Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment

Dated: 04 MAR 2023

EPFO making all-out efforts to publicize the process of joint option which can be submitted online till 03rd May, 2023

The online joint (employee and employer) option form with the necessary documents has been hosted by EPFO in the unified portal for contributing on higher salary to the EPS-95. The form paves the way for giving effect to the SC order dated 04.11.2022, while adhering to the basic scheme provisions. More than 8,000 members have already applied online as on date though the submission deadline is 03^rd May, 2023.

Since, the contributions of both the employee and employer on higher wages are involved, the EPF and EPS-95 schemes require the joint request when they contribute on higher salary. This is not a new requirement and predates the EPS-95 and the position has been affirmed by SC in the RC Gupta case stating that it is a necessary pre-cursor for exercising joint option on higher salary under EPS.

The circular dated 20^th February 2023 adheres to the provisions of the Scheme and complies with the Supreme Court orders. The correct assessment of contributions and their deposit and diversion to Pension Fund, the past services rendered and the remittances made are necessary for correct calculation of the benefits and valuation of the Pension Fund.The EPFO closed the options on 4^th of March 2023 for the retired EPS members (prior to 01.09.2014 and whose options were not considered earlier). It has received 91,258 online applications from this category of employees as on 04.03.2023.

EPFO has been making all-out efforts to publicize the process of joint option which can be submitted online till 03rd May, 2023. In respect of persons who were EPF members as on 01.09.2014, The online applications are being preferred by the employees since 27^th February,2023 and already 8,897 members have applied to their employers.

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MJPS

 

Ministry of Finance

PM to address 12 post-budget webinars to be held between 23rd February and 11th March

Webinars are being organised by various Ministries/Departments to build on the “Saptarishi” Priorities outlined in the Union Budget 2023-24

Idea of post budget webinars was conceptualised by PM to bring together all stakeholders for bringing synergy in implementation of Budget announcements

Dated: 22 FEB 2023

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will address 12 post-budget webinars which will be held between 23^rd February and 11^th March, 2023. These webinars are being organised by various Ministries/Departments to build on the “Saptarishi” Priorities outlined in the Union Budget 2023-24.

The government under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister has undertaken several budgetary reforms in the past few years. The date of budget was preponed to 1st February so that Ministries and Departments get sufficient time for utilisation of the funds on the ground before the onset of monsoons. Another step towards bringing in reforms in budget implementation was the novel idea of Post Budget Webinars. This idea was conceptualised by the Prime Minister to bring together experts from the public and private sectors, academia, industry and practitioners on the field on a single platform and collaboratively work on implementation strategies across sectors. These webinars were started in 2021 in the spirit of Jan Bhagidari and encourage involvement and ownership of all concerned stakeholders in effective, quick and seamless implementation of the Budget announcements.

The webinars will be focussed on synergising efforts of various Ministers and Departments and all concerned stakeholders towards preparation of action plans with quarterly targets so that the implementation is front ended and smooth with timely achievement of intended outcomes. They are being held virtually to ensure wide participation. They will be attended by concerned Union Ministers, key stakeholders from Government departments, Regulators,  Academia, Trade and Industry associations etc.

The Schedule of webinars is as follows-

1.	Green Growth	23rd February
2.	Agriculture and Cooperatives	24th February
3.	Harnessing Youth power- Skilling and Education	25th February
4.	Reaching the last mile/Leaving No Citizen Behind	27th February
5.	Unleashing the Potential: Ease of living using Technology	28th February
6.	Urban Development with focus on Planning	1st March
7.	Developing Tourism in mission mode	3rd March
8.	Infrastructure and Investment: Improving logistic efficiency with PM Gatishakti National Master Plan	4th March
9.	Health and Medical Research	6th March
10.	Financial Sector	7th March
11.	Women Empowerment	10th March
12.	PM Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman (PM VIKAS)	11th March

 

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RM/PPG/KMN

(Release ID: 1901495) 

 

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

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New Delhi, 15^th February, 2023

PRESS RELEASE

CBDT notifies Income Tax Return Forms for the Assessment Year 2023-24 well in advance

CBDT has notified Income-tax Return Forms (ITR Forms) for the Assessment Year 2023-24 vide Notifications No. 04 & 05 of 2023 dated 10.02.2023 and 14.02.2023. These ITR forms will come into effect from 1^st April, 2023 and have been notified well in advance in order to enable filing of returns from the beginning of the ensuing Assessment Year.

In order to facilitate the taxpayers and to improve ease of filing, no significant changes have been made to the ITR Forms in comparison to last year’s ITR Forms. Only the bare minimum changes necessitated due to amendments in the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the ‘Act’) have been made.

ITR Form 1 (Sahaj) and ITR Form 4 (Sugam) are simpler Forms that cater to a large number of small and medium taxpayers. Sahaj can be filed by a resident individual having income upto Rs. 50 lakh and who receives income from salary, one house property, other sources (interest etc.) and agricultural income upto Rs. 5 thousand. Sugam can be filed by individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) and firms (other than Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs)) being a resident having total income upto Rs. 50 lakh and income from business and profession computed under sections 44AD, 44ADA or 44AE.

Individuals and HUFs not having income from business or profession (and not eligible for filing Sahaj) can file ITR Form 2 while those having income from business or profession can file ITR Form 3. Persons other than individuals, HUFs and companies i.e. partnership firms, LLPs etc. can file ITR Form 5. Companies other than companies claiming exemption under section 11 can file ITR Form 6. Trusts, political parties, charitable institutions, etc. claiming exempt income under the Act can file ITR Form 7.

In order to further streamline the ITR filing process, not only have all the ITR forms been notified well in time this year, no changes have been made in the manner of filing of ITR Forms as compared to last year. The notified ITR Forms will be available on the Department’s website at www.incometaxindia.gov.in

 

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax

 (Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT.

 

 

Ministry of Finance

Demonetisation, inter alia, led to detection of black money, increase in tax collection and widening of tax base: Union MoS for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary

Dated: 13 FEB 2023

Demonetisation, inter alia, led to detection of black money, increase in tax collection and widening of tax base. This was stated by Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Giving more information, the Minister stated that the outcome is indicated below:

1) During the period November 2016 to March 2017, the Income-tax Department conducted search and seizure actions in 900 groups leading to seizure of ₹900 crore, including cash of ₹636 crore and admission of undisclosed income of about ₹7,961 crore.

2) Growth rate of 18% for F.Y. 2017-18 in net direct tax collections over F.Y. 2016-17, which was highest in the preceding seven financial years, indicated the positive impact of demonetisation on the level of tax compliance in the country.

3) In F.Y. 2017-18, Personal Income-tax (PIT) Advance Tax collections increased by 23.4% and PIT Self-Assessment Tax by 29.2% over those for F.Y. 2016-17, corroborating the premise that demonetisation and the subsequent use of bank deposit data by the Income-tax Department had a major impact on voluntary tax payments by the non-corporate / individual taxpayers.

4) A growth rate of 25% was achieved in the number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed with the Income-tax Department during F.Y. 2017-18. It was the highest rate achieved in the preceding five years.

5) During F.Y. 2017-18, the number of new ITR filers was about 1 crore 7 lakh as compared to 85.51 lakh during F.Y. 2016-17. In earlier years, the number of new filers was between 50 lakh and 66 lakh. There is, therefore, a clear upswing in the new tax filers during the F.Y. 2016-17 and F.Y. 2017-18, which can be attributed to higher level of compliance due to transfer of cash into the formal channels as a result of demonetisation.

6) A growth rate of 17.2% was achieved in the number of returns filed by corporate taxpayers during F.Y. 2017-18. It was more than 5 times the growth rate of 3% in F.Y. 2016-17 and 3.5% in F.Y. 2015-16.

Further, the Minister stated, demonetisation has helped the Government to unearth the unaccounted money, held by the offenders, which got disclosed during investigation of cases by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999.

Under PMLA, investigations have been taken up in 08 cases wherein 107 persons were found involved in any process of generation, acquisition and/or projection of unaccounted money. In these cases, proceeds of crime amounting to ₹191.68 crore have been attached / seized and 05 accused have been arrested. Further, 13 Prosecution Complaints (PCs) including 07 Supplementary PCs have been filed in these cases. Similarly, investigations in 10 cases against 19 persons have been initiated under provisions of FEMA wherein currency amounting to ₹2.99 crore have been seized. Further, 08 Show Cause Notices have been issued, out of which 05 have been adjudicated. During adjudication, penalty amounting to ₹1.61 crore were imposed. Further, seized currency amounting to ₹77.81 lakh has also been ordered to be confiscated during adjudication.

 

Ministry of Finance

Seizure of black money

Dated: 13 FEB 2023

The word ‘black money’ is not defined under the Income Tax Act, 1961, Customs Act, 1962, CGST Act, 2017, Central Excise Act, 1944 and erstwhile Chapter V of Finance Act, 2017 (related to Service Tax). This was stated by Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

As far as Income Tax Department (ITD) is concerned, the Minister stated, whenever any credible information of ‘direct-tax’ evasion comes to its notice, it takes suitable action(s), including the search & seizure operations, to bring to tax, undisclosed income. The details of assets seized during the search & seizure operations is provided in the ANNEXURE.

Further, the details of cash seizures made by the field formations of Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC), including Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), are provided in the ANNEXURE.

The details of actions taken by ED are included in ANNEXURE.

Giving out more information, the Minister stated that the Government enacted a comprehensive and a stringent new law, namely, the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (BMA, 2015) that has come into force w.e.f. 01.07.2015. The offence of willful attempt to evade tax, etc. in relation to undisclosed foreign income/assets is a Scheduled Offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), regarding which suitable action is taken by Directorate of Enforcement (ED) for identification of proceeds of crime generated, provisional attachments and filing of prosecution complaints in suitable cases.

The details of actions taken by ITD under BMA, 2015 are as under:

i) 648 disclosures involving undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs. 4,164 crore were made in the one-time three months compliance window, under BMA, 2015, which closed on 30^th September 2015. The amount collected by way of tax and penalty in such cases was about Rs. 2,476 crore.

ii) As on 30.11.2022, assessments under BMA, 2015 have been completed in 394 cases, raising tax demand of over Rs. 15,570 crore. Further, 125 prosecution complaints have been filed under the provisions of BMA, 2015. The State/UT-Wise details are not maintained separately.

The details of actions taken by ED in relation to cases involving violations related to BMA, 2015 are as under:

i) During investigation in 13 PMLA cases in relation to predicate offences involving violations related to BMA, 2015, proceeds of crime amounting to Rs. 42.57 crore has been attached/seized and 03 Prosecution complaints have been filed.

ii) Further, assets amounting to Rs. 93.07 crore has been seized under section 37A of FEMA in 05 cases.

The Minister stated that the Government of India has entered into Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements /Tax Information Exchange Agreements /Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters/SAARC Multilateral Agreement (“tax treaties”) with other countries which provide for exchange of information, which is foreseeably relevant for administration and enforcement of domestic laws concerning taxes. India has been proactively engaging with foreign governments, for exchange of information under these tax treaties.

The Minister further stated that FIU-India is a member of the Egmont Group, an international organisation for exchange of information and Co-operation amongst Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs). The group comprises 167 members as on date. As members to the Egmont Group, FIUs can exchange freely information on real time basis through a highly secured network - Egmont Secured Web (ESW) - on various matters as per their roles and functions. FIU-India has also entered into Memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with 48 countries to strengthen bilateral relationships with its foreign counterparts since 2008 upto 2022 for exchange of intelligence.

Giving more information, the Minister stated that there is no official estimation or methodology to define/measure the amount of black money in the country. However, the Government had commissioned a study, inter alia, on estimation of unaccounted income and wealth inside and outside the country, through National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM). The reports and a detailed Government’s response on them were forwarded to the Lok Sabha Secretariat for placing them before the Standing Committee on Finance. The Standing Committee on Finance, after due deliberations and taking necessary oral evidences, presented a preliminary report on the matter (i.e. 73^rd Report of Standing Committee on Finance) to Speaker of Lok Sabha on 28.03.2019 and this report has observed that “the unaccounted income and wealth inside and outside the country do not appear amenable to credible estimation in the context of India.”