Pay up interest for delay in paying GST refunds: Gujarat High Court

International News

The Gujarat High Court has directed the authorities to pay interest for delay in paying GST refunds.
The authorities were asked to pay the interest at the rate of nine per cent per annum.
Saraf Natural Stone, a partnership firm, had filed a claim of GST refund. However, there was substantial delay by the authorities in granting of refund.
Following this, the firm approached the high court by way of writ and demanded interest from the authorities for the delay. It submitted that the authorities are required to grant a provisional refund of 90 per cent of the amount claimed within seven days of filing of the claim.
The firm said the authorities have not provided any reason for the delay and it was never in receipt of any deficiency notice, which could have transpired such a delay.
It further submitted that the delay has impacted its working capital and hence it is entitled to receive interest on such delayed payment.
However, the authorities — the revenue department, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the GST Network — submitted that there was no express provision made for entitlement of interest to the firm and hence there was no merit in this petition.

 The high court held that the position of law is quite well settled wherein the provisions relating to interest on delayed payment of refund have been consistently held as beneficial and non-discriminatory.Hence, it said the authorities are liable to pay simple interest on the delayed payment at the rate of nine per cent per annum...Read More

UK lawmakers want Big Four accounting firms broken up amid audit failures

International News

Britain's "Big Four" accounting firms should be broken up to improve standards and transparency in book-keeping after audit failures at construction company Carillion and retailer BHS, British lawmakers said on Tuesday.

Parliament's business committee urged Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to force EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC to legally separate audit and consultancy services.
The CMA published interim proposals last December to require a less draconian operational separation of auditing and more lucrative consultancy to avoid the former being cross-subsidised and prioritised by the latter.

The CMA has yet to publish final recommendations.

The report seeks to keep up reform momentum after past attempts to end the so-called Big Four's dominance of book-keeping made little headway.

EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC have sought to head off being split up by voluntarily agreeing not to offer consultancy services to audit clients..

The cross-party report said that if the CMA opts for only operational separation, it should be reviewed after three years to see if it ends cross-subsidies and improved audit quality.
"If not, we recommend that the CMA then move to implement a full structural break-up of the Big Four into audit and non-audit businesses in the UK," the report said.


 Deloitte said a structural split would harm audit quality, and could materially damage Britain's competitive position as a leading capital market. The "Big Four" are global but the reforms could only apply in Britain...Read More