Monday, July 31, 2017
Inside the miserable world of India's domestic workers
Rediffmail.com
Last updated on: July 31, 2017 09:05 IST
'We eat first, they later; we sit on chairs and they on the floor; we call them by their names and they address us by titles.'
'There’s a real feeling that the employers are “big people,” and it’s going to be difficult to get police to take their complaints seriously.'
Image: between 1991 and 2001 there was a 120 per cent increase in the numbers of domestic help.
Sumana Barman, 11, a child labourer washes utensils at a house in the northeastern city of Siliguri, West Bengal.
Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters.
In the decade after liberalisation, there was a nearly 120 per cent rise in the number of domestic workers in India from 740,000 in 1991 to 16.2 lakh workers by 2001, says author Tripti Lahiri, quoting census data in her recently released book, Maid In India.
Women constitute over two-thirds of the workforce in this unorganised sector, which also includes chauffeurs and security guards, according to Lahiri’s analysis.
Female domestic workers usually come from India’s least-developed regions, such as Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Assam.
Their journeys are cross-country and transnational, as they seek work as servants in affluent homes.
They are, often barely of legal working age, their wages less than the minimum fixed by the government.
Their employers range from India’s elite to its nouveau riche, many of who still believe in the traditional divide between servants and masters.
Abuse, mental, physical or sexual, of these women is not uncommon.
One such dispute between a family and their Muslim domestic worker led to a riot-like situation in a gated community in Noida on Wednesday, July 12.
This is the world of Maid in India.
Through anecdotal evidence, Lahiri charts the sector’s trajectory and details the business of brokers and agents and exposes the workers’ limited access to justice and formalisation.
She also draws from her own personal experiences of engaging domestic help.
'We eat first, they later; we sit on chairs and they on the floor; we call them by their names and they address us by titles,' she writes.
Currently based in Hong Kong, Lahiri is the Asia bureau chief of Quartz, a digital media news organisation.
She has worked for the Wall Street Journal in Delhi and was the founding editor of the Journal’s India Real Time blog.
In 2012, she won the Ramnath Goenka award for civic journalism.
She has written about industrial disasters in Bangladesh and India’s struggle to combat violence against women.
She has a masters in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University, is fluent in Spanish and says her Italian is rusty. This is her first book.
In an interview with IndiaSpend, Lahiri, left, discusses the lives and times of India’s maids.
India has always had servants in some form or the other,” you write. What have been the trends over the last century in the sector?
There have been huge declines and then upswings in the number of domestic workers in India over the last 100 years. In 1931, the Census classified 2.7 million people as “servants.”
By 1971, the Census found just around 67,000 people doing that work.
A lot of that had to do with changes like the departure of a large class of people able to hire help - British colonial administrators, for example -- and the fact that in the first decades after independence people weren’t so well-off and almost all women who stayed home did their own work.
But suddenly, between 1991 and 2001 there was a 120 per cent increase in the numbers of domestic help.*
It’s true that India has seen a stagnation, even a shrinking, in female labour participation rates long-term.
But because of the immense growth of the population, even with that apparent stagnancy, the absolute numbers of women working outside the home have gone up.
The Census shows the numbers of female workers aged 15-59 went up 17 per cent between 2001 and 2011.
In cities, it went up over 70 per cent from around 14.7 million in 2001 to 25 million in 2011. That trend is driving a demand for help.
Again, more people are prosperous, so even when women in affluent households stay home, those homes can still afford - and want to - hire help.
Indian women do about 15 times more housework than Indian men, as per the 2014 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development report you have quoted. Indian women do about 35 hours of housekeeping chores a week while Indian men do two -- the worst country ratio. What does this tell you about the country’s domestic-service sector?
For me, those numbers really highlighted the difference between women and men in India, and the amount of time that women spend waiting upon men.
In the period in the 2000s when official statistics noted the numbers of women in the workforce fell, other official studies found that women were doing more unpaid housework.
That means if you move out of the paid workforce, you take on more unpaid work at home, which is just considered a part of normal familial duties.
Whether you are a professional domestic worker, a housewife, or a white-collar professional, chances are that you are doing a whole lot more cleaning, cooking and childcare than your equivalent Indian man.
One thing that I didn’t end up including in the book is how the normalcy of women and girls doing a lot of housework at home can shape court decisions.
Sometimes there are complaints registered with police that a family is keeping a child worker, and in those cases there might actually be a family relationship, admittedly a distant one.
In two rulings I looked at, the amount of housework those girls were doing was not the decisive factor in courts deciding whether they were maids or family members, because, as one court noted, it’s common for young women to do a lot of housework for family members.
Instead it was the lack of school enrollment that led to a court ruling in one case that a young girl was a maid, and not a family member.
In the other case, where school attendance records showed the girl was actually going to school regularly, the court ruled that she was being treated as a bonafide family member although she also did a lot of housework.
But the idea that a woman should serve her family in this way is being questioned in some legal cases, for example in divorce petitions.
In several of these that I looked at, the women seeking a divorce say that their in-laws fired the domestic help and gave all the work to them after their marriage, citing this as evidence that they were not treated as true family members.
More people are educated today than in the 1980s. In 1981 the literacy rate was 43.5 per cent -- as of 2011 it was 74.04 per cent. The trend is particularly pronounced for women as the number of female literates has jumped from 29.76 per cent in 1981 to 65.46 per cent in 2011. Despite this, why is the domestic service sector growing at an accelerated pace?
I think this has to do with the same trends that I mentioned earlier, relating to greater urban affluence and more women working in cities.
There are also more young women enrolled in school than ever before. If they go on to college and work in the future, they are also likely to want to hire domestic help.
Startups and other organisations, such as Babajobs, The Maids Company and Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), attempt to bring these informal workers into the formal space, but your book tells us the formalisation process has not been as successful as it might have been. What are the obstacles to formalising domestic labour?
I should note that I didn’t speak with Babajobs or SEWA for the book. But from The Maids Company interviews and other workers I spoke to, I’d say there are two big obstacles.
What people think they should pay is really set by what people around them are paying -- basically by the microeconomy they live in.
So it can be really hard to convince people to pay more and if they agree to pay a lot more than their peers, they might end up expecting a lot more in return and being less flexible with their workers.
Conversely, even though workers might be open to banding together and demanding that wages be a certain level, they can’t control an influx of migrants willing to undercut them and work for less.
But if there were more states with a law specifying a minimum wage for these workers, it would help, except for workers who are already earning a lot higher that those rates.
Image: In the period in the 2000s when official statistics noted the numbers of women in the workforce fell, other official studies found that women were doing more unpaid housework. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters.
In your research how often did you find maids approaching the courts for justice against abuse? What are the challenges they face?
I didn’t research FIRs and looked mainly at judgements in certain kinds of cases, so I don’t have a good sense of the big picture.
Anecdotally I’d say that it’s certainly not a first-resort option for women who aren’t able to collect pay or who are facing other problems.
I’d also say there’s a real feeling that the employers are “big people,” and it’s going to be difficult to get police to take their complaints seriously.
Most often women want to leave a bad situation, rather than file a complaint.
What did your research tell you about the social mobility of this class of labourers?
There definitely is mobility but it can take more than one generation to happen.
So the child of a young woman who comes to the city as a “24-hour” worker is probably not going to jump into the white-collared classes. But the child of a woman who has been working in Delhi for decades might well be able to.
I met a woman in her 50s who started out as a cleaner in her teens and was a housekeeper in central Delhi when we met; her son worked at a top think-tank and to my mind, is part of the Indian elite.
I also think the child of someone like Santosh Srivastava whom I interviewed, a child domestic worker who became a cook and then became a placement agent, is going to go to college. I don’t know if she’ll become a white-collar professional but she has a good shot.
Image: India is a really varied country and people’s relations with the help are pretty different, west to east, north to south.
Subhankar Baidya, aged five, eats his lunch at a home operated by "Free the Children," an Indian non-government organisation near Kolkata. Baidya does not want to talk about the sufferings he endured as a domestic servant, but silently points towards paper sketches he draws frequently to portray his misfortune.
Photograph: Parth Sanyal/Reuters.
In September 2014, the Delhi government’s labour department issued executive directions for the regulation of private placement agencies providing domestic labour in the National Capital Region (NCR). How effective has this been in curbing exploitation?
These rules didn’t become law, and I don’t think they are really being applied yet.
Why did you focus your research on the Delhi-NCR region?
India is a really varied country and people’s relations with the help are pretty different, west to east, north to south.
But Delhi/NCR is the capital, where its wealthiest and most powerful reside, which is why it seemed to me that looking at how well Delhi handles this relationship was really important, and maybe was a proxy for how India as a whole handles inequality and class.
It’s also a city that I know well, and where I was living when I was working on the book, so I could spend more time with workers whose jobs were in Delhi.
Which regions of India serve as the main sources of domestic labour and why?
The reasons that some states are “maid-sending” regions and others are not is down to the weakness of the economies of those areas.
In the same way that there are multitudes of micro-economies in the capital, the country is a collection of pretty different economies - compare the minimum wages of Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
It wouldn’t be unfair to compare the wealth of Delhi and its pull on the people of Jharkhand or other eastern states to the dynamic between the United States and Mexico in the 1990s and early 2000s.
For the same reason, you might hear people say that there are no Punjabi maids because the state is too rich. That’s not entirely true.
But because the state is wealthier, their domestic workers are of a more advanced level: they have the knowledge and the connections to find work in Singapore, rather than Delhi. But that’s a topic for another book.
* Domestic work has increased 222 per cent since 1999-2000 according to this 2011 report of The Task Force On Domestic Workers. The statistics on domestic workers vary from 4.75 million (employment and unemployment National Sample Survey 61st round, 2004-05) to 6.4 million (Census 2001).
Alison Saldanha is an assistant editor with IndiaSpend.
Here's what will happen if you miss today's income tax return filing deadline
By Devansh Sharma
The finance ministry has said it won't extend the July 31 deadline for filing income tax returns this year. The panic is evident, considering the fact that the tax department's filing system has been running erratic since Saturday.
The big question right now is what happens if you still miss filing your tax returns before July 31 midnight. Here's what you should know.
Can I file my income tax return after the deadline?
Yes, you can. An ITR filed after the due date is called a belated return. It can be filed before the end of the assessment year i.e. before March 31, 2018 in this case. Infact, from FY16-17 i.e. AY17-18 onwards you are even permitted to revise a belated return. However, if you file your return after the deadline you will lose out on certain benefits.
Filing a belated return
The process of filing a belated return is the same as me as if you file the return on or before the due date. The main difference would be that while filling the applicable ITR form you would have to select "Return filed under section 139(4)" in the drop down menu in the relevant box in the form. Also, remember that if you are filing a belated return for FY16-17 then you need to fill the applicable ITRs as notified for this FY only and not for any previous or later FY..
Is there is a penalty?
No, the penalty for filing income tax return after due date is only applicable from FY 2017-18. The government had introduced a maximum late fee of Rs 10,000 for delayed filing of income tax return by individuals in the last budget presented in February this year. However, this fee is applicable with effect from April 1, 2018 and will not apply for returns filed for FY2016-17 for which the deadline as of now is July 31, 2017.
However, it is important to note that if you have any unpaid tax liability, filing your return after the due date would result in a levy of penal interest on the unpaid tax calculated from the due date of filing the return till the actual date of filing. But if no tax is payable, the taxpayer won't be liable to pay this interest on unpaid tax due to the belated filing for FY16-17 only. However, if the income tax department on assessing your return raises demand for additional tax payment then you would have to pay penal interest on that tax as well as the additional tax. Therefore, it is advisable to file your return in time.
What if I have filed my returns but there is an error?
After an income tax return is filed, it is processed by the CPC, Income Tax Department. However, after processing, if an assessee realises that some income was not reported, or some deduction was not availed of in the return computation, it is possible to file a revised return.
How much time do I get to verify my return?
Merely filing your tax return is the job half done until you verify it. As per the present tax laws, you can verify your return within 120 days of filing it.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Rs 600 crore ponzi case; ED arrests agent of Chandigarh firm
PTI|
Updated: Jul 29, 2017, 08.24 PM IST
NEW DELHI: The ED has arrested an agent of a Chandigarh-based company and seized assets worth Rs 4.18 crore in connection with its money laundering probe in a Rs 600 crore ponzi scam case.
The Enforcement Directorate had conducted searches in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ambala in Haryana, and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh in this case yesterday.
The central probe agency, in a statement issued today, said an absconding agent of the alleged chit fund firm under scanner — Kamal K Bakshi — has been arrested under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was today produced in a Chandigarh court.
The court sent him to 14 days' custody.
The case, the ED said, pertains to thousands of investors who were "systematically lured and cheated to the tune of more than Rs 600 crore by floating ponzi or pyramid schemes assuring exorbitant returns".
"Fixed deposit receipts, immovable property papers, jewellery and high-end cars estimated to be valued at Rs 4.18 crore have been seized after the searches," the ED said.It said the alleged "mastermind" of the scheme is a Malaysian identified as Mugundhan Gangam who floated two firms -- Ms Unipay 2U Marketing Private Limited and Unigateway2U Trading Private Limited -- in India.
The man is suspected to be hiding in Malaysia now after he slipped out from the country, the ED said.Describing the modus operandi of the alleged cheating in this case, the agency said the early investors of the ponzi schemes floated by the firm were paid exorbitant returns in order to win over their confidence.
"When thousands of people across the country invested crores of rupees in the said ponzi schemes, the companies stopped the payouts or monthly returns (since October, 2010) and gradually siphoned off crores of rupees of investors," it said.
"The company manipulated by using a web of bank accounts and layering of money through a plethora of such accounts," the ED alleged.
Assets worth Rs 1.63 crore have also been attached in this case under PMLA, it said, even as the agency is probing the role of another agent of the two firms identified as Arvind Kumar Singh.The agency had registered a criminal FIR in the case, based on an earlier complaint of other central investigative agencies.
WHO IS TRUE TRUMP FAN-JOKE OF THE WEEKEND
A teacher asked her 6th grade class how many of them were Trump
fans.
Not really knowing what a Trump fan is, but wanting to be liked
by their teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for Little Johnny.
The teacher asked Little Johnny
why he’d decided to be different… again.
Little Johnny said, “Because I’m
not a Trump fan.”
The teacher said, “Why aren’t you
a fan of Trump?”
Johnny said, “Because I’m a
Democrat.”
The teacher asked him why he was
a Democrat.
Little Johnny answered, “Well, my
Mom’s a Democrat and my Dad’s a Democrat, so I’m a Democrat.”
Annoyed by this answer, the
teacher asked, “If your mom was a moron and your dad was an idiot, what would
that make you?”
With a big smile, Little Johnny
replied, “That would make me a Trump fan.”
TODAY I GOT ENLIGHTENED AS I UNDERSTOOD THE MEANING OF SERVICE BY INDIAN GOVT BUREAUCRATS
I became confused when I heard the word 'service' used with these agencies...
Indian Administrative 'Service'
Indian Police 'Service'
Civil 'Service'
Indian Revenue 'Service'
Indian Postal 'Service'
Telephone 'Service'
State, City, Public 'Service'
This is not what I thought 'service' meant...
But today, I overheard two farmers talking, and one of them said he had hired a bull to 'service' a few cows...
There!!
It all came into focus...
It all came into focus...
Now I understand what all those bureaucrats are doing to us.
Now you are as enlightened as I am.
Nirmala Sitharaman against gowns at graduation ceremonies - Good Move Indeed
ET Bureau|
Updated: Jul 29, 2017, 12.13 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called for a ‘review’ of the British-era tradition of wearing gowns at graduation ceremonies. “It is my suggestion to students and faculty.
It is a light suggestion. I am not wearing a gown today,” she said Friday in her address at the 51st convocation of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade here. “I have nothing against the gown. I don’t disrespect it... but I think it is time, if we can review foreign trade policy, we can also review wearing this gown.” Stressing on the need for some ‘fresh thinking,’ the minister said students here could do things even better than throw up their graduation hats in the air.
“We can do things better even when we throw the hats... and jump as high as we can and imitate some universities abroad. No harm. Those of you who want to do it, do it,” she said, adding that it’s a matter of extreme pride, honour and a tradition to wear the convocation gown.
She expressed hope that by the next convocation, the students and the faculty of the institute, which comes under the aegis of the commerce ministry, would come up with something new. “I am sure that many of you will have that wonderful other side... Hold a competition amongst yourself (as in) how you want to receive your degrees (next time), if not like this,” Sitharaman said.
Premier institutes such as the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, have ditched the ceremonial black robes and headgear for more ethnic attire. The minister asked the graduating students to submit their ideas for the foreign trade policy for 2015-20, which is under review. “Give your inputs quickly so that by September, we would like to release it. I will personally look at all the inputs which come,” she said.
PROTECTIONISM AND NEGOTIATING CAPACITY
Sitharaman said the markets worldwide are tightening their positions, protectionism is increasing and trade barriers are coming up from the most unexpected quarters, due to which the global economy has to be understood, studied and analysed by experts. “I think there is immense scope for India at every level to build its capacity,” the minister said. Sitharaman said there is a shortfall of well trained trade negotiators, experts in international negotiations and experts who have a cross-pollinated view.
She added that people from different areas should also be part of the faculty at IIFT. Indian trade service officers may also be deputed for short durations to meet any academic shortfall.
Friday, July 28, 2017
PHILOSOPHER HUSBAND
A philosopher HUSBAND
said....Every WIFE is a ' Mistress ' for her husband....
Miss for first year and STRESS for rest of the years....
Courtesy
Leavit
Leavit
Forex chest swells to life high of $391.3 billion
By Pratik Bhakta ET Bureau
MUMBAI: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose $2.2 billion to reach a record high of $391.3 billion for the week ended July 21, said the Reserve Bank of India on Friday.
Taking advantage of a stock market rally coupled with a strong Rupee, market sources ET spoke to said that the central bank could be mopping up dollar reserves.
Data from NSDL shows Rs 22,997 crore was pumped into Indian markets by foreign institutional investors in the current month. Rs 1.7 lakh crore ..
Are you filing the correct GST return?
ET Bureau|Updated: Jul 28, 2017, 12.22 AM IST
Under GST, a regular taxpayer needs to furnish monthly returns and one annual return. There are separate returns for taxpayers under the composition scheme, non-resident taxpayer, taxpayer registered as an “input service distributor”, a person liable to deduct or collect the tax (TDS/TCS) and a person granted Unique Identification Number. So taxpayers are required to file returns depending on the activities they undertake.
However, for the first two months, the return filing process has been simplified by requiring all taxpayers to provide just the summary details in form GSTR-3B while the forms for outward and inward supplies—GSTR-1 and GSTR-2, respectively—can be filed 25 days after they are first due.
Without UID, expatriates unable to file tax returns
By Sachin Dave ET
MUMBAI: Many expatriates living in India and non-resident Indians living in any other country may just end up in tax trouble with no fault of theirs. They all are set to miss the July 31 deadline for filing income-tax returns due to snags in the e-filing system.
Several expats are unable to file tax returns because the e-filing system would not accept it without an Aadhaar card link.
This despite the government, through a recent notification, clarified that foreig ncitizens are not required to obtain Aadhaar card for tax filing purpose. “In several cases, the income tax e-filing system is not allowing expatriates to upload their returns without Aadhaar as they have been tagged as Indian citizens in the income tax database,” said Amit Maheshwari, partner at Ashok Maheshwary & Associates LLP that is helping several expats deal with the problem. “This anomaly seems to have its origin at the time of allotment of PAN,” he said. That is not the only problem.“This anomaly seems to have its origin at the time of allotment of PAN,” he said. That is not the only problem.
“In several cases, expats who are not tagged in the jurisdiction of the international tax ward are also not able to upload their tax returns,” Maheshwari said. Another person in the know said, "There seems to be some bug in the IT application as it asks expatriates to submit their foreign bank account when that's not required as per the law.”
too, “are unable to upload their tax returns when they mention their country of residence”, the person told ET. Several representations on the issue have been made to the government in the last couple of weeks.
The government is yet to take any action in this regard. An email sent to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Thursday morning did not elicit any response as of press time. Many expats and NRIs want the government to extend the deadline for filing the returns. An expert, however, said extending the deadline for just one section of the taxpayer is impossible. “If the government decides to extend the deadline, that has to be done for all taxpayers,” the person said.
The issue of Aadhaar card has come to revisit expats who had thought it was resolved. In April, many tax experts took a view that the Finance Act, 2017 had made it mandatory to enrol for Aadhaar to file tax returns in India or apply for a PAN or keep the existing PAN active effective July 1 if the person is eligible for Aadhaar.
Under the Aadhaar Act, anyone who is in India for more than 182 days in aggregate in the past 12 months becomes eligible to obtain Aadhaar. This meant that many expatriates were required to obtain an Aadhaar number, experts said. The possibility of having to give out personal details including biometric ones caused panic among the expat community.
PM Modi interacts with women's cricket team-Source Rediffmail.com
July 27, 2017 23:15 IST
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Mithali Raj. Photograph: Narendra Modi/Twitter
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hosted the women's cricket team and told the players that they made the nation proud like several other ‘daughters’ of the country.
The team has returned from London after participating in Women's World Cup in which India lost to England in the final played last Sunday.
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a group photograph with the Indian women’s cricket team, in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: PTI
Modi had posted a series of tweets before the match to wish luck to the team and to players individually. He had also tweeted soon after the match to hail the team's performance.
During the interaction on Thursday, the players said that this was the first time that they had seen a prime minister tweet for the women's cricket team, the PMO said.
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “With the talented @ImHarmanpreet...congratulated her for her memorable innings against Australia & wished her the best for the future.” Photograph: Narendra Modi/Twitter
They said that they felt proud, happy and inspired to know that the prime minister was following their progress, PMO said in a statement.
Responding to questions asked by the players on handling pressure, the prime minister said that Yoga helps achieve a good balance between mind, body and action. He also said that practice of Yoga helps develop detachment, it said.
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Jhulan Goswami is renowned not only in India but across the world for her bowling. Had a very good interaction with her today.” Photograph: Narendra Modi/Twitter
Telling the players that they had not ‘lost’, the prime minister said that 125 crore Indians carried their defeat in the final, on their shoulders, and this was, in fact, their greatest victory, the statement said.
He said India's daughters have made the nation proud in many international sporting events and that the society is benefiting from the progress that women are making in various fields.
Besides sports, he mentioned the school results of Class 10 and 12; and women space scientists who have played a key role in prestigious ISRO missions.
The players presented a signed cricket bat to the Prime Minister.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
CHINA AND INDIA MUST AVOID WAR TO DEFEAT ILL MOTIVES OF WORLD ARMS SUPPLIERS' LOBBY AND NOT TO BECOME A VICTIM OF TRAP LAID DOWN BY USA.
I am not a journalist who will write an article in a tricky manner with sophisticated English but an ordinary Indian citizen.Over the last many decades big countries like USA-Russia-many in EU have made deep inroads into the political systems of many countries world over to get control over governments actions.These countries are busy in selling their arms and ammunition for their own economic growth and could go to any extent even destabilizing the entire country and regions.Examples before the world are IRAQ-SYRIA-FALL OF USSR-TURMOIL IN AFRICAN COUNTRIES and creation of ISIS.
Now in my view this lobby of arms dealers are eying to disturb the two rising powers of world the CHINA (an established power) and INDIA (in process of establishing as power).USA just to take revenge from India on account of Nuclear tests conducted by NDA Govt (CIA failed to detect) created Kargil war through its allay PAKISTAN.USA never ever helped India and imposed sanctions and also pushed back its Space program 15 years back.
Mr.Jawahar lal Nehru by sheer personal EGO got misguided by Mr.Menon and pampered by a few International personalies got engaged with China in 1962 and lost Tibet permanently.But now Indian armed forces are well equipped to tackle CHINA but the war shall not be a solution as both countries economies shall get pushed back considerably.USA does not want to see CHINA progressing further and also want to damage INDIA just to further gain its nefarious purpose of USA first policy.(As per policy of Mr.Donald Trump).
Mr.Modi must not get trapped by USA and both Chinese and Indian leaders should settle small disputes between themselves.War at this junction will also damage Mr.Xi-Jinping reputation and may mar his extension scope to power.On the other hand Mr.Modi will also lose whatever public support he has earned in his 3 years tenure.There may be loud speeches and press reports within the countries against each other but leaders must show a sign of utmost maturity to defeat the very purpose of Arms's suppliers' Lobby.It is easy to destroy infrastructure of each other but will take years to rebuild them.
CA Rakesh Kumar SInghal
CA Rakesh Kumar SInghal
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
No penalty for late ITR this year but here are 4 important reasons to file it in time.
By Pragati Kapoor ET july 25-2017
The due date for filing income tax return for individuals - July 31 - is fast approaching but several people think that if one has paid all one's taxes there is no adverse consequence even if one misses the tax return filing deadline. This is more so because the proposed penalty for delayed filing of income tax return kicks in from next year and is not applicable for returns filed for FY16-17.
However, you need to know that even if all your taxes have been paid and there is no penalty for delayed filing this year, you would still lose out on certain benefits if you do not file your income tax return by the due date.
In fact, filing your return by the deadline is important specially for FY16-17 in case you have made cash deposits of Rs 2 lakh or more in your bank account during the demonetisation period i.e. between Nov 9, 2016 to Dec 30, 2016.
This is because reporting such deposits has been made mandatory in all the ITRs for FY16-17. Further, given the tax department's clean money drive you may well get a letter from the department asking you to file your return if not filed in time.
The fact that the tax department is tracking your financial data is evidenced by the sms from the department received by many taxpayers who haven't filed their returns till date: "Your 26AS statement for FY16-17 shows income receipts & TDS. Please ascertain your tax liability & file IT Return by due date (31 July 2017, if not auditable). Please link your PAN with Aadhaar," warns the SMS.
Apart from risking getting a letter from the tax department, you will also lose the following benefits if you do not file your income tax return by the due date.
Loss in interest on refunds
In case you claim a refund in your return, of any advance tax paid/TDS, you would lose some of the interest paid by the tax department on such refund. The interest on refund is normally computed from April 1 of the assessment year (the year immediately following the financial year for which the return is filed) till the date of grant of refund, according to Kuldip Kumar, Partner and Leader Personal Tax, PwC.
However, in case of a belated return (i.e. return filed after due date) interest is computed from the actual date of filing the return till the date when refund is granted. This means loss of the interest that would have been paid for the period April 1 till date of filing the return. Even if you file the return one day after the due date you would be losing interest for at least four months - April, May, June and July (presuming due date is not extended beyond July 31).
No carry forward of losses
If you file a belated return you cannot carry forward losses (except loss from house property). "Losses under the following heads of income: Income from business and profession including speculation business, capital gains, and income from other sources cannot be carried forward in case a belated return is filed by the tax payer. The return filer will not be allowed to carry forward these losses even if all taxes have been paid in time if the return is belated," says PwC's Kumar.
Delayed return where tax remains unpaid
If you have any unpaid tax liability, filing your return after the due date would result in levy of penal interest @ 1% per month from the due date of filing the return till the actual date of filing. This would be a heavy and avoidable payout. What is more, tax authorities can initiate prosecution if the return is delayed beyond the relevant assessment year and the amount of unpaid tax exceeds Rs. 3,000, he adds.
If return is not filed even by end of relevant Assessment Year
If you do not file your tax return even by 31st March of the relevant assessment year (i.e. the year immediately after the financial year for which the return is to be filed) but no taxes are due, a penalty of Rs. 5,000 can be levied by the tax authorities if you are unable to provide a reasonable cause for the delay, Kumar adds.
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