Wednesday 28 September 2016
Tuesday 27 September 2016
GST – Draft Rules and formats
Draft Rules and formats have been issued by Central Board of Excise and Custom for Registration, Payment and Invoice.
Friday 23 September 2016
CBDT Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961
Circular
F.No.282/227/2016-IT (Inv.V) 26/2016
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes (Investigation Division)
September 21, 2016
Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961
Circular No. 17 of 2016 dated 20.05.2016 relating to the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 (the Scheme) clarifies that a person shall be eligible to make declaration under the Scheme for assessment years other than the assessment year(s) for which a notice under section 142(1)/143(2)/148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) has been served on or before 31.05.2016.
In this context, concerns have been raised that if declaration under the Scheme is made for years not under assessment on an identical issue which is pending assessment under section 143(3)/147 of the Act, then, whether such declaration shall tantamount to acceptance by the assessee of concealment of income on the said issue for the year under assessment. Doubts have also been raised that declaration under the Scheme on an identical issue in other years may lead to levy of penalty and initiation of prosecution for the year in which assessment is pending.
In this regard, attention of all concerned is invited to the provisions of section 273A of the Act which provides for power to reduce or waive penalty in certain cases. Attention is also invited to the provisions of section 279(1A) of the Act which provides that a person shall not be proceeded against for an offence under section 276C or section 277 in relation to the assessment for an assessment year in respect of which the penalty imposed or imposable under section 271(1)(iii) or 270A has been reduced or waived by an order under section 273A. Section 273A inter-alia provides that the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner shall reduce or waive penalty in case the assessee has co-operated in any enquiry relating to the assessment of his income for the relevant assessment year and has either paid or made satisfactory arrangements for the payment of any tax or interest payable in consequence to the assessment order passed under the Act in respect of the relevant assessment year. It is clarified that where a declaration is made under the Scheme for years not under assessment on an identical issue which is pending assessment under section 143(3)/147 of the Act and the person offers to pay the tax and interest, if any, on such issue for the year pending assessment under section 143(3)/147 of the Act, the person shall be treated as having "cooperate in any enquiry" within the meaning of section 273A of the Act.
Therefore, the Principal Commissioners or Commissioners are advised to take a lenient view on receipt of a valid application under section 273A of the Act in respect of an issue for the said assessment year which is identical to the issue on which a valid declaration has been made under the Scheme for other assessment year(s) subject to payment of the entire amount payable under the Scheme.
(Mamta Bansal)
Director (Inv.V)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes (Investigation Division)
September 21, 2016
Order under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961
Circular No. 17 of 2016 dated 20.05.2016 relating to the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 (the Scheme) clarifies that a person shall be eligible to make declaration under the Scheme for assessment years other than the assessment year(s) for which a notice under section 142(1)/143(2)/148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) has been served on or before 31.05.2016.
In this context, concerns have been raised that if declaration under the Scheme is made for years not under assessment on an identical issue which is pending assessment under section 143(3)/147 of the Act, then, whether such declaration shall tantamount to acceptance by the assessee of concealment of income on the said issue for the year under assessment. Doubts have also been raised that declaration under the Scheme on an identical issue in other years may lead to levy of penalty and initiation of prosecution for the year in which assessment is pending.
In this regard, attention of all concerned is invited to the provisions of section 273A of the Act which provides for power to reduce or waive penalty in certain cases. Attention is also invited to the provisions of section 279(1A) of the Act which provides that a person shall not be proceeded against for an offence under section 276C or section 277 in relation to the assessment for an assessment year in respect of which the penalty imposed or imposable under section 271(1)(iii) or 270A has been reduced or waived by an order under section 273A. Section 273A inter-alia provides that the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner shall reduce or waive penalty in case the assessee has co-operated in any enquiry relating to the assessment of his income for the relevant assessment year and has either paid or made satisfactory arrangements for the payment of any tax or interest payable in consequence to the assessment order passed under the Act in respect of the relevant assessment year. It is clarified that where a declaration is made under the Scheme for years not under assessment on an identical issue which is pending assessment under section 143(3)/147 of the Act and the person offers to pay the tax and interest, if any, on such issue for the year pending assessment under section 143(3)/147 of the Act, the person shall be treated as having "cooperate in any enquiry" within the meaning of section 273A of the Act.
Therefore, the Principal Commissioners or Commissioners are advised to take a lenient view on receipt of a valid application under section 273A of the Act in respect of an issue for the said assessment year which is identical to the issue on which a valid declaration has been made under the Scheme for other assessment year(s) subject to payment of the entire amount payable under the Scheme.
(Mamta Bansal)
Director (Inv.V)
Wednesday 21 September 2016
Income disclosure: CBDT sends out SMS to assessees, promises confidentiality
With just 11 days to go before closure of the compliance window under the black money scheme, the tax department has started sending SMSes assuring full confidentiality to assessees who want to come clean on their unaccounted wealth.
“The information received under Income Declaration Scheme 2016 shall be confidential and shall not be shared with anyone,” read the text message from the I-T department. The four-month compliance window for voluntary disclosure of domestic black money under the Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) comes to a close on September 30. Those declaring unaccounted wealth will have to pay 45 per cent tax plus penalty.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), which had issued a series of FAQs on IDS, has come out with another instruction clarifying that assessees can declare assets in relation to the assessment year during which notices have been served by May 31, 2016, and proceedings have been completed before September 30, 2016. According to experts, declarations can be made with regard to capital gains or business income which have escaped assessment. “It has been clarified that a declaration under IDS can be filed in respect of the assessment year for which notice... has been served on or before May 31, 2016, but the proceedings have been completed and the period of filing declaration under IDS has not expired,” CBDT said in an instruction to field formations.
Nangia & Co Partner Suraj Nangia said CBDT has clarified that even if an assessment was initiated before May 31, 2016, but was completed before September 30, 2016, such taxpayers are eligible for filing declaration, but only in respect of income that was not a subject matter of the assessment. According to the IDS facility, one can pay tax under the scheme by cash in a bank and no enquiry will be made by any bank official. The government in July extended the deadline for payment of tax and penalty under the black money disclosure scheme and allowed declarants to pay the amount in three instalments by September 30, 2017.
The first instalment of 25 per cent will have to be paid by November 2016 to be followed by another of 25 per cent by March 31, 2017. The remaining amount will have to be paid to the exchequer by September 30, 2017. Earlier, tax, surcharge and penalty under the black money disclosure window were required to be paid by November 30 this year.
(Thehindubusinessline.com)
Monday 19 September 2016
ITR filing deadline extended for professionals: 4 things not to miss
There is good news for professionals who were suppose to file their income tax returns (ITRs) by
the end of September this year.
Considering that the deadline clashed with the last date for making declarations under the Income Declaration Scheme 2016, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to give an extension to taxpayers whose accounts are required to be audited under the Income Tax Act before they can file ITRs.
"The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend the last date for filing returns which were due on September, 30, 2016 to October 17, 2016 in order to remove inconvenience and to facilitate ease of compliance," said the official statement from the Finance Ministry. So, taxpayers whose business receipts exceed Rs 1 crore or professional receipts exceed Rs 25 lakh for the previous year (Financial year 2015-16) will now get 17 more days to prepare their ITRs.
Make sure you file both tax return and tax audit report by this date as the penalties for noncompliance can be quite high. "If you do not file your return and have a tax due, penal interest is charged under Section 234A," says Archit Gupta, founder and CEO, ClearTax.com. An interest of 1% for every month from the due date of filing of the return to the date when the return is actually filed is levied for late filing. Similarly penalty is levied if you do not pay advance tax. "Self assessment tax due, if any, paid after September 30th but before the extended due date shall also attract additional interest of 1% under Section 234B," says Vaibhav Sankla, director, H&R Block India. For missing the audit, taxpayers are penalised under Section 271B. "The minimum penalty that is charged is 0.5% of the gross receipts, up to a maximum of Rs 1.50 lakh. However, if the taxpayer has a reasonable cause for failure to get an audit done, such penalty may not be levied," says Gupta. Apart from penalties, there are other disadvantages of missing the deadline. For instance, you are not allowed to carry forward your business losses , which could be set off against future profits (yielding you tax benefits), if you do not file on time.
Here are four filing rules that most professionals often ignore or aren't aware of , but , should keep in mind while preparing their audited ITRs to meet the October deadline.
1. Abide the book-keeping rules, maintain records: With the ITR you are also expected to submit an audit report for which you should have maintained your books as per Rule 6F. Professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants, architects and even consultants with gross receipts of more than Rs 1.5 lakh in any one of the three previous years immediately preceding the current financial year are required to maintain accounting records. This rule also applies to a professionals who have just started practice and whose gross receipts are expected to be more than Rs. 1.5 lakh in the first year. As per Rule 6F you are to maintain a cash book, a record of day to day cash receipts and payments which shows cash balance at the end of the day or at least at the end of the each month, a journal/log of all day-to-day transactions, a ledger with details of all accounts, photocopies of bills or receipts issued by you which are more than Rs 25 and original bills of expenditure incurred that exceed Rs 50. Failure to maintain these records in a methodical way would attract a penalty of Rs 25,000. Further, if there were international transactions involved you will also be charged an additional 2% of the value of each international transaction.
2. File even if you have losses: According to chartered accountants, a common mistake taxpayers make is not filing the tax return in case there is a loss. Infact, , it becomes even more important to file the ITR if you have a loss. "Losses can be set off from income from other heads and unadjusted losses can be carried forward. This is only possible if return is filed within due date," says Gupta. However, there are some specific rules you need to be aware of such as a speculative loss can be set off only against a speculative income. Any loss is allowed to be set off from a speculative income except losses under the head capital gains and losses incurred in owning and maintaining race horses . That is, you cannot set-off a speculative loss against any income other than speculative income. Speculative loss means a loss from a transaction where although purchase/sale takes place but actual delivery of a commodity does not take place. This also covers sale of shares and stocks where delivery is not taken. An intra-day stock trader must report his gains(losses) as speculative transactions. Any unadjusted loss can be carried forward for eight years. If it is an unadjusted speculative loss, you can carry it forward only for four years.
3. Report income from F&O correctly: Several taxpayers, including some who are even salaried, trade in F&O deals but do not report their gains/losses from futures and options in their tax return correctly. "If you trade in F&O, any gains or loss from it is treated as a business gain or loss and therefore must be reported in ITR 4," says Gupta. Therefore, it does not matter if you are a professional or a salaried person, if you have an F&O transaction, it needs to be reported in ITR 4. Here again, reporting losses come with tax benefits."F&O trading is considered as a nonspeculative gain/loss and therefore loss from it is allowed to be set-off from income from other heads, except salary," says Gupta. Also, expenses which have been incurred to earn F&O income such as broker's commission, trade journal subscriptions, consultant, etc., can be claimed under deductions in your tax return.
4. Beware, ITR 4S will not apply to you this year: In this year's budget, FM Jaitley announced a major relief for professionals earnings less than Rs 50 lakh per year by including them in the presumptive tax calculation scheme. These professionals and freelancers can now choose to declare profit and pay taxes at a predetermined rate of 50% of gross receipts, doing away with the need to maintain books, track income or get their accounts audited. Such professionals can file their returns in ITR 4S. However, this rule applies from FY2016-17 onwards and only if you are declaring a profit. Meaning, if you have a loss, you cannot file an ITR 4S and will have to submit an ITR 4. Requirement of audit and maintaining books, as mentioned earlier, depends on your income. Also, taxpayers who claim that their income is lower than the presumed income calculated under section 44AD and 44AE (8% of your earnings) must maintain books of accounts which may enable the assessing officer to calculate their taxable income as per the Income Tax Act.
(Economic Times)
Considering that the deadline clashed with the last date for making declarations under the Income Declaration Scheme 2016, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to give an extension to taxpayers whose accounts are required to be audited under the Income Tax Act before they can file ITRs.
"The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend the last date for filing returns which were due on September, 30, 2016 to October 17, 2016 in order to remove inconvenience and to facilitate ease of compliance," said the official statement from the Finance Ministry. So, taxpayers whose business receipts exceed Rs 1 crore or professional receipts exceed Rs 25 lakh for the previous year (Financial year 2015-16) will now get 17 more days to prepare their ITRs.
Make sure you file both tax return and tax audit report by this date as the penalties for noncompliance can be quite high. "If you do not file your return and have a tax due, penal interest is charged under Section 234A," says Archit Gupta, founder and CEO, ClearTax.com. An interest of 1% for every month from the due date of filing of the return to the date when the return is actually filed is levied for late filing. Similarly penalty is levied if you do not pay advance tax. "Self assessment tax due, if any, paid after September 30th but before the extended due date shall also attract additional interest of 1% under Section 234B," says Vaibhav Sankla, director, H&R Block India. For missing the audit, taxpayers are penalised under Section 271B. "The minimum penalty that is charged is 0.5% of the gross receipts, up to a maximum of Rs 1.50 lakh. However, if the taxpayer has a reasonable cause for failure to get an audit done, such penalty may not be levied," says Gupta. Apart from penalties, there are other disadvantages of missing the deadline. For instance, you are not allowed to carry forward your business losses , which could be set off against future profits (yielding you tax benefits), if you do not file on time.
Here are four filing rules that most professionals often ignore or aren't aware of , but , should keep in mind while preparing their audited ITRs to meet the October deadline.
1. Abide the book-keeping rules, maintain records: With the ITR you are also expected to submit an audit report for which you should have maintained your books as per Rule 6F. Professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants, architects and even consultants with gross receipts of more than Rs 1.5 lakh in any one of the three previous years immediately preceding the current financial year are required to maintain accounting records. This rule also applies to a professionals who have just started practice and whose gross receipts are expected to be more than Rs. 1.5 lakh in the first year. As per Rule 6F you are to maintain a cash book, a record of day to day cash receipts and payments which shows cash balance at the end of the day or at least at the end of the each month, a journal/log of all day-to-day transactions, a ledger with details of all accounts, photocopies of bills or receipts issued by you which are more than Rs 25 and original bills of expenditure incurred that exceed Rs 50. Failure to maintain these records in a methodical way would attract a penalty of Rs 25,000. Further, if there were international transactions involved you will also be charged an additional 2% of the value of each international transaction.
2. File even if you have losses: According to chartered accountants, a common mistake taxpayers make is not filing the tax return in case there is a loss. Infact, , it becomes even more important to file the ITR if you have a loss. "Losses can be set off from income from other heads and unadjusted losses can be carried forward. This is only possible if return is filed within due date," says Gupta. However, there are some specific rules you need to be aware of such as a speculative loss can be set off only against a speculative income. Any loss is allowed to be set off from a speculative income except losses under the head capital gains and losses incurred in owning and maintaining race horses . That is, you cannot set-off a speculative loss against any income other than speculative income. Speculative loss means a loss from a transaction where although purchase/sale takes place but actual delivery of a commodity does not take place. This also covers sale of shares and stocks where delivery is not taken. An intra-day stock trader must report his gains(losses) as speculative transactions. Any unadjusted loss can be carried forward for eight years. If it is an unadjusted speculative loss, you can carry it forward only for four years.
3. Report income from F&O correctly: Several taxpayers, including some who are even salaried, trade in F&O deals but do not report their gains/losses from futures and options in their tax return correctly. "If you trade in F&O, any gains or loss from it is treated as a business gain or loss and therefore must be reported in ITR 4," says Gupta. Therefore, it does not matter if you are a professional or a salaried person, if you have an F&O transaction, it needs to be reported in ITR 4. Here again, reporting losses come with tax benefits."F&O trading is considered as a nonspeculative gain/loss and therefore loss from it is allowed to be set-off from income from other heads, except salary," says Gupta. Also, expenses which have been incurred to earn F&O income such as broker's commission, trade journal subscriptions, consultant, etc., can be claimed under deductions in your tax return.
4. Beware, ITR 4S will not apply to you this year: In this year's budget, FM Jaitley announced a major relief for professionals earnings less than Rs 50 lakh per year by including them in the presumptive tax calculation scheme. These professionals and freelancers can now choose to declare profit and pay taxes at a predetermined rate of 50% of gross receipts, doing away with the need to maintain books, track income or get their accounts audited. Such professionals can file their returns in ITR 4S. However, this rule applies from FY2016-17 onwards and only if you are declaring a profit. Meaning, if you have a loss, you cannot file an ITR 4S and will have to submit an ITR 4. Requirement of audit and maintaining books, as mentioned earlier, depends on your income. Also, taxpayers who claim that their income is lower than the presumed income calculated under section 44AD and 44AE (8% of your earnings) must maintain books of accounts which may enable the assessing officer to calculate their taxable income as per the Income Tax Act.
(Economic Times)
Wednesday 14 September 2016
Tuesday 13 September 2016
CBDT launches online 'nivaran' to resolve I-T grievances
CBDT has launched the ambitious 'e-nivaran' facility for online redressal of taxpayers' grievances related to refunds, ITRs and PAN among others as part of its initiative to reduce instances of harassment of the public when it comes to complaints related to the I-T department.
An exclusive 'e-nivaran' (electronic resolution) link has recently been activated on the e-filing portal of the department-www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.In -- where taxpayers can register their complaints through their personal computer systems and receive a special PIN number on their registered mobile and email, as their unique number to keep track of the issue.
The 'e-nivaran' module, a senior official said, will work on the lines of the internet-based Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filing system and taxpayers can register all complaints related to delay in refunds, filing of e-returns, Tax Deducted at Source (TDS), PAN issues, and those pertaining to their Assessing Officer (AO).
"People who do not have a Permanent Account Number (PAN) but have some problem in connection with their I-T case can also use the e-nivaran facility. Documents can be uploaded in a PDF format and clubbed as a ZIP file," the official said.
A special space has also been provided for 'grievance description' along with furnishing of details like mention of the Assessment Year (in case of individual) or the Financial Year (in case of deductor).
Address, postal PIN code, mobile number and email are mandatory fields to be filled up.
"The new system will ensure, like e-filing, that the taxpayer gets his grievance redressed by just using an internet-enabled computer and does not require them to travel to a tax office. The 'e-nivaran' has been now connected to all electronic databases and the modern business application software platform of the department to ensure quick resolution," the official said.
The 'e-nivaran' form is also expected to be provided at the Aaykar Sampark Kendras (ASK) (tax facilitation centre), located in over 300 cities, in a physical form which will later fed into the system by tax officials.
Once the grievance is registered, the system will also issue an acknowledgment number which can be quoted by the taxpayer for all his future communications with the taxman and also to track the progress of the complaint.
Monday 5 September 2016
CBDT issues a brief summary of important clarifications on Income Disclosure Scheme 2016. Scheme not to be extended beyond 30th September 2016
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
05-September-2016 12:40 IST
Income Declaration Scheme 2016 – Government issues Clarifications in the form of Sixth Set of
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 (the Scheme) provides an opportunity to persons who have not paid full taxes in the past to come forward and declare their undisclosed income and assets. The Scheme has come into effect from 1.6.2016 and is open for declarations up to 30.9.2016. The Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 Rules (the Rules) have been notified on 19.5.2016. The amount payable under the Scheme can be paid in instalments viz. 25% of the total amount payable by 30.11.2016; another 25% by 31.3.2017 and balance 50% by 30.9.2017.
In order to address concerns of the stakeholders and to clarify the queries relating to the provisions of the Scheme, the Rules have been amended from time to time and six set of circulars (FAQs) have been issued. The following major issues addressed through Rules and FAQs are as under:
• The information in respect of a valid declaration is confidential and shall neither be shared with any law enforcement agency nor shall be enquired into by the Income-tax Department.
• The assets declared under the Scheme are to be valued at cost of acquisition or at fair market price as on 1.6.2016 as determined by the registered valuer, whichever is higher. However, an option for valuation of registered immovable property on the basis of stamp duty value of acquisition adjusted with the Cost Inflation Index has also been provided.
• Credit for unclaimed TDS made on declared income shall be allowed.
• Neither any capital gains tax nor any TDS shall be levied on transfer of declared benami property from benamidar to the declarant without consideration.
• The amount of fictitious liabilities recorded in audited balance sheet and not linked to acquisition of an asset can be disclosed under the Scheme as such.
• The period of holding of declared registered immovable assets shall be taken on the basis of the actual date of registration. The valuation report obtained by the declarant from a registered valuer shall not be questioned by the department. However, valuer’s accountability will remain.
• No adverse action shall be taken by FIU or the income-tax department solely on the basis of the information regarding cash deposit made consequent to the declaration under the Scheme.
• No enquiry/investigation shall be made in respect of the undisclosed income and assets declared under the Scheme even if the evidence of same is found subsequently during course of search or survey proceedings (circular No.32 dated 01.09.2016). Further, vide Circular No. 31 dated 30.8.2016 an option has been provided to the declarants to file the declaration under the Scheme electronically under digital signature with the Commissioner of Income-tax, Centralised Processing Centre, Bengaluru [CIT(CPC)].
In case the declarant exercises the said option the declaration shall not be shared with the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner/Commissioner under the Income-tax Act. In view of the fact that all the major queries and concerns of stakeholders have already been addressed by issue of circulars (FAQs) and also to provide stability and certainty to the Scheme, it is envisaged that no further clarifications on the Scheme shall be issued.
It is reiterated that the Scheme closes on 30.09.2016. The extension of the scheme is out of question.
CBDT signs 20 Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements with Indian taxpayers
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
30-August-2016 16:45 IST
CBDT signs 20 Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements with Indian taxpayers
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) entered into twenty (20) Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) yesterday and today, i.e., 29th August, 2016 and 30th August, 2016, with Indian taxpayers. Many of these agreements also have a “Rollback” provision in them.
The APA Scheme was introduced in the Income-tax Act in 2012 and the Rollback provisions were introduced in 2014. The scheme endeavours to provide certainty to taxpayers in the domain of transfer pricing by specifying the methods of pricing and determining the arm’s length price of international transactions in advance for the maximum of five future years. Further, the taxpayer has the option to rollback the APA for four preceding years.
Since its inception, the APA scheme has attracted tremendous interest among Multi National Enterprises (MNEs) and that has resulted in more than 700 applications (both unilateral and bilateral) having been filed in just four years. The 20 APAs signed in these two days pertain to various sectors of the economy like Information Technology, Banking & Finance, Insurance, Human Resources, Pharmaceutical, Solar Energy, Oil & Gas, Foods & Beverages, Telecommunications and NGO.
The international transactions covered in these agreements include Software Development Services, IT enabled services, Investment Advisory Services, KPO services, Contract manufacture, Contract R&D services, Import of components, Support services, Export of goods, Management services, Brand Royalty, Technical services, Engineering design services, Selling & Marketing services, Network operation & maintenance services, General & Administration services, HR consultancy services, etc.
With these signings, the total number of APAs entered into by the CBDT has reached 98. This includes 4 bilateral APAs and 94 unilateral APAs. A total of 33 unilateral APAs and 1 bilateral APA have already been concluded in five months of the current Financial Year as against 55 in Financial Year 2015-16.
The CBDT expects more APAs to be concluded and signed in the near future. The progress of the APA Scheme strengthens the Government’s commitment to foster a nonadversarial tax regime. The approach and functioning of the officers in the APA teams have been appreciated and acknowledged by the industry in India and abroad.
Cabinet approves grant of Permanent Residency Status to Foreign Investors
Press Information Bureau
Government of India Cabinet
31-August-2016 13:23 IST
Cabinet approves grant of Permanent Residency Status to Foreign Investors
The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the scheme for grant of Permanent Residency Status (PRS) to foreign investors subject to the relevant conditions as specified in the FDI Policy notified by the Government from time to time.
The scheme is expected to encourage foreign investment in India and facilitate Make in India Programme. Under the Scheme, suitable provisions will be incorporated in the Visa Manual to provide for the grant of PRS to foreign investors. The PRS will be granted for a period of 10 years with multiple entry. This can be reviewed for another 10 years if the PRS holder has not come to adverse notice.
The scheme will be applicable only to foreign investors fulfilling the prescribed eligibility conditions, his/her spouse and dependents. In order to avail this scheme, the foreign investor will have to invest a minimum of Rs. 10 crores to be brought within 18 months or Rs.25 crores to be brought within 36 months. Further, the foreign investment should result in generating employment to at least 20 resident Indians every financial year.
Permanent Residency Status will be granted for a period of 10 years initially with multiple entry facility, which can be renewed for another 10 years. PRS will serve as a multiple entry visa without any stay stipulation and PRS holders will be exempted from the registration requirements. PRS holders will be allowed to purchase one residential property for dwelling purpose. The spouse/ dependents of the PRS holder will be allowed to take up employment in private sector (in relaxation to salary stipulations for Employment Visa) and undertake studies in India
*****
AKT/AD/SH
We recommend that you seek professional advise prior to initiating action on specific issues.
Government of India Cabinet
31-August-2016 13:23 IST
Cabinet approves grant of Permanent Residency Status to Foreign Investors
The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the scheme for grant of Permanent Residency Status (PRS) to foreign investors subject to the relevant conditions as specified in the FDI Policy notified by the Government from time to time.
The scheme is expected to encourage foreign investment in India and facilitate Make in India Programme. Under the Scheme, suitable provisions will be incorporated in the Visa Manual to provide for the grant of PRS to foreign investors. The PRS will be granted for a period of 10 years with multiple entry. This can be reviewed for another 10 years if the PRS holder has not come to adverse notice.
The scheme will be applicable only to foreign investors fulfilling the prescribed eligibility conditions, his/her spouse and dependents. In order to avail this scheme, the foreign investor will have to invest a minimum of Rs. 10 crores to be brought within 18 months or Rs.25 crores to be brought within 36 months. Further, the foreign investment should result in generating employment to at least 20 resident Indians every financial year.
Permanent Residency Status will be granted for a period of 10 years initially with multiple entry facility, which can be renewed for another 10 years. PRS will serve as a multiple entry visa without any stay stipulation and PRS holders will be exempted from the registration requirements. PRS holders will be allowed to purchase one residential property for dwelling purpose. The spouse/ dependents of the PRS holder will be allowed to take up employment in private sector (in relaxation to salary stipulations for Employment Visa) and undertake studies in India
*****
AKT/AD/SH
We recommend that you seek professional advise prior to initiating action on specific issues.
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