Archives: November 23, 2015

Product Enhancement: Pay Society Dues on Mobile

It can’t get easier than this for Apartment Owners and Tenants to pay their society dues.

Owners/Tenants on ApnaComplex can now pay all their society dues using Credit Card / Debit Card / Net Banking from the latest version of our Android App. You can download the latest version of app from Google Play Store.

In case your society is not yet utilizing the Payment Gateway feature and want to start using the same, please reach out to us to enable the same for your society. The payment gateway setup charges are completely waived off for a limited time.


Product Enhancement: ApnaComplex now supports Printing on Cheques

Tired of writing cheques for your society expenses? We now support printing directly from the portal onto cheques.

This helps to ensure there are no data entry errors or cheque writing mistakes. Saves time for you.

You can find the “Print Cheque” icon on Expenditure->Expenses and on Expenditure->Bills->View/Record Payments screen beside the payments entered.


New Dashboard for “Request Approver” Role

We are happy to announce the availability of a new “consolidated” dashboard view for “Request Approver” role.

As you know “Request Approver” role in ApnaComplex can approve several types of requests – including Request Box Requests, Purchase Requests and more recently Expenditure Bills. You had to go to each of individual menu items to be able to see the requests pending for your approval. It was confusing for most users to navigate to different menu items to be able to go to each type of approval.

We have now consolidated screen for all requests pending approval for the “Request Approver” role. As soon as you switch to the role you can now notice a view with 3 tabs that lists requests pending for approval under Purchase Requests, Bills and Request Box Requests. Makes approving/rejecting requests super easy.

Request Approval Dashboard in ApnaComplex

Request Approval Dashboard in ApnaComplex


In case you navigate away from the dashboard doing other activities in this role, all you need to do to click on Home->Dashboard to be able get back the consolidated view. Do note that this view is only visible for Request Approver roles.


Introducing a New Brand Identity for your favorite Housing Society Portal!

All of us at ApnaComplex welcome this Diwali with new Brand Identity.

ApnaComplex

Spare a thought for our earlier identity who is retiring after 5+ years of service. You have done your job, Buddy! You have helped us reach so far.

While our identity has changed, our values haven’t and our focus to help managing committees of Housing Societies across the country will never change!


Swachh Bharat Cess – Service Tax Changes for Housing Societies and Apartment Owners Associations

As per the recent service tax notifications (Notification No. 21/2015-Service Tax and Notification No. 22/2015-Service Tax), all organizations that offer services covered under the ambit of Service Tax, should charge an “Swachh Bharat Cess” at 0.5% of the service value from November 15th 2015.

Housing Societies need to collect and pay service tax at the rate of 14% for all members where the monthly collection is more than Rs. 5,000/- (Refer Jan 2014 Circular on Service Tax on Apartment Associations for more details). Other key aspects of interest are listed below.

Swachh Bharat Cess needs to be on a separate line item on invoice

From Nov 15th, the invoices need to have another line item called “Swachh Bharat Cess” charged at the rate of 0.5% value of the taxable amount. Based on our understanding, Swachh Bharat Cess needs to be charged separately on the invoice, needs to be accounted separately in the books of account and needs to be paid separately under separate accounting code which should be notified separately.

Swachh Bharat Cess paid for services availed cannot be claimed as Input Credit

Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 determine if a tax / cess can be claimed as input credit. Howver, there is no amendment in the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 regarding Swachh Bharat Cess. In the absence of the same, Swachh Bharat Cess levied by the Housing Society vendors and paid by the Housing society cannot be claimed as input credit. So, at this point in time, this would be extra cash outflow on the society due to Swachh Bharat Cess.

What should you do in ApnaComplex to take care of this additional cess on the invoices you raise?

If your society is levying Service Tax, identify the best scenario that fits you among the below to know the steps.

Scenario 1: If you are using recurring invoice with automatic service tax calculations, you need not do anything. ApnaComplex is enhanced to charge this as a separate line item on the invoices raised after Nov 15th.

Scenario 2: If you are using recurring invoice with service tax as a calculated line item, you need add a new charge type with name “Swachh Bharat Cess” and move the same to Taxes accounting head in Chart of Accounts. Post that update your recurring invoice setup to add one more line item with net value equivalent to 0.5% under SB Cess head.

Scenario 3: If you are using manual mode, you need add a new charge type with name “Swachh Bharat Cess” and move the same to Taxes accounting head in Chart of Accounts. Now, go to Income->Add charges (or upload charges) with net value equivalent to 0.5% under SB Cess head.

In all scenarios, we would always recommend you to check with your accounting firm or auditor to ensure they are on board with your understanding.