Mumbai alone has 3 lakh duplicate PAN cards
Mumbai: The Mumbai Income-Tax Department has told PAN cardholders to surrender duplicate PAN cards by December 31. The total number of genuine PAN cardholders in Mumbai is 41.50 lakh while there are around 3, 23, 699 duplicate PAN cards in the city. The government has appealed to the public to surrender their duplicate PAN cards on or before the set date. It said people holding duplicate cards would be levied with a penalty of Rs10,000 per instance after the set date. The I-T department has started sending letters to assessees who have more than one PAN card. Duplicate PAN cardholders who have not received a letter from the department have been asked to get in touch through Aaykar Sampark Kendras or e-mail to pan@incometaxindia.gov.in.
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PAN a must for stock trading
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made use of PAN cards mandatory from October 1. Depository Participants have advised demat holders to submit PAN card details before the deadline. The capital markets regulator has made it compulsory for all categories of demat account-holders, including minors, trusts, foreign corporate bodies, banks, corporates, FIIs and NRIs.

From October 1, the existing account holders will not be able to operate in the market without a PAN card.
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Tax collections rise
Revenues mopped up by the tax department have increased by 62 per cent to net Rs23, 315 crore. Advance tax collections have gone up by 26.32 per cent to Rs10,810 crore (as of September 2006) against Rs8,558 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Income-tax refunds this year by the department (till August 31) were put at Rs4,276 crore (78,560 cases) compared to Rs3,097 crore (52,969 cases) during the corresponding period last year.
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TN Shops and Establishments Act may be amended
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Government is likely to amend the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act to suit the information technology enabled services (ITES) industry. At present, ITES companies come under the Shops and Establishments Act and face restrictions on work hours and other infrastructure related issues.
The proposed amendment focuses mainly on work hours of ITES companies.

According to recommendations, ITES organisations will be given full authority to decide on work hours, "off" days and over-time related issues. Under the present Shops and Establishments Act, ITES companies may work up to 60 hours a week and the workers will have to be given a weekly off.

Recommendations are based on a recent white paper presented by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry-Tamil Nadu State Council (FICCI-TNSC).

Other recommendations include enforcing a moral code (to ensure that employees are not overburdened with work) and formation of trade unions.

The Government's role, post amendment of the Act, would be to ensure that ITES organisations do not misuse the authority they were given.
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Tax revenue of VAT States rises by 26.2 pc
New Delhi: Tax revenues of states that have implemented the value added tax showed high tax growth in 2006-07. In the first five months of the current fiscal, tax revenues of the thirty VAT implementing States grew 26.2 per cent to Rs 45,579 crore as compared to revenues of Rs 36,118 crore in the same period last year.

The three non-VAT implementing States - Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Uttar Pradesh - registered a 22.52 per cent growth in tax revenues during April-August 2006 to Rs 11,326 crore as against Rs 9,244 crore in the same period last year.

Tax revenues of some of the major VAT implementing States in April-August 2006 are: Delhi Rs2,689 crore (Rs2,207 crore); Maharashtra Rs9,212 crore (Rs7,057 crore); Haryana Rs2,184 crore (Rs1,781 crore); Kerala Rs 3,093 crore (Rs2,483 crore); Karnataka Rs3,920 crore (Rs 3,320 crore); Punjab Rs1,955 crore (Rs1,729 crore); Andhra Pradesh Rs5,985 crore (Rs4,440 crore); West Bengal Rs2,119 crore (Rs1,852 crore); Gujarat Rs4,460 crore (Rs3,363 crore); Madhya Pradesh Rs1,579 crore (Rs1,271 crore) and Rajasthan Rs2,349 crore (Rs1,878 crore).

Among the non-VAT implementing States, Tamil Nadu's tax revenue in April-August 2006 stood at Rs 6,498 crore (Rs 5,415 crore in April-August 2005). The tax revenue of Uttar Pradesh increased to Rs 4,677 crore in April-August 2006 from Rs3,705 crore in the same period last year.
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IT assesses can file IT returns by September 30
New Delhi: Income-tax assessees in Gujarat can file their income tax returns by September 30 this year, against the earlier date of July 31, in view of the floods in that State, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said.
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Tata's WB unit in trouble
Singur: Protesting against the acquisition of land for the Tatas' small car project, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has called a statewide strike on October 9 and a one-hour road and rail blockade tomorrow. Congress is supporting the blockade.

Unruffled, the state government said the process of distribution of compensation to those who lost their land would continue as scheduled.

Bannerjee sitting on Dharna has demanded that the distribution of cheques be stopped immediately.

She said she would continue her protest overnight.

Earlier, members of the Krishijami Raksha Committee (Save Farmland Committee), opposed to the acquisition of agricultural land for the project, demonstrated before the block development office.
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TRAI wants DoT to consider recommendations
New Delhi: To ensure easy availability of international bandwidth and bringing effective competition in its prices, telecom regulator TRAI has asked the Department of Telecom to consider its recommendations at the earliest.

TRAI had given recommendations to Government in December last year on Measures to promote competition in International Private Leased Circuits (IPLC).

The regulator had recommended an equal access to essential facilities at the CLS by the licensed operators, it said, adding that the access at the CLS should also include landing facilities for submarine cables.

The international long distance service providers (ILDOs), TRAI had said, owning the CLS should be made mandated to publish the terms and conditions for all such access provision, with prior approval of the regulator.

TRAI's letter to DoT assumes significance in the wake of the ongoing fight between Reliance Communication owned FLAG Cable System and Tata-owned VSNL which owns the CLS.
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