Goods and Services Tax: Pay once, pay all at once

November 25, 2016
VOL I
ISSUE No. 06
December 19, 2016

Goods and Services Tax: Pay once, pay all at once!

Government has introduced a web portal for registration of taxpayers and payment of GST online. The web portal can be accessed via www.gst.gov.in

 

Analysing the Approved Improvements in the SEBI AIF Regulations in Present Corporate Finance Environment

SEBI vide its press release on November 23, 2016 approved several improvements in the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulation, 2012 (AIF Regulations) pertaining to Angel Funds suggested by the Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee (AIPC) under the chairmanship of Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy.

Not every bankrupt will be a total failure!, The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 was passed to consolidate and codify the laws relating to insolvency and bankruptcy


Goods and Services Tax: Pay once, pay all at once!

The Central Bureau of Excise and Customs released the Model Central and State Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bills in November 2016 after the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 was passed in the Rajya Sabha this year. The Model Central/State GST Bill provides for the levy of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) by the Centre, and State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) by the states. The bill seeks to bring a uniform and harmonized structure for levying taxes. The proposed GST laws aim at providing a facility of setting off taxes payable by manufacturers, retailers and buyers thereby substantially reducing the burden of taxes on all of them. The tax rates will be decided by the GST Council established under the Bill.

The simplification of taxing procedure has been taken a step further, as the Government has introduced a web portal for registration of taxpayers and payment of GST online. Payment of taxes will no longer be a cumbersome process as a single online window has been created for smoothly paying tax dues which were earlier paid under so many different heads. The government’s efforts to induce ease in the process of taxing transactions is appreciable. The web portal can be accessed via www.gst.gov.in . The GSTN Chairman said that they are ‘migrating more than 6.5 million VAT payers, about 2 million service tax payers and about 300 thousand and 400 thousand central excise duty payers to a new portal.’

GSTN, the company structuring the web portal will be establishing 4 data-centers in New Delhi and Bengaluru to ensure that the data is safe and secured. The tax can be paid via NEFT, Internet Banking and Credit/Debit card. However, over the counter payment are limited to INR10, 000.

Who are to register on this web portal?

The web portal will prima facie be used for payment taxes and tax returns. Being a single transaction window for taxes, all the taxpayers registered under central excise, service tax, state sales tax or VAT (except exclusive liquor dealers if registered under VAT), entry tax, entertainment tax (except levied by the local bodies) and luxury tax will now have to register on the GST portal. Hence, payment of all these taxes will collectively get regulated by this web portal.

Every tax payer is expected to enroll on the GST Portal, for both, Central and State GST. There will be common registration, common return and common Challan for Central and State GST. However, if the taxpayer is operating his business in different states he needs to separately register for each state.

Traders with turnover upto INR 1 million will not have to pay GST. This threshold limit may be reduced for north eastern countries.

The GST ID:

The Government website states that a new PAN card based provisional ID would be created for 8 million taxpayers by January 31, 2017. It would be called GST ID, and would be 15-digit long. This ID would be generated once Parliament passes one last GST related legislation.

Information to be submitted on the Portal:

Before enrolling with the GST Common Portal, one must ensure to have the following information:

  • Provisional ID received from State/ Central Authorities
  • Password received from the State/ Central Authorities
  • Valid E-mail Address
  • Valid Mobile Number
  • Bank Account Number
  • Bank IFSC

The PAN information will be verified on the GST Portal. The Portal will also verify the Mobile number, and E-mail ID by generating a separate one-time password (OTP) for each.

Conclusion:

The nation seems to be eagerly looking forward to welcome these changes, so that the complexities caused due to different taxes such as CST, VAT, excise, and service taxes etc. will be simplified by the next financial year. Even though it is anticipated that the nation will take time for being accustomed to the introduction of these taxing reforms, in the long run it will encourage payment of taxes and discourage parallel economy from thriving.

Readers are suggested to visit the FAQs published by the Government here.

 


Analysing the Approved Improvements in the SEBI AIF Regulations in Present Corporate Finance Environment

SEBI vide its press release[1] on November 23, 2016 approved several improvements in the SEBI
(Alternative Investment Funds) Regulation, 2012 (AIF Regulations) pertaining to Angel Funds suggested by the Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee (AIPC) under the chairmanship of Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy.

It is of utmost importance to understand who Angel Investors are and what they do before we analyze the effect of the proposed changes in the present milieu of corporate finance in India. Angel Investors constituting an angel fund are private investors who are highly affluent individuals, willing to finance new businesses in exchange of convertible debt or ownership in the equity of the startup. Unlike venture capitalists these high net worth individuals invest their own funds in bulk investments made by them. Though studies show that usually an angel funded startup is less likely to fail than companies that rely on other sources of funding, angel investments entail a much higher degree of risk because if the startup eventually fails, the bulk of investment falls in jeopardy.

In India, angel investments are covered under the AIF Regulations. An alternative investment fund as defined in Section 2(1)(b) of the Regulations describes an AIF as any privately pooled investment that may be pooled in from national or foreign sources not qualifying as Mutual Funds or Collective investment Schemes. These angel Investors can invest in three categories of investment funds:

Category 1: Pertains to new businesses, Small and Medium Size Enterprises, Social Joint Ventures. Investments under this category attracts concession and incentives from the Government. This category also includes Venture Capital Funds etc.

Category 2: This category pertains to operational requirements for daily needs of Debt Funds and Private Equity Funds.

Category 3: Pertains to short term returns and undertake high stakes of investment such as Hedge Funds etc.

Fundraising under the AIF regime is done through private placements.

The Approved Changes

  • The amendment changes the upper limit for the number of Angel Investor in a scheme from 49 to 200. Additionally, these Angel Funds will be allowed to invest in startups that are not more than 5 years old.
  • The minimum investment amount by an angel fund in any venture capital undertaking is reduced from INR 5 Million to INR 2.5 Million. Moreover the lock in period for their investment has been reduced from 3 years to 1 year, thereby enabling them to exercise exit options within a year of their investment.
  • Furthermore, these angel funds can invest in overseas venture capital undertakings upto 25% of their investible corpus in line with other AIFs.

Comments

It is a common practice among some notable Angel Investors in India to invest by organizing angel groups or networks or through online equity crowdfunding. Angel Investors who qualify as Accredited Investors as per SEBI’s 2014 Consultation paper on crowdfunding will inevitably bear the brunt of SEBI’s antagonistic letter[2] diametrically opposing the functioning of Equity Crowdfunding Platforms.

As the result of lack of clarity and nebulous understanding of the term “Equity Crowdfunding Platform” Angel Investors may pull back from investing in startups through crowdfunding which is a much viable method of procuring funds by startups in the present business environment. Until any genial clarification is released by SEBI, the proposed AIF Regulation amendments may not straight out ensure ease of doing business and procurement of funds by startups.

[1]PR 161/2016

[2]PR 137/2016

 


Not every bankrupt will be a total failure!, The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as “the Code”) received the President’s assent on May 28, 2016 and has subsequently been brought into force. The Code has an overriding effect on contradicting provisions of Companies Act, 2013, Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985, and Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, Presidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909 and Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920 Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993 and Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 and provides a simple and cogent Insolvency code.

Introduction:

Nature is ruled by the fundamental phenomenon of ‘survival of the fittest’. A corollary of this is that failures and inability to survive will be an inevitable part of an ecosystem- whether biological or economical. In today’s optimistic and energized economic environment, when it comes to startup & capital economies, such a statement carries the risk of sounding cynical. However, the unprecedented codification of the laws related to Insolvency and Bankruptcy in India, have induced a notion that not all unsuccessful business or financial projects need to be “failures”. The codification brings to India a smooth Insolvency Resolution Process, which will prove to be a win-win situation for creditors and debtors as far as possible.

Background:

When a business fails or defaults, the due course of action is to reorganize its human resource, capital and other resources and reintegrate it thereby mitigating the loss caused to the economic ecosystem at large. The BLRC Report[1] very rightly captures the need of an efficient insolvency resolution mechanism, “The failure of some business plans is integral to the process of the market economy. When business failure takes place, the best outcome for society is to have a rapid renegotiation between the financiers, to finance the going concern using a new arrangement of liabilities and with a new management team. If this cannot be done, the best outcome for society is a rapid liquidation. When such arrangements can be put into place, the market process of creative destruction will work smoothly, with greater competitive vigor and greater competition.”

Erstwhile legislations:

Efforts have been made previously, for smoothening insolvency proceedings and ironing out the creditor’s losses by suitable legislations. However, these efforts were directed towards remedying or rectifying the existing laws and filling up their loopholes thereby making only incremental changes. It is noteworthy that in the making of this Code the efforts of the BLR Committee were directed towards creating a new legislation that would provide redressal for all aspects related to insolvency at one station itself. The present Committee>[2] had taken up the task of drafting a single unified framework which deals with bankruptcy and insolvency by persons other than financial firms. The Committee chose the strategy of repealing many existing laws on bankruptcy and insolvency, and writing a clean modern law which provides a simple, coherent, and effective answer to the problems under Indian conditions[3]. This Code not only expedites the process of insolvency resolution, but also facilitates effective and detailed procedure, authorities and powers vested in those authorities.

What does it seek to achieve?

The Code seeks to achieve, “A time bound manner for maximisation of value of assets of such persons, to promote entrepreneurship, availability of credit and balance the interests of all the stakeholders including alteration in the order of priority of payment of Government dues and to establish an Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”[4]

The value of the creditor’s investment will depreciate (value destruction) with the change in such a dynamic economy hence an expedited resolution is necessary. Achieving a high recovery rate is primarily about identifying and combating the sources of delay[5], hence, a time-bound resolution is sought.

Creditor’s Control on default:

A limited liability company is a contract between equity and debt. As long as debt obligations are met, equity owners have complete control, and creditors have no say in how the business is run. When default takes place, control is supposed to transfer to the creditors; with the equity owners having no say[6]. In the Code’s provisions a paradigm shift is seen from debtor’s control to creditor’s control upon default. This shift is vital as there was misuse of the resolution process which was previously used only as an excuse to prolong meeting the creditor’s obligations. The recovery rates obtained in India are among the lowest in the world. The BLRC report estimated that when default takes place, broadly speaking, lenders seem to recover 20% of the value of debt, on an NPV basis.

Institutional Infrastructure:

The Code facilitates two Adjudicating Authorities, the National Company Law Tribunal which will preside over matters of companies, limited liability entities and the Debt Recovery Tribunal which will preside over mattes of individuals, unlimited liability partnership firms. An Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board (IBB) will be established by the Code. This Board is similar to SEBI and will be the regulatory authority for insolvency proceedings, the Insolvency Professional Agency (IPA), Insolvency Professional (IP) and the Information Utilities (IU). Appeals can be made to National Company Law Appellate Tribunal and Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal respectively.

What are IPAs, IPs and IUs?

The Code prescribes establishment of Insolvency Professional Agencies (IPA) which will regulate the Insolvency Professionals (IP). The IPA will prescribe qualifications for the IPs, who will be required to be enrolled with the Agencies for functioning. Once an application for insolvency is admitted, the IPs will take over the administration of the Company and the Board of Directors will cease to have control. The Information Utilities will serve as one single window for information about the company to be available for creditors and debtors as well according to prescribed rules. This ensures transparency and access to untainted information which will be helpful during the Resolution Process/ Liquidation Process.

[1] Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee Report, Vol I (“BLRC Report”)

[2] Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee chaired by T.K. Vishwanathan

[3] Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee Report, Vol I (“BLRC Report”)

[4] ibid

[5] ibid

For more information please contact us at : info@ssrana.com