The Chartered Accountant

BOOK REVIEW
A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR INVESTORS & TRADERS IN
SECURITIES & COMMODITIES
The book Tax and Financial Planning
Guide for Investors & Traders
in Securities & Commodities,
authored by CA. Samir S. Mogul,
discusses various provisions relating
to Securities Transaction Tax
and Commodities Transaction Tax
under the Indian Income-tax Act,
1961, as amended by the Finance
Act, 2008. These discussions have
been backed by various case laws
as well as notifications, circulars
and press releases issued by various
statutory authorities. There
have also been discussions on how
to plan taxes to take advantage of
the exemptions and deductions
available in the Income-tax Act.
Guidelines for Investors as well as
Traders and businessmen are also
given in this book.
We invest our hard-earned and
inherited money including capital,
income and savings, in shares,
bonds, debentures, mutual funds
units, derivatives, and so on, on
one hand, and commodities like
gold, silver, jewellery, artifacts and
other goods/merchandise on the
other. Objectives behind investments
have always been to make
profits and generate revenue from
all our assets. In order to maximize
our real returns, i.e., after
eliminating the effect of inflation,
on investments, taxation has to be
considered and planned carefully
to minimize its impact on investments
and returns. Taxation plays
a crucial role in the overall returns
on any investment or in any trade
and hence, it is necessary to un-
derstand the fundamentals of
taxation. There have been global
dramatic changes in past few decades
in financial and commodity
markets in terms of various volumes,
nature, type of assets, values
of volatility and so on. Along
with it, there have also been a rapid
growth in derivatives contracts
(options, future and forward contracts)
in securities and commodity
markets in India over the years,
and both the above now account
for big share of the total value of
transactions.
This book also discusses the impact
of changes made by the Finance
Act, 2008, especially with
regard to the increase in the
threshold limit of the exemption
from income-tax for individuals,
clarifications on reverse mortgage
scheme, taxation of securities received
under Employees Stock
Options Plans (ESOP), changes
in tax on distributed profiles by
domestic company, among others.
The author has given some tax
planning tips and strategies in the
book which are highlighted with a
Title: Tax and Financial Planning
Guide for Investors & Traders
in Securities & Commodities
Author: CA. Samir S. Mogul
Pages: 621
Price: Rs.595
background shade for the benefit
of the readers.
Investors and traders, who are
looking for opportunities in derivatives
markets for profits, can use
this book to understand and take
advantage of the tax laws governing
securities and commodities.
Tax professionals and practitioners
would also find this book
advantageous. This book can also
be used by finance and taxation
students and other academicians,
who want to acquire a working
knowledge of tax laws relating to
various financial instruments and
commodities.
Eventually, one can say that
through this book the author has
provided a wide-in-scope guide for
investors and traders of all kinds,
who may plan their investments
and trading activities in financial
securities and commodities under
the Securities Transaction Tax and
Commodities Transaction Tax.
This book is recommended to all
those investors and traders as a
must-read document.q
THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT 1039 DECEMBER 2008