A Sacramento based group headed by NRI Vivek Ranadive has agreed to buy the Sacramento Kings NBA team.

Ranadive a software billionaire will purchase 65 percent of the Kings for a fee of around $348 million from the Maloof brothers who own the franchise, in a deal that is expected to be confirmed shortly.

The Maloof family have owned the team since 1998.

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If you are an NRI who wants to invest directly in Indian equity, Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) is a facility notified by the RBI to accommodate you.

As an NRI you must open a non-resident external or non-resident ordinary account on a repatriable or non-repatriable basis. There are no limits on how much you may invest, but there is a limit on what proportion of stock or the company you can invest in.

An NRI or PIO cannot own over 10% of the paid-up capital of a private company and not more than 20% of the paid up capital of a public sector company. It is important to know that these guidelines only apply to direct investments in equity and not to shares you may hold via mutual funds.

So where should you invest? It is best to signup with a brokerage to help you execute the process, only if you are already familiar with what stocks you want to buy and sell. You could also elect to engage a portfolio management service who will give you access to customised portfolios of stocks but this costs an annual fee of upto 2.5% and possibly a profit sharing arrangement.

You can then have the option of selecting equity mutual funds where management fees are lower.

Another alternative is to engage an investment advisor to allocate your investible surplus, and pick stocks that suit your needs.
None of the steps of the process are easy which is why few NRIs invest directly.

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The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA was implemented in January by the US Department of Treasury and the IRS that contains comprehensive final regulations that mark a key step in establishing their approach to combating tax evasion. For Indian Americans this only means more compliance, but it can get complicated.

In effect FATCA provisions focus on keeping track of non-compliance by US taxpayers who hold foreign financial accounts, which must be declared and tax paid on their global income in the US. One of the most significant indictments of US taxpayers hiding income offshore includes the multi-million value account holders of HSBC India.

There are many many options one can apply but they are extremely complicated and the reams of forms and papers that need to be signed and attested are mind boggling. Ignorance of the ruling is not counted as a reason not to be penalised, so in short it is strongly advised that NRIs talk to their tax accountants, banks and financial consultants to make sure they are following the rule of law of FATCA.

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Global bank HSBC could face significant penalties from the US authorities as the US tax department is investigating possible evasion of federal income taxes by American residents of Indian origin through the use of their accounts with HSBC India.

In a regulatory filing HSBC said it is cooperating with the US Department of Justice and the Internal revenue system in their investigations into whether HSBC companies and employees acted appropriately in relation to certain customers with US tax reporting requirements. Regarding the case involving its Indian unit UK based HSBC said HSBC USA had received a John Doe summons from the IRS directing it to produce records of it US clients.

HSBC reiterated that it continues to cooperate with the SEC and admitted that as matters progress it is possible that fines and/or penalties could be significant.

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A recent change introduced by the Central Board of Direct Taxes notifies salaried taxpayers that E-filing of income tax returns is now mandatory for individuals, including salaried tax payers, earning over Rs.5 lakhs of taxable income during the financial year ended March 31, 2013.

Sources in the ministry of finance say nearly 18 lakh individual taxpayers fall in the Rs.5-10 tax slab, all of whom will now have to file online.

Salaried taxpayers do not have to obtain a digital signature for e-filing their I-T returns. After filing online, for verification of the return a hard copy has to be sent to the central processing unit in Bangalore.

E-filing will also help speed up the granting of refunds, which is processed in Bangalore. Small taxpayers who are not computer savvy will have to seek professional help for filing.

Some chartered accountants say the official website of the tax department that enables e-filing is difficult to access during the peak return filing season.

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