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Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
New Delhi, 10th September, 2021
PRESS RELEASE
CBDT issues clarification regarding carry forward of losses in case of change in shareholding due to strategic disinvestment
Finance Act, 2021 has amended section 72A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) to inter alia provide that in case of an amalgamation of a public sector company (PSU) which ceases to be a PSU (erstwhile public sector company), as part of strategic disinvestment, with one or more company or companies, then, subject to the conditions laid therein, the accumulated loss and the unabsorbed depreciation of the amalgamating company shall be deemed to be the loss, or as the case may be, allowance for unabsorbed depreciation of the amalgamated company for the previous year in which the amalgamation was effected.
In order to facilitate the strategic disinvestment, it has been decided that Section 79 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, shall not apply to an erstwhile public sector company which has become so as a result of strategic disinvestment. Accordingly, loss incurred in any previous year prior to, and including, the previous year of strategic disinvestment shall be carried forward and set off by the erstwhile public sector company. The above relaxation shall cease to apply from the previous year in which the company, that was the ultimate holding company of such erstwhile public sector company immediately after completion of the strategic disinvestment, ceases to hold, directly or through its subsidiary or subsidiaries, fifty-one per cent of the voting power of the erstwhile public sector company.
The term “erstwhile public sector company” and “strategic disinvestment” shall have the meaning in Explanation to clause (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 72A of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
Necessary legislative amendments for the above decision shall be proposed in due course of time.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Dated: 08 SEP 2021
e-Filing portal of the Income Tax Department - updates
The e-Filing portal of the Income Tax Department (www.incometax.gov.in) was launched on 7th June, 2021. Taxpayers and professionals have reported glitches and difficulties in the portal since then. The Ministry of Finance has been regularly monitoring the resolution of issues with Infosys Ltd which is the Managed Services Provider for the project.
A number of technical issues are being progressively addressed and there has been a positive trend reflected in the statistics of the various filings on the portal. Over 8.83 crore unique taxpayers have logged in till 7th September, 2021 with a daily average of over 15.55 lakh in September, 2021. The Income Tax Return (ITR) filing has increased to 3.2 lakh daily in September, 2021 and 1.19 crore ITRs for AY 2021-22 have been filed. Of these, over 76.2 lakh taxpayers have used the online utility of the portal to file the returns.
It is encouraging to note that over 94.88 lakh ITRs have also been e-verified, which is necessary for processing by the Centralized Processing Center. Of this, 7.07 lakh ITRs have been processed.
Taxpayers have been able to view over 8.74 lakh Notices issued by the Department under the Faceless Assessment/Appeal/Penalty proceedings, to which, over 2.61 lakh responses have been filed. An average of 8,285 Notices for e-proceedings are being issued and 5,889 responses are being filed in September, 2021 on a daily basis.
Over 10.60 lakh Statutory Forms have been submitted including 7.86 lakh TDS statements, 1.03 lakh Form 10A for registration of Trusts/institutions, 0.87 lakh Form 10E for arrears of salary, 0.10 lakh Form 35 for Appeal.
Aadhaar- PAN linking has been done by 66.44 lakh taxpayers and over 14.59 lakh e-PAN have been allotted. These two facilities are being availed of by over 0.50 lakh taxpayers on a daily basis in September, 2021.
It is reiterated that the Department is continuously engaged with Infosys to ensure a smooth filing experience to taxpayers.
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RM/KMN
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Dated: 07 SEP 2021
CBDT allows taxpayers an opportunity to file application for settlement
The Finance Act, 2021 has amended the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (“the Act”) to inter alia provide that the Income-tax Settlement Commission (“ITSC”) shall cease to operate with effect from 01.02.2021. Further, it has also been provided that no application for settlement can be filed on or after 01.02.2021, which was the date on which the Finance Bill, 2021 was laid before the Lok Sabha. In order to dispose off the pending settlement applications as on 31.01.2021, the Central Government has constituted Interim Board for Settlement (hereinafter referred to as the “Interim Board”), vide Notification no. 91 of 2021 dated 10.08.2021. The taxpayers, in the pending cases, have the option to withdraw their applications within the specified time and intimate the Assessing Officer about such withdrawal.
It has been represented that a number of taxpayers were in advanced stages of filing their application for settlement before the ITSC as on 01.02.2021. Further, some taxpayers have approached High Courts requesting that their applications for settlement may be accepted. In some cases, the Hon’ble High Courts have given interim relief and directed acceptance of applications of settlement even after 01.02.2021. This has resulted in uncertainty and protracted litigation.
In order to provide relief to the taxpayers who were eligible to file application as on 31.01.2021, but could not file the same due to cessation of ITSC vide Finance Act, 2021, it has been decided that applications for settlement can be filed by the taxpayers by 30th September, 2021 before the Interim Board if the following conditions are satisfied:-
i. The assessee was eligible to file application for settlement on 31.01.2021 for the assessment years for which the application is sought to be filed (relevant assessment years); and
ii. all the relevant assessment proceedings of the assessee are pending as on the date of filing the application for settlement.
Such applications, subject to their validity, shall be deemed to be “pending applications” under clause (eb) of section 245A of the Act and shall be disposed of by the Interim Board as per the provisions of the Act.
It is clarified that taxpayers who have filed such applications shall not have the option to withdraw such applications as per the provisions of section 245M of the Act. Further, the taxpayers who have already filed application for settlement on or after 01.02.2021 as per the direction of the various High Courts and who are otherwise eligible to file such application, as per para 3 above, on the date of filing of the said application shall not be required to file such application again.
Legislative amendments in this regard shall be proposed in due course.
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RM/KMN
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
07 SEP 2021
CBDT amends Income-tax Rules, 1962 to ease authentication of electronic records submitted in faceless assessment proceedings
For easing the process of authentication of electronic records in faceless assessment proceedings, the Government has amended Income-tax Rules, 1962 (‘the Rules’) vide notification no G.S.R. 616(E) dated 6th September, 2021. The amended Rules provides that electronic records submitted through registered account of the taxpayers in the Income-tax Department’s portal shall be deemed to have been authenticated by the taxpayer by electronic verification code (EVC). Therefore, where a person submits an electronic record by logging into his registered account in designated portal of the Income-tax Department, it shall be deemed that the electronic record has been authenticated by EVC for the purposes of section 144B(7)(i)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’).
However, under the existing provisions of section 144B(7)(i)(b) of the Act, this simplified process of authentication by EVC is not available to certain persons (such as companies, tax audit cases, etc.) and they are mandatorily required to authenticate the electronic records by digital signature. In order to provide the benefit of the simplified process of authentication by EVC to these persons, it has been decided to extend the simplified process of authentication by EVC to these persons also. Hence, the persons who are mandatorily required to authenticate electronic records by digital signature shall be deemed to have authenticated the electronic records when they submit the record through their registered account in the Income-tax Department’s portal. Legislative amendments in this regard shall be proposed in due course.
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RM/KMN
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
PRESS RELEASE
CBDT extends date under section 3 of the Vivad se Vishwas Act
Under The Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act 2020 (hereinafter referred to as “Vivad se Vishwas Act”), the amount payable by the declarant is stated in the table under section 3 of the Vivad se Vishwas Act.
As per the latest notification dated 25th June 2021, the last date of payment of the amount (without any additional amount) has been notified as 31st August 2021. Further the last date for payment of the amount (with additional amount) under Vivad se Vishwas Act has been notified as 31st October, 2021.
Considering the difficulties being faced in issuing and amending Form no 3, which is a prerequisite for making payment by the declarant under Vivad se Vishwas Act, it has been decided to extend the last date of payment of the amount (without any additional amount) to 30th September, 2021. Necessary notification to this effect shall be issued shortly.
It is, however, clarified that there is no proposal to change the last date for payment of the amount (with additional amount) under Vivad se Vishwas Act, which remains as 31stOctober, 2021.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT