Monday, March 22, 2010

Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES) - (22-03-2010)



Central Board of Excise and Customs has introduced "Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax” (ACES) to improve tax-payer services. ACES is a centralized web based application which enables the assesses to electronically interface with the department. It aims to reduce paperwork, manual interface, transaction costs and increase accountability, efficiency and transparency.
With the launch of ACES, assessees will be able to file, online, registration requests, amendment applications and track them; file returns, refund claims, various intimations and view records online.
CBEC has issued Notification No. 04/2010 CE (N.T.) which has modified the Central Excise Rules, 2002 and made electronic filing of returns and e-payment mandatory for those assesses who have paid a total excise duty of Rs.10,00,000 or more including the amount paid by utilization of CENVAT credit, in the preceding financial year. Similarly, Notification No. 01/2010 ST dated 19.02.2010 has modified the Service Tax Rules, 1994 and made the electronic filing of returns and e-payment mandatory for those assesses who have paid a total service tax of Rs.10,00,000 lakh or more including the amount paid by utilization of CENVAT credit, in the preceding financial year. The modification in the Central Excise Rules and Service Tax Rules has put the onus on the assesses to register themselves on ACES and file their returns electronically from 1.4.2010.
The facility of e-filing of returns on the website (http://exciseandservicetax.nic.in), as provided in the CBEC Circular No.791/24/2004 CX dated 1.6.2004 has been withdrawn and the assessees are required to file their returns online or by uploading the downloadable off-line return utilities to the new ACES website (http://www.aces.gov.in). Detailed instructions regarding usage of ACES and procedure of getting the login and password are available on this site. Further, to make it easy for the assessees to file returns in ACES, an XML scheme has been hosted on the ACES website. By suitably modifying their own software application and using this scheme the assessees can also generate an up-loadable form of return directly from their own database without the need to make fresh data entry.
Details for e-filing of returns are available in the Help section of website (http://www.aces.gov.in) under Learning Management Software (LMS), User Manual and FAQs and in the Download section. Learning Management Software (LMS) is a very useful feature available on the above website which is an interactive online demonstration of the features of ACES. In case of any difficulty in accessing or using the ACES Application, an assessee can seek help of the ACES Service Desk by sending e-mail to aces.servicedesk@icegate.gov.in or calling up national toll-free number 1800 425 4251 on any working day from Monday to Friday between 9 AM and 7 PM.
Registration with ACES
An assessee has to register himself with ACES to seek registration; to file tax return, claims and intimations and for tracking their status. Registered assesses need not register again afresh. They just need to update their emails in the records available with the department.
Procedure for new registrant/assessee: A person/concern desiring to register with the Department needs to register with ACES first on www.aces.gov.in by choosing the central excise or service tax link as the case may be. In the login page click on "New users to click here to register with ACES" to access the registration page where in some basic details are required to be filled in including desired login id. The system checks for availability of the chosen user id and generates a password. The password is then sent to the email address submitted by the registrant. Using the login id and password one can access ACES. After logging in, one can proceed with the statutory registration with central excise or service tax as the case may be, by filling-in forms A-1, A-2 or ST-1. After filing the online application, the registrant has to print the application and send the copy of requisite documents to the concerned Range. Once the documents are received by the Department, the registration certificate shall be issued which shall be sent to the assessee on his email id itself.
Procedure for existing assesses: An existing assessee need not take fresh registration with the Department. He has to only register with ACES. A mail will be sent from acesadmin@icegate.gov.in to the assessee’s e-mail id, as available in the existing registration data base, indicating a TPIN and password. The message will contain a hyperlink to the website. By clicking the hyperlink, the assessee can proceed to register with ACES.

Reference Material on Bank Branch Audit (2009 - 2010)

Reference Material on Bank Branch Audit (2009 - 2010)

Source Link : http://www.icai.org/resource_file/18440ebookrmba.pdf

Direct download at :
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-0hzoMM8_XZNzE5NjEwNWYtNzZiZS00NmE5LTkxOTMtYWIxMjkxODcxMjZj&hl=en

Monday, March 1, 2010

Communication in respect of Branch Statutory Auditors from PDC ICAI

PD/A111A/2010 18th February,2010

Dear Colleagues,
As Chairman, Professional Development Committee, I am receiving a lot of queries/inquiries from not only the members but also the Council Members of the Institute; I felt it expedient to apprise you of the procedure being adopted this year for allotment of branch statutory auditors of public sector banks for the year 2009-10.

Out of the 26 public sector banks, 15 banks have opted for managerial autonomy in the matter of appointment of auditors i.e. they will be appointing the auditors on their own, directly from the panel received from Reserve Bank of India. The name of these 15 banks is as follows:

State Bank of India
Allahabad Bank
Bank of India
Bank of Baroda
Canara Bank
Central Bank of India
Indian Overseas Bank
Oriental Bank of Commerce
Syndicate Bank
Punjab National Bank
UCO Bank
Union Bank of India
Andhra Bank
Punjab & Sind Bank
Bank of Maharashtra

After allotment by these banks, RBI will allocate auditors to balance 11 public sector banks which have not exercised managerial autonomy in the matter of appointment of auditors; the list of which is as follows:

Corporation Bank
Dena Bank
Indian Bank
United Bank of India
Vijaya Bank
State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur
State Bank of Hyderabad
State Bank of Indore
State Bank of Mysore
State Bank of Patiala
State Bank of Travancore

This entire process is expected to be completed by 1st week of March, 2010.

Moreover, I would like to bring to your kind attention that this year, offer letters have also been sent to those chartered accountants firms who are already associated with the same bank as internal auditor for appointment as statutory auditors. As per the directions of RBI, firms associated with internal assignment in the bank have to relinquish the internal assignment before accepting the statutory audit assignment during the year.

In this regard, I may invite your attention to the Code of Ethics Section 290 “Independence – Assurance Engagements”:
“A statutory auditor of an entity can not be it’s internal auditor as it will not be possible for him to give an independent and objective opinion (Para 173)”

Specifically, attention is also drawn to Para 3.4.9 of the Guidance Note on Independence of Auditors –
“A member must take care to see that he does not get into situations where there could be a conflict of interest and duty. ………….Attention of the members is drawn to the audit assignments where appointment is done by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (C&AG), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and such other authorities. In addition to ensuring independence during the assignment, it is also essential to avoid any situation in near future which may be interpreted as a threat to independence, as for example, he or any other partner of his firm should not accept any other assignment such as internal audit, system audit and management consultancy service within one year from the completion of audit assignment”.

Therefore, if a member accepts the statutory audit of the bank in which he was an Internal Auditor in the same financial year, he would be violating the Code of Ethics.

The issue is already under consideration with RBI.

Apart from above, I may inform that the attached FAQs also being hosted on the ICAI website for the ready reference of the members at large. Further, I may state that the abovesaid procedure is only in respect of branch statutory audits; as far as central statutory audits are concerned, all banks are already exercising autonomy for the purpose.

With warm regards,
Yours sincerely,
(Pankaj Inderchand Jain)

Chairman, Professional Development Committee
P.S. : In case you have further query, pl mail at pdc@icai.in

Invitation to Join Panel of Examiners - (11-02-2009)

The Institute is in the process of strengthening its panel of examiners with professionals/academicians/ resource persons for all the papers in CA PCE and Final (New Course) Examinations in general and for the following subjects in particular:
Strategic Financial Management
Advanced Auditing and Professional Ethics
Advanced Management Accounting
Information Systems Control and Audit
Direct Tax Laws
Indirect Tax Laws
Information Technology

Persons who have the requisite proficiency in the above subjects, inclination for evaluation of answer books and who can spare time may send in the Empanelment Form duly filled in to the
Additional Secretary (Exams),
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India,
ICAI Bhawan,
Indraprastha Marg,
New Delhi – 110002.
The form may be downloaded by clicking here or may be obtained by sending a request letter.