E-Sellers Demand Regulatory Authority
Representative bodies of e-sellers of India have summoned the Central Government to set up a regulatory authority to oversee ecommerce marketplaces activities and monitor their policies towards merchants. It is contended by these bodies that no substantial progress has been made on its suggestions even after two years of placing its demand in the E-commerce Committee formed under NITI Aayog in 2016.
All India Online Vendors Association (“AIOVA“) and other traders’ bodies, including Confederation of All India Traders (“CAIT“) and RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch, has been reiterating their dissent over the $16 Bn acquisition by Walmart for a 77% stake in homegrown marketplace Flipkart. India’s online traders’ bodies are of the opinion that this deal could promote predatory pricing in the absence of an ecommerce policy in the country.
Kerala HC on Real Income of Assessee
The Kerala High Court, in its judgment dated February 26, 2018 in Commissioner of Income Tax, Thiruvananthupuram v. Sushil Thomas Abraham has held that in a situation where a legal dispute is pending between two parties, any amounts arising out of such claims are taxable only after they are received in the hands of the parties. Any premature proceedings by the tax department to impose tax on income that may accrue to a person in case a litigated claim is ruled in its favour are thus untenable.
Late Fees for GST Returns Waived
The Central Government via a notification dated May 14, 2018 has waived the late fee payable for failure to furnish monthly Goods and Service Tax (“GST”) returns in Form GSTR-3B by the due date for each of the months in the period October 2017 to April 2018. This waiver is for entities whose Form GST-TRAN 1 was submitted but not filed on the GSTN Portal before December 27, 2017. These entities can avail this waiver only if they have filed their respective Form TRAN-1 on or before May 10, 2018 and the return in FORM GSTR-3B for the months mentioned above on or before May 31, 2018 on the GST Portal.