. Sapna Karim. The Speaker explained that we generally face difficulties in the quality of life in our neighbourhoods, clean surroundings in public places, enough water supply and good roads. She explained that Janaagraha is pursuing efforts to ensure that we as citizens are able to have a good quality of life in our cities through improvements in infrastructure and city administration and importantly demonstrate active citizenship. Janaagraha lives by the principle ‘urgent patience’ which would mean – be patient for change, but make urgent efforts to affect it. Quality of citizenship is not just a means to an end, but an end in itself. She emphasised that citizens must meet regularly to see how they can contribute. ChangeMyCity.com is a site that works for this and also powers the Swachhata app for the national government under the Swachh Bharath Mission. The Speaker mentioned that we do not want sporadic solutions but systematic solutions that take time as it involves changing or evolving new laws, policies, practices within government and enabling good citizenship values and behaviours.
The meeting was very participative and was a huge takeaway for the participants.
FEMA STUDY CIRCLE
FEMA Study Circle Meeting on “Current and Capital Account Transactions-Part II” held on 13th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
A FEMA Study Circle Meeting was held on 13th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall where CA. Manoj Shah led the discussion on the topic of “Current and Capital Account Transactions-Part II”. He did an in-depth analysis of Section 3 – Dealings in Foreign Exchange and dissected clause (a), (b) and (c) of section 3. He deliberated upon the meaning of “dealing” and discussed when a resident can pay on behalf of non-resident. He also explained couple of high court judgements on the subject of payment by resident on behalf of non-resident. He also pointed out that in one compounding matter, amount of FDI proceeds were received from third party intermediary instead of Authorised Person and penalty was levied therein. The members appreciated the efforts put in by the group leader and benefitted a lot from the session.
The Sixteenth Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial Lecture on “Guardian Angel of Fundamental Rights” held by Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial Trust on 15th December, 2018
The Sixteenth Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial Lecture on the topic “Guardian Angel of Fundamental Rights” was held by Nani A. Palkhivala Memorial Trust on 15th December, 2018, in association with Bombay Bar Association, Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society, The Bombay Incorporated Law Society and Forum of Free Enterprises, at the Tata Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point, Mumbai. The proceedings commenced with the performance by students of NCPA Special Music Training Programme. The lecture was delivered by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rohinton F. Nariman, Judge, Supreme Court of India. The lecture meeting was presided over by Mr. Y. H. Malegam, Chairman, Board of Trustees. The Speaker talked about the achievements of Late Palkhivala in the field of legal profession as well as several publications authored by him. He also discussed about the accolades Mr. Palkhivala earned in the domestic and international sphere and his memorable stint with Tata Group and as President, Forum of Free Enterprise and Founder Chairman, The A. D. Shroff Memorial Trust.
On this occasion, The Nani A. Palkhivala Civil Liberties Awards were also presented.
The meeting was attended by over 145 participants who got inspired and enthused with the well explained facts by the learned Speaker. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by the Trustee Mr. Deepak S. Parekh.
Lecture Meeting on “Right to Information vs Privacy” held on 17th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
A Samvad was organised at the Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society under auspices of BCAS Foundation on the subject ‘Right to Information (RTI) vs. Privacy’ on 17th December, 2018. Panellists invited were Shri Shailesh Gandhi, Former Central Chief RTI Commissioner, Justice Shri Abhay Thipsay (Retired Judge, Bombay High Court) and Shri V. A. Thorat, former Advocate General Maharashtra. Past President CA. Raman Jokhakar acted as a moderator.
President CA. Sunil Gabhawalla in his opening remarks stressed the need to have such debates and dialogue to bring clarity and consensus on the matters relating to the RTI. This he said was needed to bring transparency in the dealings between government and people to achieve true spirit of democracy.
Shri Shailesh Gandhi said that Right to Information is a fundamental right of citizens under Article 8(1) (a) of the constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and expression subject to Article 19 (2) which restricts it only in the interest of sovereignty, integrity and security of the state, public order, decency or morality, friendly relations with foreign state or in relation to contempt of court or defamation.
He further said that there is an adequate safeguard also prescribed under Section 8 (1) (j) of the RTI Act which exempts only that information which relates to personal information, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest and which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the information officer is satisfied that larger public interest justifies disclosure of such information. However, the proviso under the section amply clarifies the intent that only the information which cannot be denied to Parliament or the State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. “Despite this, information is often denied to people mistakenly classifying it as personal information” said Shailesh Gandhi. He lamented that increasingly some Supreme Court judgments were being cited to call every information as private and having no public interest and thus being denied. Among them were details related to service records and asset records labelling them as information between the employers and employees. “This has effect of completely diluting the fundamental right of RTI given to citizens of India under the constitution by misinterpretation of Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act, because they could always qualify for disclosure to the Parliament or State Legislature” he concluded.
Justice Thipsay said that when it comes to assets and service records of public servants, they should be provided under the RTI Act. He however cautioned that one needs to maintain a delicate balance to harmonise the conflict between the RTI and Privacy. He said that good society is not guaranteed by the information alone; one also has to keep check on whether this right is exploited to settle personal score. He opined that this was not a fight to finish but a process of evolution.
Shri V. A. Thorat said that information should be given on case-to-case basis when it comes to assets and details of service records. “Even if the provision for disclosing information exists, it cannot be applied universally without applying mind as to whether it will qualify under Article 19)(2). One has to draw the line between information that is necessary having regard to the facts and one what could be abused for personal gain with no public interest. However, he also said that judgements can’t be read as statutes and one needs to distinguish between public information sought in public interest and use of RTI for frivolous queries.
The two speakers while disagreeing with Shri Shailesh Gandhi about disclosure of information opined that use of discretion on the facts and circumstances of each case was necessary in protecting the right of privacy. However, all agreed that constitution is sovereign and not the provision of legislation. It would be ideal that within the ambit of restrictions laid down by Article 19 (2), the spirit of RTI is truly observed.
The debate was mind churning and intellectually enlightening. CA. Raman Jokhakar asked some poignant questions on the tendency of government officers to shirk their obligation cast under RTI Act and questioned logic of creating controversy. These were appropriately answered by the panellists. A lot many questions from enlightened audience augmented the ethos. Widely attended by cross section of people, it engaged the audience completely and prompted lot of spontaneous responses from them sharing their experiences.
Joint Secretary CA. Mihir Sheth gave a deserving vote of thanks to the panellists.
ITF STUDY CIRCLE
Study Circle Meeting on “Taxation of Profits from Shipping and Aircraft (for Non Residents) under DTAA (Part 2)” held on 18th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
ITF Study Circle organised a meeting on the captioned subject on 18th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall. The Study circle was led by CA. Sonia Agrawal who explained briefly about Part 1 where the Shipping Business Taxation comes under the purview of Domestic Tax Laws. Various issues with regards to Inland Waterways and Water Transport on the coastal ways, inside India and outside India, High Sea Shipping Cargo were also discussed.
There was a detailed discussion on Article 8 of the Treaty. Case laws on recent amendments were also taken up. The participants could resolve their queries with the group leader. The members of the Study Circle shared their experiences on above mentioned issues and all participants benefitted from the discussion on the subject.
Study Circle Meeting on “Contentious Issues under GST “held on 19th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall
A study circle meeting on the topic Contentious Issues under GST was held under the aegis of Indirect Taxation Committee on 19th December, 2018 at BCAS Conference Hall which was addressed by Sr. Advocate P. K. Sahu, who delivered an in-depth analysis of the issues with reasoning. The meeting was very interactive and the learned speaker dealt with all the issues posted before him in detail.
The meeting was a huge takeaway for the participants.
