ROLE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT IN YOUR GROWTH

CA Maneet Pal Pasricha

9810774806

(www.capasricha.com)

With the rapid growth in economy, careers in finance and accounts have gained tremendous popularity and the most prestigious career option in this filed is that of Chartered Accountant. Chartered Accountancy is a dynamic, challenging and rewarding profession.
Given the statement question arises “what does a Chartered Accountant do and how he can help me in my growth?”

What a chartered accountant does exactly is something unknown, which is of course if you’re not an accountant yourself. For many people, an accountant is something that they feel they only need once a year when they are doing their taxes returns. But business and CA are more than just taxes. If you are only using your CA for your tax return you are not using them wisely and missing out on a valuable and informative resource. The truth of the matter is that a chartered accountant is an individual who can help you out in a great many financial areas. Chartered Accountants can deal with a multitude of services and are great source of advice and assistance.

Essentially, when you are working with a chartered accountant, you will find that you are working with someone who has a certain baseline of experience and certification under their belt. When your financial situation is complicated, or if you find that you are in over your head when it comes to financial matters, you'll find that taking on a chartered accountant can help you figure out how to proceed. You may also feel that retaining a chartered accountant will give you a great deal of peace of mind when it comes to the assurance that your financial matters are being handled competently.

One of the main tasks of an accountant is to reduce the amount of tax you pay each year with proper tax planning. If they have all the facts at their fingertips they can put this information to good use and plan how you can save money in the long-term. A good accountant will come up with a great strategy to enable you to save for future events.

In India they belong to The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and use the prefix CA, members with practice of more than 5 years are nominated as Fellows and use the prefix FCA. There are chartered accountants in all sectors of business and finance, including government, public practice work and the private sector.

Some of the few tasks you can expect a chartered accountant to perform are Personal or business income tax returns, assist in legally decreasing tax payments and other related issues, business tax, sale of shares or property, business acquisitions or disposals and appropriate tax structure, Start-up counselling, Purchase and sale of business, Business valuations, Business planning and financial projections, Developing strategies for securing financing, Corporate and personal income tax planning, Assurance (audits and reviews), Preparation and analysis of financial information, Acting as Trustee for receivership, insolvency or bankruptcy, Developing management controls, Management consulting and Forensic accounting and litigation support are all areas accountants are proficient in and can advice on.

Whether it is for personal use or for a business, Financial planning is crucial to secure for the future and any planned or unforeseen events. Financial planning is simply putting together a strategy and plan that will enable you to save costs. Chartered accountants will look at your finances and outgoings and make a plan to suit you. A financial planning service should involve superannuation products, retirement benefits, investments for building wealth together with shares, property, managed funds, Public provident funds, government bonds and fixed interest.

If you have already set up a business or are registering a new one and need help then see a chartered accountant who can help with this and the accounting. They can offer advice on increasing profits by the application of useful financial plans and systems. Strategic planning, business planning, business valuations, accounting services, payroll services and salary packaging, financial statement preparation and computer accounting software are other areas an accountant deals with.

CA today are computer friendly, meaning there is no need to make appointments to go to CA’s office. The consultant you choose should be informative and expert in their subject and able to answer any questions concerning your business or personal account.

Thus with above description in place, we can say that Chartered Accountants are not just for taxes but they are your partners in GROWTH.

Tax effect of Indirect sale distribution channels

CA Maneet Pal Pasricha

(www.capasricha.com)

In fast growing economies like India, china etc.; Global companies are looking forward to pioneer there products to have there share of pie. While introducing products in new markets, one of the major decisions which companies needs to take is to identify the marketing strategy along with the superlative distribution channel for its products. Company has to select the distribution channel from among the various options like distribution through agents (indirect channels), exclusive distribution, intensive distribution etc. The most common and successful channel is indirect channel, Depending on the industry, between 30 percent and 70 percent of all sales worldwide flow through indirect channels, allowing businesses to lower costs, expand more aggressively into new markets and better serve existing customers and reach new ones. In India such distribution model is relied upon by many companies across the sectors like consumer durables, telecommunication, airline companies etc.

But not always indirect distribution channels can be tax effective. According to Income-tax Act, 1961 “the Act” companies need to withhold tax under section 194H on amount of commission paid to its distributors/ agents or anyone else. Generally the companies selling goods through agents sell its product to agents at price less than market price, Now here arise the point of legal action, whether difference between the retail price (at which product is sold to end user) and the price at which product is transferred to agents is “discount” or “commission”. Income-tax authorities consider it to be commission to try cover such transactions under the ambit of section 194H and on the other hand companies consider it to be a discount. In recent times there flowed numerous judgements from various forums dealing on this issue, some against and some in favour of the assessee. Some of the facts on which these cases were decided are principal-agent relationship, Control of company on agents in respect of operations and price of the products, type of agreement etc. It in essence depends on the facts of the cases and technical assessment of these facts. Wrong interpretation can attract huge interest, penalties and disallowance; under section 201(1A), 271C and 40(ia) of the act respectively, of commissions expenses. Such provisions can have severe cash impact on companies, suppose the company has paid commission of INR 100,000 and has not withheld tax on such amount, then such default can lead to cumulative cash outflow of INR 52,000 in terms of interest, penalties and additional loss of tax saving on disallowed expenditure. In addition to this company will also be declared as assessee in default and may further attract the interest and penalty under section 220 and 221 of the act. Thereby giving hit of more than 52% of expense amount in addition to the expense.

In order to avoid lethal effects of Withholding Tax Provisions companies should take experts views for determining the possible effects of tax provisions of major business decisions like putting its distribution channels in place etc.