CBDT – Order under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961

CBDT – Order under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961

CBDT

Order under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961

Extension of due date for filing of ITRs for the A.Y 2019-20 from 31st July, 2019 to 31st August, 2019

F. No. 225/157/2019/ ITA.II

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

North-Block, ITA-II Division

New Delhi, the 23rd of July, 2019

Order under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961

The ‘due-date’ for filing income-tax returns for Assessment-Year 2019-20 is 31.07.2019 for certain categories of taxpayers. It has been reported that some of the taxpayers are facing difficulties in filing their income- tax returns due to various reasons including extension of due date for issue of Form 16 for the Assessment-Year 2019-20.

In this regard, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, in exercise of its powers conferred under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’), hereby extends the ‘due-date’, as prescribed under section 139(1) of the Act, for filing income-tax returns from 31st July, 2019 to 31st August, 2019 in cases of all taxpayers who are liable to file their income-tax returns by the said ‘due-date’.

sd/-

(Rajarajeswari R.)

Under Secretary to the Government of India

Source: Income tax India

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) clarifies regarding issue of Prosecution Notices

Ministry of Finance
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) clarifies regarding issue of Prosecution Notices

21 JAN 2019

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has stated that certain news items that appeared in a section of media regarding enmasse issue of prosecution notices to small companies for TDS default are completely misleading and full of factual inaccuracies. CBDT clarified that Mumbai Income Tax TDS office has issued prosecution Show Cause Notices only in a limited number of big cases where more than Rs. 5 lakh of tax was collected as TDS from employees etc and yet the same was not deposited with the Income Tax Department in time.

CBDT said that some defaulter companies and vested interests are deliberately misleading the media to thwart action against themselves. Having deducted tax from employees and other taxpayers and not depositing the same in time in the Government Treasury is an offence punishable under the law. It also affects the interest of the employees from whose salary the tax has been deducted by the unscrupulous employers who have not deposited the same in time in the Government Treasury. If the TDS is not deposited in time, the employee would be ineligible for claiming credit of the tax deducted when he files his own return.

CBDT stated that in last one month, only in 50 big cases prosecution notices have been issued by Mumbai IT TDS office. Out of these, in 80% of the cases the TDS tax default is above Rs. 10 lakh and in 10 % cases, TDS default is between Rs. 5 to Rs.10 lakh. In the remaining 10% cases, TDS default is of more than Rs. 1 crore as detected in the survey. Prosecutions have also recently been launched against 4 big business houses where more than Rs 50 Crore of tax was collected by them from the tax payers and yet not deposited with the Government in time. But such legal and rightful action is being unfortunately projected in the media by the vested interests as if the Department is going overboard to harass small employers.

It would be pertinent to note that in a country of 130 Crore people where around 6 Crore returns are filed every year, only a total of 1400 prosecutions have been filed so far for various offences under the Income Tax Act during this financial year. This, by any stretch of imagination, cannot be termed as mass harassment by the income tax department. Therefore, to say that prosecution notices enmasse have been sent to taxpayers for minor defaults is completely incorrect and misleading, the CBDT added.

PIB

Extension of due dates for filing GST returns

Ministry of Finance
Extension of due dates for filing GST returns

28 NOV 2018

In view of the disturbances caused to daily life by Cyclone Titli in the district of Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, and by Cyclone Gaza in eleven districts of Tamil Nadu viz., Cuddalore, Thiruvarur, Puddukottai, Dindigul, Nagapatinam, Theni, Thanjavur, Sivagangai, Tiruchirappalli, Karur and Ramanathapuram, the competent authority has decided to extend the due dates for filing various GST returns as detailed below:

Sl. No.	Return/Form	Extended due date	Taxpayers eligible for extension
1	FORM GSTR-3B for the months of September and October, 2018	30th November, 2018	Taxpayers whose principal place of business isin the district of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh
2	FORM GSTR-3Bfor the month of October, 2018	20th December, 2018	Taxpayers whose principal place of business is in the 11 specified districts of Tamil Nadu
3	FORM GSTR-1 for the months of September and October, 2018	30th November, 2018	Taxpayers having aggregate turnover of more than 1.5 crore rupees and whose principal place of businessis in the district of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh
4	FORM GSTR-1 for the month ofOctober, 2018	20th December, 2018	Taxpayers having aggregateturnover of more than 1.5 crore rupees and whose principalplace of business is in the eleven specified districts of Tamil Nadu
5	FORM GSTR-1 for the quarter July-September, 2018	30th November, 2018	Taxpayers having aggregate turnover of upto 1.5 crore rupees and whose principal place of business is in the district of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh
6	FORM GSTR-4 for the quarter July to September, 2018	30th November, 2018	Taxpayers whose principal place of business isin the district of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh
7	FORM GSTR-7 for the months October to December, 2018	31st January, 2019	All taxpayers

2. The relevant notifications for the same will be issued shortly.

PIB

Extension of date for filing of Income Tax Returns for taxpayers in Kerala

Ministry of Finance

Extension of date for filing of Income Tax Returns for taxpayers in Kerala

In view of the disruption caused due to severe floods in Kerala, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) hereby further extends the "Due Date" for furnishing Income Tax Returns from 31st August, 2018 to 15th September, 2018 for all Income Tax assessees in the State of Kerala, who were liable to file their Income Tax Returns by 31st August, 2018.

CBDT had earlier extended the ‘Due Date’ for filing of Income Tax Returns from 31st July, 2018 to 31st August, 2018 in respect of the categories of taxpayers who were liable to file their Income Tax Returns by 31st July, 2018.

Source: PIB

Extension of Due Date for filing of Income Tax Returns

Ministry of Finance

Extension of Due Date for filing of Income Tax Returns

Posted On: 26 JUL 2018 6:16PM by PIB Delhi

The due date for filing of Income Tax Returns for Assessment Year 2018-19 is 31.07.2018 for certain categories of taxpayers. Upon consideration of the matter, the Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) extends the 'due date' for filing of Income Tax Returns from 31st July, 2018 to 31st August, 2018 in respect of the said categories of taxpayers.

PIB

Amendments in the income-tax act proposed to notify a new scheme for assessment in electronic mode

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance

01-February-2018 13:20 IST

Amendments in the income-tax act proposed to notify a new scheme for assessment in electronic mode.

E-assessment to be rolled-out across the country to transform age-old assessment procedure

In the General Budget 2018-19 presented in Parliament today, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley proposed to amend the Income-tax Act to notify a new scheme for assessment. Shri Jaitley said the assessment will be done in electronic mode which will almost eliminate person to person contact leading to greater efficiency and transparency. The Finance Minister added that the e-assessment system was introduced in 2016 on a pilot basis. In 2017, it was extended to 102 cities with the objective of reducing the interface between the department and the taxpayers. "With the experience gained so far, we are now ready to roll out the E-assessment across the country, which will transform the age-old assessment procedure of the income tax department and the manner in which they interact with taxpayers and other stakeholders" Shri Jaitley said.

CBDT notifies new scrutiny notices with e-facility for taxpayers

CBDT notifies new scrutiny notices with e-facility for taxpayers

New Delhi: The CBDT has notified revised income tax scrutiny notices that will allow taxpayers to conduct their business with the taxman over the Internet without needing to visit the I-T office, hence reducing physical interface between them.

The new format pertains to three types of notices that are issued by the taxman under section 143(2) of the Income Tax Act (scrutiny of tax return) and the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the policy-making body of the department, has told all field I-T offices in the country that "all scrutiny notices..

., shall henceforth, be issued in these revised formats only".

"This has become necessary in view of board's (CBDT) decision to utilise e-proceeding facility for electronic conduct of assessment proceedings in a widespread manner from this financial year," the CBDT order, issued yesterday, said.

The three revised notices have been accessed by PTI and are meant for procedures of limited, complete and compulsory manual scrutiny.

A scrutiny procedure in the income tax system pertains to a case where a taxpayer is required to provide a number of documents and testimonials to the assessing officer (AO) after his or her case is picked up for a threadbare examination after study of their tax returns.

The department has said in the past that it only picks less than one per cent of the total I-T returns (ITRs) filed for examination under the long-drawn scrutiny process but this has still been a issue of grievance for many assessees.

Each of the three, one-page notices, will bear the name of the assessing officer, their designation, telephone and fax number and now, their email id too.

A taxpayer can use their account on the official e-filing website of the department (https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/) or their personal email id to conduct their scrutiny assessment dealings with the AO.

"The department wants itself to be seen as a facilitator for the honest tax paying public without him or her requiring to visit the tax office and conducting their dealing with the AO with ease of the click of a computer mouse.The e-proceeding is aimed to curb complaints of harassment and corruption in tax related issues," a senior officer of the department said.

The new notices will also carry a five-point explanation about the new changes being made for the taxpayer with the ushering in of the Internet-based e-proceeding regime in the Income Tax Department.
"As part of the e-governance initiative to facilitate conduct of assessment proceedings electronically, I-T department has launched e-proceeding facility.

"It is a simple way of communication between the department and assessee, through electronic means, without the necessity to visit the income tax office for conduct of assessment proceedings. This taxpayer friendly measure would substantially reduce the compliance burden for the assessee," the note says.
However, the AO will have discretionary powers to call for additional documents and records and seek personal appearance of the taxpayer if there is a reason for him to delve deeper into the case and such a thing is not possible over the e-proceeding communication link.

The CBDT is also expected to soon implement the system of conducting the limited scrutiny cases via the 'e-proceeding' system through the official e-filing website.

PTI

Highlights of Union Budget 2017-18

Highlights of Union Budget 2017-18

1. All taxpayers above 5 lakh rupees to get benefit of 12,500 rupees across the board: FM
2. 10% Surcharge on individuals with income between 50 lakh to 1 Crore: FM
3. Surcharge of 10% for individuals earning between Rs 50 lakh- 1 crore; Surcharge for incomes > Rs 1 crore at 15% to continue: FM
4. A single one-page form for filing IT returns for taxable income up to 5 lakh rupees: FM
5. Tax on income from 2.5 lakh to 5 lakh reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent: FM
6. Time period of revising tax return to be reduced to 12 months: FM
7. Amendment to RBI Act proposed to enable electoral bonds: FM
8. Political parties will be entitled to receive donations in cheque or digital payment, every political party to file IT returns: FM
9. Long-term capital gains tax on immovable property to apply after 2 years, instead of 3 years now: FM
10. Maximum amount of cash donation a political party can receive to be 2000 rupees from any one source: FM
11. Computer emergency response team to be established Cyber security: FM
12. Rate of growth in advance tax in personal income tax in last 3 quarters of this financial year is as high as 34.8%: FM
13. Basic customs duty on LNG to be reduced from 5% to 2.5%: FM
14. Tax rate for companies with an annual turnover up to 50 crores to be reduced to 25%, to strengthen MSME sector: FM
15. To make MSMEs more viable, income tax for smaller companies to be reduced: FM
16. Profit linked deduction available to Startups for 3 years out of 5 years will be available for 3 years out of 7 years
17. Capital gains tax to be exempted,for persons holding land from which land was pooled for creation of state capital of Telangana: FM
18. Thrust in budget are affordable housing, promote digital economy, bringing transparency in political funding: FM
19. We are committed to make our taxation rate reasonable,our tax admin more fair & expand the tax base of the country: FM
20. Only 1.72 lakh people show income above Rs 50 lakh: FM
21. 1.5 crore people show income between Rs 2.5-5 lakh; 52 lakh people between between Rs 5-10 lakh; 24 lakh above Rs 10 lakh: FM
22. 5 special tourism zones,anchored on SPV, to be set up; Incredible India II campaign to be launched across the world: FM
23. Revenue Deficit target at 1.9% of GDP: FM
24. Govt to commemorate Champaran Satyagraha centenary: FM
25. Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.2 percent of GDP: FM
26. Aadhar-enabled payment system AadharPay to be launched: FM
27. Defence allocation of Rs 2.74 lakh crore: FM
28. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras to be extended to more than 600 districts across the country: FM
29. Total allocation for infrastructure in Budget for Better India stands at a record level Rs 3,96,135 crore in 2017-18: FM
30. State run companies like IRCON and IRCTC to be listed in markets: FM

Source: http://www.newsonair.com/

Request to Taxpayers to Avail Facility for Online Rectification

Request to Taxpayers to Avail Facility for Online Rectification

Income-tax Act provides the taxpayer with an option to seek rectification of mistakes apparent from record under section 154 of the Act. The e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department provides the utility for online filing and tracking of rectification requests. Taxpayers who are not satisfied with the outcome of processing of their Income Tax Return by the Centralized Processing Centre, Bengaluru can avail of the facility of online filing and tracking of rectification requests available on https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.

In case of any mistake in data entry of Tax payment or TDS details, taxpayer can select the “Rectification Request Type->Taxpayer is correcting data for Tax Credit mismatch only” and the use the option of pre-filling the correct details for the relevant Assessment Year while submitting the rectification request.
In case of data entry mistake in any other Schedule or omission of any details, taxpayer can select the option “Taxpayer is correcting Data in Rectification” and the reason for seeking rectification.

In any other case taxpayer can select the option “No further Data Correction Required, Reprocess the case” where the mistake in processing may have occurred due to non-reporting of TDS by deductor etc.
A detailed user manual for filing online rectification is available at: http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/eFiling/Portal/StaticPDF/Rectifcation_Manual.pdf?0.08833787460862363.

With this utility a taxpayer can also the monitor the status of disposal of rectification request.

CPC, Bengaluru has already processed 6,53,763 online rectification requests in F.Y.2015-16 till 29th February 2016. CBDT is committed to ensuring accuracy in processing of returns and determination of refunds and seeks the active cooperation of taxpayers in ensuring correctness of data while submitting the return or rectification request.

PIB

Revised Norms of IT Returns; Electronic Verification of Income Tax Returns For A.Y. 2015-16 Introduced

Revised Norms of IT Returns; Electronic Verification of Income Tax Returns For A.Y. 2015-16 Introduced

As per rule 12 of the Income-tax Rules, in case of individuals and certain other specified taxpayer, returns may be filed electronically followed by submission of signed paper copy of ITR-Verification form (ITR-V). However, to provide end-to-end enabled services to the tax payers, a facility has been introduced for electronic verification of the Income-tax Returns for A.Y. 2015-16 in these cases.

Under this, a taxpayer may verify his return through Internet Banking or through Aadhaar based authentication process.

For the convenience of small taxpayers having total income of Rs. 5 lakhs or below without any claim of refund, facility for generating Electronic Verification Code (EVC) has also been provided on the E-filing website of the Department. In such cases EVC will be sent to the Registered Email ID and Mobile Number of the taxpayer. Persons using this facility will not be required to submit a signed paper copy of ITR-V to the Income-tax Department.

Taxpayers are permitted to use Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) to verify their e-filed Income-tax return. The electronic signature is a type of DSC and can be used to verify e-filed Income-tax return. As mentioned above, the taxpayers can use their Aadhaar number for e-filing of return as per the Aadhaar based authentication process.

This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

PIB

Income Tax Return Forms ITR 1, 2 and 4S Simplified for Convenience of the Taxpayers

Income Tax Return Forms ITR 1, 2 and 4S Simplified for Convenience of the Tax Payers 

A New Form ITR 2A Proposed which can be Filed by an Individual or HUF who does not have Capital Gains, Income from Business/Profession or Foreign Asset/Foreign Income; In Form ITR 2 and the New Form ITR 2A, the Main Form will not Contain more than 3 Pages, and other Information will be Captured in the Schedules which will be Required to be filled only if applicable;

As the Software for these Forms is under Preparation, they are likely to be available for e-filing by 3rd week of june 2015;Time Limit for Filing these Returns is also Proposed to be Extended up to 31.08.2015;
Only Passport Number, if available, would be required to be given in forms Itr-2 and itr-2A. Details of Foreign Trips or Expenditure thereon are not required to be Furnished

Forms ITR 1, 2 and 4S for Assessment Year 2015-16 were notified on 15th April 2015 (15.04.2015). In view of various representations, it was announced that these ITR forms will be reviewed. Having considered the responses received from various stakeholders, these forms are proposed to be simplified in the following manner for the convenience of the taxpayers:-

1) Individuals having exempt income without any ceiling (other than agricultural income exceeding Rs. 5,000) can now file Form ITR 1 (Sahaj). Similar simplification is also proposed for individuals/HUF in respect of Form ITR 4S (Sugam).

2) At present individuals/HUFs having income from more than one house property and capital gains are required to file Form ITR-2. It is, however, noticed that majority of individuals/HUFs who file Form ITR-2 do not have capital gains. With a view to provide for a simplified form for these individuals/HUFs, a new Form ITR 2A is proposed which can be filed by an individual or HUF who does not have capital gains, income from business/profession or foreign asset/foreign income.

3) In lieu of foreign travel details, it is now proposed that only Passport Number, if available, would be required to be given in Forms ITR-2 and ITR-2A. Details of foreign trips or expenditure thereon are not required to be furnished.

4) As regards bank account details in all these forms, only the IFS code, account number of all the current/savings account which are held at any time during the previous year will be required to be filled-up. The balance in accounts will not be required to be furnished. Details of dormant accounts which are not operational during the last three years are not required to be furnished.

5) An individual who is not an Indian citizen and is in India on a business, employment or student visa (expatriate), would not mandatorily be required to report the foreign assets acquired by him during the previous years in which he was non-resident if no income is derived from such assets during the relevant previous year.

6) As a measure of simplification, it has been endeavoured to ensure that in Form ITR 2 and the new Form ITR 2A, the main form will not contain more than 3 pages, and other information will be captured in the Schedules which will be required to be filled only if applicable.

As the software for these forms is under preparation, they are likely to be available for e-filing by 3rd week of June 2015. Accordingly, the time limit for filing these returns is also proposed to be extended up to 31st August, 2015 (31.08.2015). A separate notification will be issued in this regard.

Source: PIB News

Customs, Central excise offices to remain open tomorrow

Customs, Central excise offices to remain open tomorrow

New Delhi: All field offices under the chief commissioners of customs, central excise and service tax will remain open tomorrow to facilitate payment of taxes and filing of returns by taxpayers as the current fiscal draws to a close.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has decided to keep open all the field offices under the chief commissioners to facilitate the tax-payers in payment of taxes or filing returns and in carrying out other procedural formalities and to provide any clarifications which may be required by the taxpayers, a Finance Ministry release said.

This special measure taken by the CBEC is in addition to the 24×7 facilities provided by the Customs formations at the ports and airports, it said.

PTI

Benefit from the Income Tax sops announced by the Government..?

Benefit from the Income Tax sops announced by the Government..?

In the 2014-15 Budget that was presented recently, it was announced that the income tax exemption slab will be being raised from Rs. 2 lakhs per annum to Rs. 2.5 lakhs.

On July 10, during the parliamentary session, while presenting the budget for the year 2014-15, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the non-taxable income slab for individual tax payers has been raised from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 2.5 lakhs. Also, the maximum tax exemption of Rs. 1 lakh Under Section 80C has been raised to Rs. 1.5 lakh. Interest deductions on home loan have been increased from Rs. 1.5 lakhs to Rs. 2 lakhs.

Let us now make approximate calculations about the kinds of benefits that taxpayers stand to get from these changes:

Raising the non-taxable income limit from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 2.5 lakhs gives a maximum tax savings of Rs. 5600 additionally.

Since the maximum tax exemption under Section 80C has been raised to Rs. 1.5 lakhs, the tax payer gets to save Rs. 17,000 under certain exemption categories.

Since the maximum exemption under home loan deduction has been raised from Rs. 1.5 laksh to Rs. 2 lakhs, the taxpayer saves another 17,000.

Source: www.employeesnews.in
[http://www.employeesnews.in/2014/07/benefit-from-income-tax-sops-announced.html]

Relief for Taxpayers in the Bracket of Rs.2 Lakh to 5 Lakh Tax Credit of Rs.2000 to Every Person with Total Income upto 5 Lakh

Relief for Taxpayers in the Bracket of Rs.2 Lakh to 5 Lakh Tax Credit of Rs.2000 to Every Person with Total Income upto 5 Lakh

The Finance Bill 2013-14 proposes a relief of Rs.2000 to every person who has a total income upto Rs.5 lakh in a financial year. Presenting the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha today, the Finance Minister Shri P.Chidambaram said that 1.80 crore taxpayers are expected to benefit to the value of Rs.3600 crore on account of this proposal of tax credit of Rs.2000. He further said that the current slabs were introduced only last year. Hence, there is no case to revise either the slabs or the rates. However, he proposed to give some relief to the taxpayers in the first bracket of Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh.