Hire GST Consultants For Small Businesses And Reap Numerous Benefits

For someone not aware of the term yet, GST or the Goods and Services Tax is a value-added tax levied on goods and services generally sold for domestic consumption. The tax is paid by the consumer and provides revenue for the government. More than 10 years have passed since the bill was passed and the concept of GST has evolved drastically over the decade. It has almost transformed the indirect taxation system in India. It is not just about big organisations but even start-ups and small business owners can reap numerous benefits with GST implementation as it helps in simplifying the indirect tax structure.

4 Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Hire GST Consultants In Kolkata

• Starting A Business Becomes Easy

Earlier, business owners had to visit the sales tax department in the State they are willing to start a business and get their VAT registration done. This became a challenge for business owners operating in multiple States as different States had different procedures for tax registration. They could not maintain compliance with VAT regulations and would often end up paying fines. The GST registration procedure, on the other hand, is centralised and standardised. A single registration will be applicable across India.

• Multiple Taxes Integration

One of the main reasons why every State in India had different VAT rates, regulations and procedures is that the VAT regime under which goods and products were taxed was implemented by the Central government. There were also the central sales tax, purchase tax, luxury tax and additional customs duty which complicated it further. Numerous taxes were summed up into one tax under the GST regime. Few of the taxes subsumed under GST are services tax, central excise duty, state-level value added tax, additional customs duty and surcharges, among others.

 

• Exemption For Start-ups And Small Businesses

One of the primary reasons why numerous start-ups and small business owners are hiring experienced GST Consultants is that there is GST exemption for them. Under the new GST regime, organisations whose turnover is less than 40 lacks annually don’t have to register their business under GST. If your business turnover is more than that but you don’t have prior experience in GST registration, make sure that the GST consultant you are hiring has dealt with start-ups and small businesses earlier.

 

• Ease The Process Of Doing Business

Few businesses like computer sales and service or restaurants which provided goods and services had to earlier comply with both service tax regulations and VAT. This became a challenge for business owners as different items had different rates and they had to calculate taxes for those transactions. The difference between goods taxes and service taxes vanished after GST was introduced which eased the compliance process. Even invoicing became easier for businesses as they had to adopt only one rate.

Since there are so many ways through which start-ups and small businesses can benefit from GST, it’s time you start looking for experienced GST consultants.

Signs You Need To Hire Income Tax Consultants For Tax Return

Though you can try a DIY for simple tax situations, preparing your tax return is not advisable under a few circumstances. Some financial situations are quite complicated and you can have complete peace of mind only if you hire an income tax consultant to do the return for you. Not only will they help you save time by preparing the tax return but also ensure that you don’t end up paying more than necessary. Though there are numerous of them scattered all over Kolkata, make sure that the one you are hiring is popular among clients for providing on-time and accurate information.

4 Warning Signs Indicating That You Shouldn’t Prepare Your Tax Return

• You Have A Rental Property

The tax code based on which rental properties are taxed is indeed quite complicated. No wonder, homeowners have a tough time following the rules which will help them determine how much tax they have to pay for a rental property. The situation can become more complicated if you have lived in that property during that year or suffered losses due to an accident. Experienced income tax consultants undergo training at fixed intervals to keep themselves updated with the latest rules on how and how much rental properties should be taxed.

• Your Life Has Undergone Some Major Changes

Not everyone preparing their tax return is aware of the fact that the process through which taxes are filed changes after you have some important changes in your life like buying your first home, getting married or become parents. This is why hiring tax experts to do the next return is advisable every time your life goes through some vital changes. You can later use the return prepared by professionals as a template to check the credits you are qualified to claim. Those you had a baby recently are eligible for new-parent tax breaks.

• You Have Started A Home Business

Irrespective of the size of your home business, it can make your tax return process complicated. This is why you should start looking for a reliable income tax consultant if you have started a side business recently. The professionals know that a business owner has to take care of hundreds of documents and fill out forms irrespective of it being a gruesome failure or a wild success. Let them prepare your income tax return so that you can utilise your time with other business-related activities.

• You Have Previously Failed To File Returns

There are a few taxpayers who purposely skip filing their tax return just because their tax bill was larger than they expected. Some of them are not even aware of the fact they will have a tough time dealing with the IRIS just because they have failed to file their tax returns. If you don’t have sufficient fund to pay the bill, just file the return. This is always treated as a better option than not filing the return at all. This easiest way to prevent making a tax fraud is by hiring experienced income tax consultants.

Since you are now aware of the warning signs indicating that you shouldn’t prepare your tax return, start looking for an experienced income tax consultant before it is too late.

Know The Various Types Of Accountants Before Approaching One

If you are looking for a professional who can advice you on your tax affairs, it’s time you start looking for an accountant in your city. Not only will they help you to make your financial things run smoothly but also spot potential issues and solve them. If you think that you need them only for tax filing, it’s high time you debunk the myth. Approach the right professional and they can provide a host of services.

Skills Needed to be a Chartered Accountant Professional in Kolkata

Chartered accountants are in high demand in Kolkata and people who have successfully completed the course are among the most celebrated people. Most of them have to go through years and years of studying to get that rare distinction. Even after one has completed the course, there are some intrinsic qualities that every CA must possess to be successful. Discussed below are some of the key requirements.

What Are The Benefits Of Hiring A Chartered Accountant In Kolkata?

Do you know that chartered accountants (CAs) can be a valuable addition to your finance team? Well, hiring a qualified professional can be the key to your business success. Wondering what makes working with a CA so beneficial? Keep reading to learn the key benefits.

Why Do MNCs Prefer Indian Chartered Accountants?

Though any accountant or financial worker can crunch the numbers, this is only the Indian Chartered Accountants (CAs) who have special expertise and undergone special training to become a noteworthy and valued addition to any organisation. Besides businesses, Chartered Accountants also help individuals with their financial issues. But how do they differ from other financial professionals across the world? Well, let’s have a quick look at them.

They Are More Experienced – A person wanting to become a Chartered Accountant has to appear for 3 exams – Common Proficiency Test (CPT), then Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC) and finally Chartered Accountancy (CA). After passing 10+2, the students with aspire to become CA have to appear for CPT and after passing the exam, they can appear for IPCC. Once IPCC is cleared, they need to undergo a 3-years Articleship under the supervision of an established CA and during the last 6 months of this, they can appear for Final exam. So you can see the total years of study and thus experience of the CAs in India are more than any CA-equivalent course across the world. So it may be assumed that Indian CAs are more skilled and of course experienced than people from other countries with equivalent qualification.

They Can be Multi-tasker – From basic financial planning to tax filing, from business evaluation to auditing – the Chartered Accountants in India can handle any type of finance related jobs efficiently without requiring you to hire any other professional from the same field. Be it a start-up, an established firm/organisation or an individual – a reputed chartered accountant Kolkata can help any client, irrespective of their niches. Chartered Accountants also assure that your assets are safe from any legal issues. They give you a clear picture in the business and keep you safe from any type of legal risks.

They can Handle Different Projects at a Time – Indian Chartered Accountants are quite efficient in handling more than one project at a time. Such projects may belong to an individual, firm or multiple clients. During the course of Articleship, they learn how to handle multiple projects at a time and that surely makes them a pro as they become a licensed chartered accountant Kolkata.

They Are Advisor and Consultant – As already discussed, a person becomes a licensed Chartered Accountant only after years of studying, passing difficult exams and doing strict Articleship for as long as 3 years. During this period of studying and practicing, they literally become master of different finance services. And that comes handy as they become licensed. They use their expertise, knowledge and experience to handle any type of financial difficulties of their clients. They also give them proper advice and direction on dealing efficiently with economic matters.

So you can see how hiring a chartered accountant Kolkata ensures peace of mind that you can expect only from a highly trained, educated and experienced professional. Go ahead and hire a chartered accountant to handle all financial issues related to you, your business and your asset.

What to Look for when Choosing an Auditor

The key to building a strong, healthy and long-term relationship with an auditor is trust. In fact for a business, an auditing firm is almost like a business partner. They are someone businesses work with for years so they become almost an integral part of the business and its success. And as such, it is utmost important to select the auditor wisely. This is something that shouldn’t be considered to be easy and light.

To ensure which auditor you want to choose for your company requires you to go through a tedious assessment procedure as it directly involves your business’ financial stability. The stakes in choosing the best auditor for your company is quite high and thus some tips are compiled here so you can follow them to ensure the best hiring.

Transparent Communication – Good and transparent communication is absolutely important for a win-win audit and auditor relation. A good auditor will always allow you to communicate easily and freely. They are likely to entertain any question you ask and will try to reply satisfactorily. Accounting is quite tricky, drab and complicated subject for the non-accounts people. So make sure your chosen auditor explains everything in a lucid and non-technical way so you can understand.

Industry Experience – An auditor must have required industry experience. They must make you understand things with references of their existing clients similar in scope and nature to your company. The world of accounting is a changeable one. You can ask them how they manage to go with the tide while staying on top of new assertions by modifying and updating themselves. They must be able to communicate any changes with their clients in an understandable manner. A dependable auditing firm will surely have their own plan to cope with accounting amendments.

Market Reputation – This is essential that you consider the reputation of the firm or the individual auditor during the hiring process. You can always ask them for references and accordingly call the references and request to share their experience with that firm. Ask the auditor about the awards they have received for outstanding financial statements. Awards are the means for weighing up the auditor’s reputation and worthiness.

Fees – Though this shouldn’t be considered as a qualifying criterion while hiring the right auditor, fees they charge influence the selection process. To get the best rate against the best services, you may collect a few bids from different auditors to check if the potential auditor’s rate is really competitive. But while comparing the bids, make sure you not only compare the price but also other important factors. Some auditors may charge a multi-year fee at a reduced rate against a single year fee. You may accept such an offer as this would be beneficial for both the parties. But if your company is in a growth period or at the threshold of substantial changes, this arrangement may not be suitable for you.

While hiring an auditor in Kolkata, these are some important factors that you may consider to ensure the right selection.

Some Essential Nitty-gritty Related To Tax Planning

If tax planning is your last minute job, it is very likely that your budget and personal finance will be a mess owing to your tax habit. To avoid this, you should start planning for your taxes well in advance. Invest small amount of money in a prominent tax saving instrument on a regular basis throughout the year in lieu of a large, one time investment at the last second.

Importance of Tax Planning

Well there are a number of benefits of planning your tax methodically. Let’s have a look.

• Saves Your Income – As you already know, tax evasion is a serious crime. But tax avoidance is not. So you can always avoid tax paying by making use of possible tax deduction as well as tax exemption.
• Ensures Right Investments – Tax planning helps you make the correct investment in different legitimate financial products as well as tax saving instruments. But it all should be done on the basis of your risk profile that saves your income from income tax.
• Lets the Loan Saves Tax – Taking a home loan helps you significantly save on tax.
  Guarantees peaceful retirement – Your tax planning helps you use tax saving instruments to ensure significant savings. It also lets you invest in financial products that in turn ensure that you have sufficient money for retirement.

Considerable Factors for Tax Planning

 

Should you buy endowment life insurance plan for getting tax deduction?

An endowment life insurance policy often charges high premium. An endowment plan ensures both insurance and savings. So you have to pay high premium to get the benefits of insurance and savings. And this ensures that you will be benefited financially on survival and your successors at your death. With such a plan you can expect to get a meager 5% to 7% while most of the premium amount is swallowed as the charge for the plan. On the other hand, if you buy a term life plan that is available against a lower premium in comparison to an endowment plan, you won’t get any benefit on survival. Both the plans offer tax benefits under section 80C. For getting tax benefits, online tax consultant Kolkata suggests that you go for low premium term life plan at an early age and make necessary financial arrangements for your family in case you die untimely.

Is it required to invest in tax saving instruments as per your risk profile?

Your risk profile plays the most important role as it comes to making investments in tax saving instruments. Both ELSS (Equity Linked Savings Scheme) and PPF (Public Provident Fund) give you tax benefit under Section 80C. If you want to keep your primary investment save while earning interest on it, you can invest in a PPF or a 5-year tax saving FD (Fixed Deposit). But if you invest in an ELSS, you should be prepared for taking of risk of stock market crash or down. Though it ensures high return on investment, it involves tremendous risk.

These are just a few important things you should know about tax planning in India. If you want to keep yourself financially stable, you should plan your tax in advance.

Everything You Need To Know About Hiring GST Consultants In Kolkata

With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) being rolled out on July 1, 2017, are you scouting for reliable consultants who can advise you on the technical aspects of the tax? Do you think it’s high time you gear up and assess the probable impact of the Goods and Services Tax on your business? Read on then to check out everything you need to know about availing services from the specialists!

Businesses of all shapes and sizes are going to be impacted with the implementation of GST, the largest indirect tax reform in India. Taxes like Sales Tax, Central Excise Duty, State VAT, Purchase Tax, Entertainment Tax, Luxury Tax and several other indirect taxes have now been replaced by the GST. While it’s true that the GST aims to simplify the entire indirect taxation process, certain gaps still exist in the procedures. Availing assistance in the preparatory work for GST can thus be a wise decision!

Need For Availing Services From GST Consultants In Kolkata

With the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, the taxation system in India has now become destination based. This has impacted diverse aspects of businesses like- the supply chain, the cash flow, profitability, sourcing and the enterprise resource planning. Thus, planning in advance can bring forth a good opportunity to the companies for evaluating and realigning their business objectives and models.

By hiring GST consultants in Kolkata who can advise and teach them about the laws and procedures of implementing the Goods and Services Tax, businesses can gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. Moreover, these professionals can even assist you in renewing your IT systems while coping up with the new tax structure.

Benefits Of The Goods And Service Tax To Business And Companies

1. Both state and the central GST will be applicable on the manufacturing cost. Not only will this benefit customers if the prices come down, but it will even lead to more consumption, thus helping companies gain more businesses.
2. As per the Goods and Services Tax system, all taxes levied by the central and state government will be put together and merged into a single taxation system. This will do away with the earlier multiple tax system and bring in the concept of one common market for all.
3. Under the Goods and Services Tax system, the burden of taxes will be divided equally between services and manufacturing through a lower tax rate.
4. The tax will be levied only at the company’s destination unit and not at various points (from the manufacturing units to the retail outlets).
5. With uniformity of tax structures and rates, GST has ensured that indirect tax rates and structures are common across the country. Irrespective of the place where the business is done, tax rates for companies throughout the country is neutral.
6. Relaxation in the transaction expenses of doing business will gradually lead to an improved competitiveness for the company in the industry.
7. With a seamless tax credit system throughout the country, there will be a nominal cascading of taxes. This removal of cascading will reduce the hidden costs of doing any business in India.

So what are you still waiting for? Quickly find a leading consultant and start availing some exemplary services to enjoy the benefits of GST!

5 Questions To Ask While Hiring An Income Tax Consultant In Kolkata!

Do you face difficulties while filing income tax returns? Are you on the lookout for professionals who can offer effective tax preparation services? Still wondering how to choose a professional who provides the right assistance and support? Fret not. All you need to do is check out few questions which you must ask a professional for making an informed choice!

When it comes to income tax, choosing the right consultant can indeed be an overwhelming task. Be it the aspects which must be taken into consideration or the qualities to look for in a professional, there are several factors which you must consider for taking the right decision. A prior knowledge of the selection process can thus help you in making a well-informed decision!

Read on then to check out the questions which you must ask a professional before hiring him!

Few Essential Questions To Ask Before Choosing An Income Tax Consultant In Kolkata

1.What Types Of Clients Have You Previously Worked With?
It’s important to ensure that the professional or the firm you are willing to work with, has an understanding of the type of business you are associated with. For instance, a construction company needs to handle issues related to their contractual workers while a restaurant will have policies for wages and tips. Remember; you have to hire a specialist who has previously worked with businesses like yours and even knows the ins and outs of your industry.

2.Who Will Do The Work?
Inquire if the company outsources work to some third party or has its own team of experts to work for you. Since relying on such third parties can be a costly decision, it is always wise to choose a firm which has its own team of financial advisors, tax consultants and auditors. Further, you must ensure if the agency has any certified filing centre of its own.

3.Are You Available Throughout The Year?
Look for a reliable income tax consultant in Kolkata who is available throughout the year. Unlike some firms which keep their doors open only during the tax season, these reputed agencies boast of a diligent team of professionals who can cater to the issues of their clients anytime. From the appropriate arrangement of files to suitable documentation, these accounting firms specialise in offering a range of tax preparation services which are both effective and authorised.

4.How Do You Manage While Working With Multiple Entities?
For business owners who run more than one agency under their name, looking for professionals who have the capability to manage several entities at a time is of paramount importance. You need to remember that these are skills which not every specialist posses. Hiring a firm which can co-ordinate between your entities is important.

5.How Often Do You Communicate With Your Clients?
When it comes to the frequency of communication for planning tax issues, every professional is different. Inquire about the approach of the expert and ensure that you are satisfied with his degree of communication. Remember; you must feel comfortable while discussing your issues with him.

So what are you still waiting for? Quickly find a reputed consultancy agency in your area and start availing exemplary income tax related issues!