Revised Guidance Note on tax audit to be released on July 1

The CA institute has come up with a revised Guidance Note on tax audits, which will be released on July 1 on Chartered Accountants Day.

The revised edition was approved at the central council meeting of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) that concluded on Monday, Subodh Agrawal, President of the Institute, said.

A Guidance Note is issued by the institute to help its members fulfil their responsibilities – in this case under the income tax law. It was last comprehensively revised in 2005. Some modifications were also brought about in the period between 2005 and now.

Tax audits are mandatory where turnover of a business exceeds Rs 1 crore in a financial year. In the case of professionals, a tax audit is a must when receipts in a financial year exceed Rs 25 lakh.

The central council of the institute also decided that practice done outside India would be considered for award of fellowship. However, for this to be a reality, the Chartered Accountants Act has to be amended.

The CA institute will make a formal request to the Government on this issue, Agrawal said.

This decision is expected to benefit chartered accountants practicing in places like Dubai.

Currently, a member is granted fellowship only if he has been in continuous practice for five years within India.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

The council also decided to set up a ‘Centre of Excellence for Quality and Ethics’ at Ajmer in Rajasthan, to be jointly run by all the three professional institutes – ICAI, ICWAI and ICSI, Agrawal said.

ACCOUNTANCY MUSEUM

It was also decided to set up prototypes of Accountancy Museum at the institute’s regional and decentralised offices all over India.

The institute had earlier set up its only accountancy museum at its office in Noida, which has been recognised by the Government as ‘Accountancy Museum of India’.

srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in