Vistra India Update 369

1 February 2019
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February 1 to February 15 2019

INCOME TAX

Clarification under Section 80TTB

Section 80TTB allows a deduction in respect of interest on deposits in case of senior citizens upto Rs 50,000/- pa.  Further section 80TTA allows deduction in respect of interest on deposits in savings account upto Rs. 10,000/- pa.  The central government has now clarified that tax payers claiming deduction under section 80TTB shall not be eligible for deduction under section 80TTA.

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COMPANY LAW

Companies (Significant Beneficial Owners) Amendment Rules, 2019

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has amended Companies (Significant Beneficial Owners) Rules, 2018 to provide, among others, the following:

  • Defines the term Significant Beneficial Owner: 

“Significant beneficial owner” (“SBO”) in relation to a reporting company means an individual, who is acting alone or together, or through one or more persons or trust, possesses one or more of the following rights or entitlements in such reporting company, namely:- 

  • holds indirectly, or together with any direct holdings, not less than ten per cent. of the shares;
  • holds indirectly, or together with any direct holdings, not less than ten per cent of the voting rights in the shares;
  • has right to receive or participate in not less than ten per cent of the total distributable dividend, or any other distribution, in a financial year through indirect holdings alone, or together with any direct holdings;
  • has right to exercise, or actually exercises, significant influence or control, in any manner other than through direct holdings alone:

Clarifies various circumstances under which an individual shall be considered to hold a right or entitlement indirectly in the reporting company

  • where the member of the reporting company is a body corporate (whether incorporated or registered in India or abroad), other than limited liability partnership - if the individual satisfies any of the following criteria, in respect of a member of the reporting company, namely;

(a) holds majority stake in that member; or

(b) holds majority stake in the ultimate holding company (whether incorporated or registered in India or abroad) of that member;

  (ii) where the member of the reporting company is;

(a) a pooled investment vehicle; or

(b) an entity controlled by the pooled investment vehicle

based in member State of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering and the regulator of the securities market in such member State is a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, and the individual in relation to the pooled investment vehicle,-

  • is a general partner; or
  • is an investment manager; or
  • s a Chief Executive Officer where the investment manager of such pooled vehicle is a body corporate or a partnership entity.

Casts duty on reporting entity to:

  • Take necessary steps to find out if there is any individual who is a significant beneficial owner and if so, identify him and cause such individual to make a declaration in Form No. BEN-1
  • Issue Notice in BEN -4 to members holding not less than 10% beneficial interest
  • File a return in Form No. BEN-2 within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of declaration 

Requires every individual who is a SBO in a reporting company, to file a declaration in Form No. BEN-1 to the reporting company within:

  • 90 days from 8th February, 2019 in case if the individual is already a SBO
  • 30 days from the date an individual subsequently becomes a SBO 

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RBI AND FEMA

Single Master Form (SMF) – User manual updated

RBI has updated user manual on Single Master Form (SMF) in FIRMS (Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System) portal following operationalizing Form InVi effective February 5, 2019 for filing foreign investment details by an Investment Vehicle. Certain other changes to existing processes and documentation requirements for various forms are also incorporated. Some of the important changes in this regard are:

  • List of documents to be submitted along with various types of reporting i.e. FCGPR-A, LLP-I, LLP-II, FCTRS etc. This is in addition to the documents as would be required by the AD to ensure due diligence from an AD perspective as mandated.
  • Process flow for business user registration and for Filing forms in the SMF-FIRMS application.
  • The Valuation certificate is not required for Rights Issue. A declaration (plain paper) may be attached mentioning that the rights issue to person’s resident outside India is not at a price less than the price offered to persons resident in India.
  • The Relevant extracts of the board resolution should be submitted for all forms of Share allotment during the submission of Form FCGPR 

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CUSTOMS

Publishing of rate of exchange for conversion of the foreign currency

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) vide Notification No. 09/2019 - Customs (N.T.) notified the rate of exchange for conversion of the foreign currency into Indian currency or vice versa for Export and Import of goods, with effect from 8th of February 2019 respectively.  

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