Society News

FEMA Study Circle Meeting held on 17^th April 2017
at BCAS Hall

On April 17^th, a FEMA Study Circle Meeting was
held on the topic of Compounding Issues under FEMA. The group was led by
learned speaker CA. Rajesh P. Shah.

Mr Shah not only took participants through important FEMA
provisions applicable to compounding procedures and guidelines, but also
discussed practical issues relating to the subject matter and RBI views on the
same.

The speaker also resolved the queries of the participants.

CRASH COURSE ON ISCA FOR CA FINAL held on 21^st
April 2017 at BCAS Hall

A Crash Course on Information Systems Control & Audit
(ISCA) for CA Final Group-II aspirants appearing in May 2017 Exams was
conducted on Friday, 21^st April 2017 at BCAS Conference Hall. The
Speaker CA. Kartik Iyer shared his knowledge and experience in the most
practical manner on various topics like amendments for May 2017 exams, how to
Revise ISCA? etc. Memory Techniques for Easy Last Minute Revision,
Overview of all the Chapters, Exam Day Schedule and many more critical areas
were covered and explained to the attendees. The speaker gave practical
examples to understand the complexities of the subject. The session was very
interactive and participants benefitted from the course.

ITF Study Circle Meeting on “GAAR – It’s Concepts &
Examples” (Part II) held on 24^th April 2017 at BCAS Hall

Acknowledging the importance and depth of the topic “GAAR –
It’s Concepts & Examples” and in continuance of the ITF Study Circle
Meeting held on 6^th April 2017, the society organised another
enthusiastic meeting of the ITF Study Circle on the topic “GAAR – It’s Concepts
& Examples” – Part II on 24^th April, 2017 at BCAS Conference
Hall, led ably by Group Leader CA. Siddharth Banwat.

Mr. Banwat commenced the meeting by revisiting the provisions
of sections 95 to 102 of the Income-tax Act. This meeting focused the
discussion on the examples on various issues pertaining to GAAR. He went on to
cover examples like GAAR v. POEM, Reverse Merger, Capital Gain avoidance in
LLP, Dividend v. Buyback, Off-market sale v. On-market sale, Salary Structuring,
Conversion of company into LLP, Shell/conduit company, Bank Financing, Treaty
Benefit, Taxation on payment basis in treaty, Capital Reduction v. Dividend,
Issuing OCPS to residents, Issuing CCD to Residents, Business Restructuring etc.

The members of the Study Circle discussed their experiences
on the above issues and the participants immensely benefitted from the
discussion on the subject.

Half Day Workshop on Fraud Prevention held on 28^th April
2017 at BCAS Hall

HDTI Committee of BCAS
organised the workshop on Fraud Prevention on 28^th April, 2017,
where defying the GST wave, a group of over 30 young as well as experienced CAs
met to get a deeper perspective on how organisations can improve their
immunity, and prevent frauds.

Vice-President CA. Narayan Pasari set the right tone in his
keynote opening remarks as he put before the participants the distinction
between Fraud Prevention and Fraud investigations; the former being proactive
effort while the latter a post-Mortem exercise. CA. Nikunj Shah highlighted and
discussed in detail the two major frameworks that are world-class bench marks
in fraud prevention. His discussion based approach and MCQs at the end of the
session ensured that the participants remain engaged throughout the session.

The 2^nd half witnessed CA. Ashish Athalye
stimulating the minds of the participants in implementing the right tools,
techniques and controls to prevent frauds by making them work on various case
studies. At the end, Question-answer session addressed by both the faculties
ensured that participants left satisfied and their doubts cleared.

Full day Seminar on “Finance Act, 2017” held on 29^th April,
2017 at BCAS Hall

A Full day Seminar on the Finance Act, 2017 was held by the
Taxation Committee of the BCAS at BCAS Hall, Churchgate on 29^th
April, 2017. President CA. Chetan Shah gave the opening remarks followed by
introductory remarks by the Chairman of the Taxation Committee, CA. Ameet
Patel.

Various provisions of the Finance Act, 2017 were explained
ably by the following Speakers:

CA. Namrata Dedhia

– CA. Namrata Dedhia 
spoke on the amendments carried out on provisions of the Income-tax Act
in respect of Income from other sources, TDS (except section 194-IB), Returns
and assessments, Authority for Advance Rulings, Fees for default in furnishing
return of income and Income on refund to deductor. The session was chaired by
CA. Kishor Karia who expressed his views on certain provisions.The Speaker and
the Chairman answered all the queries raised on the subject.

CA. Gautam Nayak

– CA. Gautam Nayak threw light and explained the
intricacies of the amendments in respect of Taxation of Non-residents, Transfer
pricing, Chapter VI-A deductions, Special income, MAT and related sections. The
session was chaired by CA. Dilip Thakkar who expressed his views on
implications of the amendments from FEMA perspective. 

CA. Devendra Jain

– CA. Devendra Jain
dealt with the provisions relating to Maintenance and audit of books, Promoting
digital economy, Taxation of house property, Section 194-IB, Penalties, Carry
forward and set off for start-up companies, Miscellaneous amendments in
business income and Exemptions. This session was chaired by CA. Ameet Patel who
suggested that the profession should support the Government’s intention to
promote digitisation and a hyper technical interpretation of the provisions
enacted to promote digitisation should be avoided.

CA. Anil Sathe

– CA. Anil Sathe
discussed the provisions dealing with capital gains and related sections,
Search, seizure and survey related provisions and taxation of charitable
institutions. This session was also chaired by CA. Ameet Patel.

Two young speakers CA. Namrata Dedhia and CA. Devendra Jain
deliberated the topics on the BCAS platform for the very first time. The
sessions in the Seminar were very informative and analytical and the speakers
answered the queries raised by the participants. The participants immensely
benefitted from the seminar.

Direct Tax Study Circle Meeting on ‘Income Computation
Disclosure Standards; ICDS – 1 Accounting Policies, ICDS – 2 Valuation of
Inventories  and ICDS – 8 Securities’
held on 4^th May 2017 at BCAS Hall

The Chairman of the session, CA. Sanjeev Pandit gave his
introductory remarks regarding the manner in which ICDS had been previously
notified by the CBDT and also on revised ICDS and FAQ’s issued by the CBDT
recently.

The group leader, CA. Nimesh Jain briefly explained the
conditions for applicability of ICDS and the clarification issued by CBDT in
relation to applicability of ICDS, to persons covered by presumptive scheme of
taxation. (eg. section 44AD, 44AE, 44ADA, 44B, 44BB, 44BBA). Thereafter, the
FAQ’s released by CBDT in relation to Applicability to companies which adopted
Ind-AS, applicability to computation under MAT and AMT, Applicability to Banks,
Non-banking financial institutions, Insurance companies, Power sector etc.,
Applicability of ICDS III and IV to real estate developers and Build-Operate-Transfer operators and applicability of ICDS to leases, were
discussed by the group.

Mr. Jain also explained in brief the provisions of ICDS I –
Accounting policies, disclosure requirements contained in ICDS I and the
transitional provisions. He highlighted a few issues such as non-recognition of
the concepts of prudence and materiality, conflict between the provisions of
ICDS and SC rulings and allowance of MTM loss on interest rate swaps.
Subsequently, the provisions of ICDS II Valuation of Inventories were discussed
and issue of their applicability to service providers was deliberated upon.

He further opined that ICDS II may get entirely overruled by
section 145A which contains a non-obstante clause. Then he discussed the
revisions made in ICDS VIII Securities, the standard which has been divided
into 2 parts – Part A and B. Part A applies to Securities held as stock in
trade and Part B applies to Securities held by Scheduled Banks and public
financial institutions. He described the treatment to be given in case of
pre-acquisition interest and bucket approach by way of illustrations.

The participants benefitted enormously from the meeting.

Human Development Study Circle Meeting on “Chanakya’s
Business Sutras” held on 9^th May, 2017 at BCAS Hall

The meeting was conducted by HDTI Committee for the key
purpose to assess the progress of the participants of the Leadership Camp held
on 24^th and 25^th February, 2017. This meeting helped the
participants to understand the effectiveness of the implementation of
Chanakya’s Business Sutras in their Profession/Business to enable business
growth.

The session also helped those who had missed out the
Leadership Camp and gave them an insight into the learning at the leadership
camp, as the presenter recapitulated and summarised the learnings of the
Business Sutras of Chanakya.

The participants got mesmeried with the insights from the
meeting. 

BEPS Study Circle Meeting held on 13^th May 2017
at BCAS Hall

International Taxation Committee of BCAS organised a meeting
to discuss the BEPS Action Plan 6 read with Plan 15: Preventing the granting of
treaty benefits in inappropriate circumstances & Multi-lateral Instrument
(‘MLI’). The panel of discussion comprised of CA. D S Sharma, CA. Rutvik
Sanghvi  & CA. Monika Wadhani. They
made their respective presentations on the captioned BEPS Action Plan 6 read with
Plan 15 and explained the provisions of some minimum standards like Principle
Purpose Test, Limitation of Benefits provisions etc. which all countries
have to agree.  They also discussed the
MLI and the explanatory statement and explained that the remaining provisions
(e.g. Hybrid instrument provisions, PE provisions) are not mandatory.

Each country has an option to adopt the provision, or can
choose various options given for the respective provision. It is possible that
some countries will opt for one option and the others will opt for another
option. Hence one will have to consider the DTA, the MLI, the option adopted by
the countries and then take a legal view. It will be a complicated exercise.
The background, overview, functionality, structure and possible implications of
the MLI including the way forward were discussed and deliberated in detail.

It was also informed that negotiation concluded on MLI
between more than 100 countries including India has been released by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 24^th November
2016. It is expected to be ratified by various countries by June 2017. Once the
MLI is ratified, it would become effective from 1^st January of the
calendar year following the date of ratification. Thus, it is expected to be
effective from FY 2018-19 as far as India is concerned. The MLI provides for
anti-avoidance provisions agreed to by the countries under the BEPS programme
of the G20 /OECD. After ratification, each country will deposit the ratified document
with OECD. The MLI will not replace the DTA, it will supplement it. It will
also override the DTA on those aspects which are mandatory, and those which the
countries adopt.

The conclusion was that given the number of bilateral
decisions that are involved in designing a detailed LOB rule (including
decisions related to the content of the CIV subparagraph of the definition of
“qualified person”), the multilateral instrument was not an appropriate
instrument for the implementation of the detailed LOB rule. This removed the
pressure to design a multilateral solution to the issue of the treatment of
non-CIV funds in the detailed LOB provision.

The participants benefitted immensely from the concept and
overview of the BEPS explained by the learned speakers.

BCAS Foundation update

BCAS Foundation decided to
support– “Needy Child Project (Cancer Afflicted)” as reported last month. The
Foundation is donating Rs.25000 per month since October 2016 for the cancer
treatment of children at Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) from its fund. The donation
is given through ImpaCCT (Improving Paediatric Cancer Care and Treatment), a
unit of TMH to monitor donations to paediatric patients.

Further, an appeal was
made to the BCAS members who donated generously for the project. Members also
managed to collect further funds for the project from the trusts they are
associated with. The Foundation arranged visits to the TMH of BCAS members in
batches to get a firsthand experience of the situation and what their generous
donation can achieve.

BCAS Foundation also
committed to sponsor diagnostic equipment of about Rs 5.25 lakh for the same
hospital. This equipment is designed to handle multiple diagnostic analysis and
reduces substantially the time taken for diagnosis. The equipment would
increase the speed, quality and efficiency of diagnosis thereby increasing
patients’ recovery rate. An appeal was circulated to BCAS Core Group members
for the equipment who have generously donated to meet that target. BCAS Core
Group are the set of volunteers who serve on the 9 committees of BCAS.

The total collection for
Tata Hospital has crossed Rs. 20 lacs. BCAS Foundation has disbursed Rs.13.88
lakh to ImpaCCT and balance will soon be disbursed to them for the medical
equipment.