Central Government employees have a low-interest house construction advance

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the lowering of interest rates will encourage more government employees to buy new houses as they were “a major contributor” to the overall demand.

Also Read: 7th Pay Commission House Building Advance

New Measures to Boost Housing Sector

Relaxation of ECB guidelines for Affordable housing

• ECB guidelines will be relaxed to facilitate financing for home buyers who are eligible under the PMAY, in consultation with RBI.
• This is in addition to the existing norms for ECB for affordable housing.

House Building Advance

• The interest rate on House Building Advance shall be lowered and linked with the 10 Year G Sec Yields.
• Government servants contribute to a major component of demand for houses. This will encourage more government servants to buy new houses

Also Check: Clarifications regarding House Building Advance – HBA

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28 FEB 2018

On the occasion of 42nd Civil Accounts Day tomorrow, the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs , Shri Arun Jaitley will inaugurate the Centralized GP Fund Module of PFMS for all the Central Government Employees. The centralized GPF module meets a long standing demand of the Central Government Employees for a mapping of GPF Accounts with the unique Employee ID thereby facilitating online application for GPF advances and withdrawals with online access to the employee’s current GPF balances. The module will streamline GPF accounting and transfer of balances.

During the Inaugural Session, the Finance Minister, Shri Jaitley will also inaugurate the ePPO module of PFMS for complete end -to -end electronic processing of Pension cases. The ePPO includes the integration of the BHAVISHYA application of the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare and the PARAS application of CPAO with PFMS for seamless processing of Pension cases thereby eliminating delays and errors involved in manual processing.

A function is being organized tomorrow at D.S. Kothari Auditorium, DRDO Bhawan Complex, New Delhi to mark the 42nd Civil Accounts Day.

The Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley will be the Chief Guest at the Inaugural Session. The Union Minister of State for Finance, Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan will preside over this Session. The Secretary (Expenditure), Shri A. N. Jha and the Controller General of Accounts(CGA), Shri Anthony Lianzuala will be the other dignitaries at the Inaugural Session.

It may be mentioned here that the Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley had earlier graced the 40th Civil Accounts Day function on March 1, 2016 in which the Hon’ble President of India was the Chief Guest. The Union Finance Minister, Shri Jaitley had also very graciously inaugurated the ‘Mahalekha Niyantrak Bhawan’, the new building of this office on September 14, 2016.

Earlier, the Finance Minister had been kind enough to launch the mandatory use of PFMS for Central -Sector schemes monitoring (Oct 2015), the Non -Tax Receipts Portal (NTRP) (Feb 2016) and the Web Responsive Pensioners’ Service of the Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) (September 2016).

The Union Government initiated a major reform in Public Financial Management in 1976. The Audit and Accounts functions were separated by relieving the Comptroller and Auditor General of his responsibility of preparation of Union Government accounts. The accounting function was brought directly under the control of the Executive. Consequently, the Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) was established. The ICAS was carved out from the Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA & AS), initially through the promulgation of an Ordinance amending the C & AG’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 1976. Later on, the Departmentalization of Union Accounts (Transfer of Personnel) Act, 1976 was enacted by Parliament and assented to by Hon’ble President of India on 8th April, 1976. The Act was deemed to have come into force with effect from 1st March, 1976. Accordingly, the ICAS is celebrating March 1 every year as the “Civil Accounts Day”.

Since its inception the ICAS has steadily grown in stature and now plays an important role in the management of public finances of the Union Government

Other highlights of the 42nd Civil Accounts Day function are

* Inauguration of the Centralised GPF and ePPO modules of PFMS

Reforms in public financial management are a continuous process. Structural changes take place in the economy and in the functioning of government which demand accounting data on public finances to be available to decision makers, often on real time basis. This demand for faster information can only be met through adoption of technology. Recognizing this need, the Service has since its inception, been a pioneer in the use of Information Technology in Payments, Accounting and Financial Reporting.

* Keynote address by Shri N. K. Singh, Chairman, Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC)

Shri N. K. Singh, Chairman, FFC will deliver the keynote address at the Plenary Session from 12.00 PM to 12.50 PM on the topic “Managing Public Finances for a resurgent India”. The Address will be of tremendous significance in the context of fiscal discipline efforts of the Union and the States that would be required to achieve fiscal consolidation.

* Address by Shri Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India

The post-lunch session (2:00 PM -2:50 PM) will feature a talk by Shri Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, State Bank of India on the topics “Leveraging Information Technology for an efficient receipt and payment system of the Government of India”. As the head of the premier accredited and aggregator bank for Government business, the views of Chairman, SBI on the subject would be of immense significance especially in the context of implementation of the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) with a seamless integration with the banking systems.

Concluding session

This Session will be an Open House Session where Service Officers will interact for a way forward on issues relating to Accounts, IT and Internal Audit.

PIB

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The government is expected to announce higher allowances for 4.8 million central government employees and 5.2 million pensioners in March with a view to give a boost to its employees.

After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday in his Budget speech announced the reduction of the existing rate of taxation for salaried class with income ranging between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh to 5% instead of 10%.

the Finance Minister also said in his budget that there would be zero tax liability for people getting income up to Rs 3 lakhs p.a. and the income tax liability will only be Rs 2,500 for people with income between Rs 3 and Rs 3.5 lakhs.

The Finance Ministry is hopeful for the announcement of higher allowances in March after the completion of five states assemblies’ poll process as the model code of conduct has come into effect from January 4, the sources in the Ministry told us on condition of anonymity.

They also said higher allowances under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations should implement which would give them some financial comfort, a step they had hoped might be taken to implement in April in new financial year.

The implementation is to come in April after nine to ten months of getting basic pay hike of the central government employees.

Sources, however, said the government had no plan to give allowances in arrears from August for the central government employees.

“There’s no arrears on allowances will be given to employees,” they confirmed.

The pay commission had recommended abolition of 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances.

So the government hiked the basic pay and referred hike in allowances other than dearness allowance to the ‘Committee on Allowances’ headed by the Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa for examination.

The ‘Committee on Allowances’ has finalized the report on the allowances in October, however the government gave extension the committee till February 22, 2017 to submit its report for getting normalized the cash crunch period.

After getting the report on the allowances, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to announce the higher allowances in mid-March.

TST

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today proposed to reduce the tax rate for income up to Rs 5 lakh from the existing 10 per cent to 5 per cent while imposing 10 per cent surcharge on income between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore.
Following is the table of impact on individual on tax proposals:

INCOME TAX RATE IMPACT

1. (Individual Tax Payers) Up to Rs 2,50,000 NIL NIL Rs 2,50,001 to Rs 5,00,000 5% Rs 7,725 (Savings)
2. (Senior Citizens 60 years but less than 80 years) Up to Rs 3,00,000 NIL NIL Rs 3,00,001 to Rs 5,00,000 5% Rs 2,575 (Savings) Rs 5,00,001 to Rs 10,00,000 20% Rs 7,725 (Savings)
3. (Senior Citizens 80 years and above) Up to Rs 5,00,000 NIL NIL Rs 5,00,001 to Rs 10,00,000 20% Rs 7,725 (Savings) (Surcharge of 10 per cent on income of all individuals above Rs 50 lakh and less than Rs 1 crore and surcharge of 15 per cent on income above Rs 1 crore).

PTI

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“Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that the present burden of taxation is mainly on honest tax payers and salaried employees who are showing their income correctly. Therefore, post-demonetisation, there is a legitimate expectation of this class of people to reduce their burden of taxation.”

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance

01-February-2017 14:11 IST

Finance Minister reduces the tax rate from 10 to 5 per cent for individual income between Rs 2.5 to Rs 5 lakh.

Finance Minister appeals to all citizens to contribute to Nation Building by making a small payment of 5 per cent tax if their income is falling in this slab.

A simple one- page Income Tax Return form for the category of individuals having taxable income upto Rs 5 lakhs other than business income

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley reduced the rate of taxation from existing 10 per cent to 5 per cent for individual assesses between income of Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs. This would reduce the tax liability of all persons below Rs 5 lakh income either to zero (with rebate) or 50 per cent of their existing liability.

While presenting the General Budget 2017-18 in the Parliament today, the Union Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that the present burden of taxation is mainly on honest tax payers and salaried employees who are showing their income correctly. Therefore, post-demonetisation, there is a legitimate expectation of this class of people to reduce their burden of taxation. The Finance Minister further said that if a nominal rate of taxation is kept for lower slab, many more people will prefer to come within the tax net. The Finance Minister made an appeal to all the citizens of India to contribute to Nation Building by making a small payment of 5 per cent tax if their income is falling in the lowest slab of Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that the Government is trying to bring within tax-net more people who are evading taxes. So, in order to expand tax net, it is decided to have a simple one-page form to be filed as Income Tax Return for the category of individuals having taxable income upto Rs 5 lakhs other than business income. Also, a person of this category who files income tax return for the first time would not be subjected to any scrutiny in the first year unless there is specific information available with the Department regarding his high value transaction.

In his Budget Speech, the Finance Minister further said that in order not to have duplication of benefit, the existing benefit of rebate available to the same group of beneficiaries is being reduced to Rs 2500, available only to assessees upto income of Rs 3.5 lakhs. The combined effect of both these measures will mean that there would be zero tax liability for people getting income upto Rs 3 lakhs per annum. and the tax liability will only be Rs 2,500 for people with income between Rs 3 and Rs 3.5 lakhs. While the taxation liability of people with income upto Rs 5 lakhs is being reduced to half, all the other categories of tax payers in the subsequent slabs will also get a uniform benefit of Rs 12,500 per person. The total amount of tax foregone on account of this measure is Rs 15,500 crore.

In order to make good some of this revenue loss on account of this relief, a surcharge of 10 per cent of tax payable on categories of individuals whose annual taxable income is between Rs 50 lakhs and Rs 1 crore has been proposed. This is likely to give additional revenue of Rs 2,700 crore.

The Finance Minister said that the direct tax proposals for exemptions, etc. would result in revenue loss of Rs 22,700 crore but after counting for revenue gain of Rs 2,700 crore for additional resource mobilisation proposal, the net revenue loss in direct tax would come to Rs 20,000 crore.

PIB

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New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may hike service tax rate to 16-18 per cent from the current 15 per cent in the Budget, due on Wednesday, as a precursor to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout.

The move, that will make flying, eating out, phone bills and a host of other services expensive, would be an attempt to take the rates closer to the proposed tax slabs for GST.

GST, which will subsume central and state levies like excise duty, service tax and VAT, is scheduled to be rolled out from July 1.

The tax slabs decided for the GST are 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent and taking service tax closer to one of the slabs is a logical move in the Budget, tax experts said.

Tax experts say, Jaitley, who had in his previous budget hiked service tax rate by 0.5 per cent to 15 per cent, may raise the levy by at least one percentage point to 16 per cent.

Some others feel there could be different service tax rates with a lower 12 per cent for basic services and a higher 18 per cent for the rest.

Also, a higher service tax for April-June will help the government garner more revenue to meet expenses on schemes and programmes it may be planning to contain the impact of demonetisation.

A service tax rate closer to the GST rate will also help consumers avoid a greater price shock when the new national sales tax is rolled out.

While service tax until now is a central levy, it will be equally split between the Centre and states under the new GST regime. Most services, except essential ones like primary healthcare and basic education, will be covered by GST.

Service tax was budgeted to provide Rs 2.31 lakh crore in 2016-17, more than 14 per cent of the Centre’s total tax revenues of Rs 16.30 lakh crore.

This will be the third time that Jaitley will raise service tax rate. Service tax from June 1, 2015 was hiked from 12.36 per cent to 14 per cent. A 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat Cess was levied on all services, taking the total incidence of service tax to 14.5 per cent from November 15, 2015.

In the last Budget, he imposed a Krishi Kalyan Cess at the rate of 0.5 per cent on all taxable services to take the levy to 15 per cent.

PTI

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New Delhi: Ahead of the rollout of GST, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today sought to address concerns of job loss from reduced work of central excise and service tax officials, saying they should have no insecurity as enough work and opportunities will be available to them in the new indirect tax regime.

“I see no reason really for disquiet for the simple reason (that) opportunities which are available to people in service and the matter of policy and constitutional guarantee are all protected,” he said at the Investiture Ceremony 2017 and International Customs Day 2017 organised by CBEC here.

Only the nature of activity will change because there will be one national sales tax replacing an array of central and state levies like excise duty, service tax and VAT.

“Important changes and evolutions which take place are never put on the back burner” just because the people who conduct the activity would now have to work in an altered form and environment, he said.

“The number of people required, the kind of opportunity will remain unchanged except that the nature of activity itself changes,” he said.

GST, he said, has for last several yeas been considered as a larger part of policy consensus in India and an important taxation reform that will lead to the economic integration of the country.

“Once it takes place you have a situation where taxes (that) are levied by the state (and) by Centre (will) all be integrated into one and therefore resulting in one assessment.

“Multiple systems on assessment which is there at present will evolve into a newer kind of system,” he said.

He was responding to Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman Najib Shah’s remarks drawing his attention to “the rising disquiet in the cadre”, saying there were human resource issues in the service.

Jaitley said the revenue to be collected is going to expand and there will be expansion of economic activity as well.

“Therefore even though you have two parallel machineries which could now be converging into similar kind of activities and shared responsibility, I think the future will stand witness to the fact that there will be adequate amount of opportunities to be created and therefore the kind of disquiet in service, the kind of personal pressure I see on you should reduce as there is no real occasion for a fear of this kind or a sense of insecurity for anyone in this service,” he said.

The Finance Minister said change and evolution are an integral part of any economic order, and they are never held back because the nature of responsibility is going to change.

“This is an ongoing process it will continue and we will all have to adjust ourselves with this particular change. I can only assure you that there is no reason for disquiet, you can go and have a comfortable sleep tonight,” he told the revenue officials.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told the officers that they will have enough work to do under GST.

The Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) Officers Association has asked the government to protect the sanctity of their service amid attempts by officers of state government VAT departments to equate themselves with IRS (Customs and Central Excise) officers.

PTI

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New Delhi: Most services are likely to attract a tax of 18 percent under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presents the Union Budget on February 1.
It will be interesting to witness whether the Centre raises the service tax rate from the existing 15 percent by at least one percentage point to 16 percent as a precursor to the rollout of GST.

However, the Centre and states have agreed to rollout GST from July 1, 2017, after which most services will turn costlier.

Also, a higher service tax, even for three months, will help the Centre partially offset the revenue loss after the GST kicks in, sources indicated.

Under GST, the service tax collections will be divided equally between the Centre and the states. A service tax closer to the GST rate will also help consumers avoid a greater price shock after the new system is rolled out.

Jaitley-headed GST Council has agreed on a four-slab structure -5, 12, 18 and 28 percent-along with a cess on luxury and ‘sin’ goods such as tobacco.

Within these, two standard rates of 12 percent and 18 percent could extend to a majority of the taxable goods.

ANI

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The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved setting up of GST Council and setting up its Secretariat as per the following details:

(a) Creation of the GST Council as per Article 279A of the amended Constitution;

(b) Creation of the GST Council Secretariat, with its office at New Delhi;

(c) Appointment of the Secretary (Revenue) as the Ex-officio Secretary to the GST Council;

(d) Inclusion of the Chairperson, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), as a permanent invitee (non-voting) to all proceedings of the GST Council;

(e) Create one post of Additional Secretary to the GST Council in the GST Council Secretariat (at the level of Additional Secretary to the Government of India), and four posts of Commissioner in the GST Council Secretariat (at the level of Joint Secretary to the Government of India).

The Cabinet also decided to provide for adequate funds for meeting the recurring and non-recurring expenses of the GST Council Secretariat, the entire cost for which shall be borne by the Central Government. The GST Council Secretariat shall be manned by officers taken on deputation from both the Central and State Governments.
The steps required in the direction of implementation of GST are being taken ahead of the schedule so far.

The Finance Minister has also decided to call the first meeting of the GST Council on 22nd and 23rd September 2016 in New Delhi.

Background:

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-second Amendment) Bill, 2016, for introduction of Goods and Services tax in the country was accorded assent by the President on 8th September, 2016, and the same has been notified as the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016. As per Article 279A (1) of the amended Constitution, the GST Council has to be constituted by the President within 60 days of the commencement of Article 279A. The notification for bringing into force Article 279A with effect from 12th September, 2016 was issued on 10th September, 2016.

As per Article 279A of the amended Constitution, the GST Council which will be a joint forum of the Centre and the States, shall consist of the following members: –

a) Union Finance Minister – Chairperson
b) The Union Minister of State,
in-charge of Revenue of finance – Member
c) The Minister In-charge of finance or
taxation or any other Minister nominated
by each State Government – Members

As per Article 279A (4), the Council will make recommendations to the Union and the States on important issues related to GST, like the goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GST, model GST Laws, principles that govern Place of Supply, threshold limits, GST rates including the floor rates with bands, special rates for raising additional resources during natural calamities/disasters, special provisions for certain States, etc.

*****

PIB

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New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has promised to consider to hike the minimum pay of central government employees beyond Rs 18,000, a day after the cabinet cleared 7th Pay Commission award for its employees.

Central government employees have been demanding hike in minimum pay since November 19, when 7th Pay Commission headed by Justice A K Mathur submitted its report to Jaitley.

The Finance Minister said he was not ‘rigid’ on the issue and the government will try to rectify some of employees’ demands including minimum pay.

Jaitley met with representatives of central government employees unions at Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s house for two hours till 11pm on Thursday night.

Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu attended the meeting and assured unions leaders of central government employees that their demand would be looked into.

“The minimum pay of central government employees Rs 18,000 was made on recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. But government will consider hiking it after discussions with all stakeholders,” he said in the meeting.

“Three ministers called us and we met them at Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s house late on Thursday for almost two hours. We have been assured that the minimum pay issue is going to be referred to one of two committees that the government is setting up to rectify any anomalies in the pay commission recommendation implementation,” Shiv Gopal Mishra, General Secretary of the National Joint Council Action (NJCA), a confederation of several central government employees’ unions, told reporters after the meeting.

The council claims a membership of 3.3 million, including the central government employees – Railways, Defence, Postal, Income Tax, Central Customs and Central Excise etc.

NJCA already have rejected Modi government’s overall 23.5 percent pay hike bonanza based on 7th Pay Commission recommendations and would go on indefinite strike from 6 am, 11 July.

They have been demanding Rs 26,000 as minimum pay instead of Rs 18,000 approved by the government based on the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations.

Mishra also said the Home Minister assured them that “their interaction with us has the blessings of PM Narendra Modi”.

“On minimum pay, we are for a negotiated settlement and it seems there is some consideration at the highest level,” he added.

The increasing the minimum pay will change the salary fitment factor. If the minimum pay is hiked from Rs.18,000 to even Rs.20,000, the fitment factor will be higher than the 2.57 times approved by the government based on the pay commission recommendations.

If the 2.57 fitment formula is tinkered with, then salary and pension in general for all central government employees will go up.

NJCA wrote to all central government employees unions that “government has proposed to refer the issue of minimum pay and fitment factor to a committee for reconsideration. The NJCA will await communication in this regard from the government”.

It said that it will meet on 6 July again to decide on the proposed indefinite strike from July 11.

Source : tkbsen.in

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