Due Date of Filing Form GSTR-9(Annual Return) and GSTR-9C( Reconciliation Statement) has been further Extended to 31st Dec 2019 for FY 17-18 and 31st March 2020 for Fy 18-19

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had given its in-principle approval to the sale of government stake in five Central public-sector enterprises (CPSEs) — Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India, Container Corporation of India, THDCIL, and NEEPCO

Indian Customs could see consignment clearance time fall from 12 hours to 12 minutes. The government is set to introduce a seamless automated facility with zero human intervention next month, using blockchain, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The move will result in significant savings in cost and time and help further improve India’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index

Lok Sabha passes The Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2019 [Read Bill]

The Act specifies that a chit will be drawn in the presence of at least two subscribers. The Bill seeks to allow these subscribers to join via video-conferencing. Under the Act, the ‘foreman’ is responsible for managing the chit fund. He is entitled to a maximum commission of 5% of the chit amount. The Bill seeks to increase the commission to 7

SC stays SAT’s order on SEBI’s power to bar auditors from auditing books of listed co.

SEBI : Supreme Court stays operation of para 78 of order of SAT in Price Waterhouse & Co. v. Securities & Exchange Board of India (SAT - Mumbai) where it was held that SEBI did not have power to bar auditors from auditing books of a listed company, as such direction was clearly punitive and violative of article 19(1)(g) of Constitution of India as it took away fundamental right to carry on its business

The Union Cabinet has approved a bill to replace an ordinance promulgated to reduce corporate tax to 22 per cent to boost the economy. After the Cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said decision has been taken to bring the bill to replace the ordinance.

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Q354 Correct Answer is (b)

Real estate players that had set off taxes paid under earlier tax regime against their GST liabilities have started receiving tax demands from the indirect tax department. Many real estate developers had claimed transition credit on under-construction apartments and claimed these are stock or inventory for them but the tax department has sent notices and disallowed these claims.

SEBI has instructed all brokers to link the unique client code (UCC) of investors to the latter’s Demat accounts & PAN. UCC is a number that is assigned to each investor and is “unique” in nature.

RBI takes over DHFL board, appoints an administrator in its place, in a step towards referring the debt-laden mortgage lender to a bankruptcy court. DHFL is set to become the first non-bank lender to be referred to the NCLT.

The government is finalising new IT rules for social media companies that would mandate traceability of originator of information on such platforms and removal of malicious content within 24 hours of notice. Significant intermediaries with over 50 lakh users will have to set up an office in India and appoint a nodal officer for liaisoning with law enforcement agencies, according to the proposed changes.

Punjab, Rajasthan, Kerala, West Bengal and Delhi, all ruled by non-BJP parties, raised concerns over their pending GST compensation and accused the Centre of creating a financial crisis for them.

The PSU banks stepped up credit flow for economic revival as record disbursal of Rs 2.52 lakh crore was seen in the festive month of October, the finance ministry said.