Government of India

Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 25th June, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

Government grants further extension in timelines of compliances.

Also announces tax exemption for expenditure on Covid treatment and ex-gratia received on death due to Covid

A. Tax exemption

i. Many taxpayers have received financial help from their employers and well-wishers for meeting their expenses incurred for treatment of Covid-19. In order to ensure that no income tax liability arises on this account, it has been decided to provide income-tax exemption to the amount received by a taxpayer for medical treatment from employer or from any person for treatment of Covid-19 during FY 2019-20 and subsequent years.

ii. Unfortunately, certain taxpayers have lost their life due to Covid-19. Employers and well-wishers of such taxpayers had extended financial assistance to their family members so that they could cope with the difficulties arisen due to the sudden loss of the earning member of their family. In order to provide relief to the family members of such taxpayer, it has been decided to provide income-tax exemption to ex-gratia payment received by family members of a person from the employer of such person or from other person on the death of the person on account of Covid-19 during FY 2019-20 and subsequent years. The exemption shall be allowed without any limit for the amount received from the employer and the exemption shall be limited to Rs. 10 lakh in aggregate for the amount received from any other persons.

Necessary legislative amendments for the above decisions shall be proposed in due course of time.

B.  Extension of Timelines

    In view of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, taxpayers are facing inconvenience in meeting certain tax compliances and also in filing response to various notices. In order to ease the compliance burden of taxpayers during this difficult time, reliefs are being provided through Notifications nos. 74/2021 & 75/2021 dated 25^th June, 2021 Circular no. 12/2021 dated 25^th June, 2021. These reliefs are:

1) Objections to Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) and Assessing Officer under section 144C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) for which the last date of filing under that section is 1^st June, 2021 or thereafter, may be filed within the time provided in that section or by 31^st August, 2021, whichever is later.

2) The Statement of Deduction of Tax for the last quarter of the Financial Year 2020-21, required to be furnished on or before 31^st May, 2021 under Rule 31A of the Income-tax Rules,1962 (hereinafter referred to as “the Rules”), as extended to 30^th June, 2021 vide Circular No.9 of 2021, may be furnished on or before 15^th July, 2021.

3) The Certificate of Tax Deducted at Source in Form No.16, required to be furnished to the employee by 15^th June, 2021 under Rule 31 of the Rules, as extended to 15^th July, 2021 vide Circular No.9 of 2021, may be furnished on or before 31^st July, 2021.

4) The Statement of Income paid or credited by an investment fund to its unit holder in Form No. 64D for the Previous Year 2020-21, required to be furnished on or before 15^th June, 2021 under Rule 12CB of the Rules, as extended to 30^th June, 2021 vide Circular No.9 of 2021, may be furnished on or before 15^th July, 2021.

5) The Statement of Income paid or credited by an investment fund to its unit holder in Form No. 64C for the Previous Year 2020-21, required to be furnished on or before 30^th June, 2021 under Rule 12CB of the Rules, as extended to 15^th July, 2021 vide Circular No.9 of 2021, may be furnished on or before 31^st July, 2021.

6) The application under Section 10(23C), 12AB, 35(1)(ii)/(iia)/(iii) and 80G of the Act in Form No. 10A/ Form No.10AB, for registration/ provisional registration/ intimation/ approval/ provisional approval of Trusts/ Institutions/ Research Associations etc., required to be made on or before 30^th June, 2021, may be made on or before 31^st August, 2021.

7) The compliances to be made by the taxpayers such as investment, deposit, payment, acquisition, purchase, construction or such other action, by whatever name called, for the purpose of claiming any exemption under the provisions contained in Section 54 to 54GB of the Act, for which the last date of such compliance falls between 1^st April, 2021 to 29^th September, 2021 (both days inclusive), may be completed on or before 30^th September, 2021.

8) The Quarterly Statement in Form No. 15CC to be furnished by authorized dealer in respect of remittances made for the quarter ending on 30^th June, 2021, required to be furnished on or before 15^th July, 2021 under Rule 37 BB of the Rules, may be furnished on or before 31^st July, 2021.

9) The Equalization Levy Statement in Form No. 1 for the Financial Year 2020-21, which is required to be filed on or before 30^th June, 2021, may be furnished on or before 31^st July, 2021.

10) The Annual Statement required to be furnished under sub-section (5) of section 9A of the Act by the eligible investment fund in Form No. 3CEK for the Financial Year 2020-21, which is required to be filed on or before 29^th June, 2021, may be furnished on or before 31^st July, 2021.

11) Uploading of the declarations received from recipients in Form No. 15G/15H during the quarter ending 30^th June, 2021, which is required to be uploaded on or before 15^th July, 2021, may be uploaded by 31^st August,2021.

12) Exercising of option to withdraw pending application (filed before the erstwhile Income Tax Settlement Commission) under sub-section (1) of Section 245M of the Act in Form No. 34BB, which is required to be exercised on or before 27^th June, 2021, may be exercised on or before 31^st July, 2021.

13) Last date of linkage of Aadhaar with PAN under section 139AA of the Act, which was earlier extended to 30^th June, 2021 is further extended to 30^th September, 2021.

14) Last date of payment of amount under Vivad se Vishwas(without additional amount) which was earlier extended to 30^th June, 2021 is further extended to 31^st August, 2021.

15) Last date of payment of amount under Vivad se Vishwas (with additional amount) has been notified as 31^st October, 2021.

16) Time Limit for passing assessment order which was earlier extended to 30^th June, 2021 is further extended to 30^th September, 2021.

17) Time Limit for passing penalty order which was earlier extended to 30^th June, 2021 is further extended to 30^th September, 2021.

18) Time Limit for processing Equalisation Levy returns which was earlier extended to 30^th June, 2021 is further extended to 30^th September, 2021.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Click here to read and download HC Judgment

 

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 22nd June, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

Clarification for the use of functionality under section 206AB and 206CCA of the Income-tax Act, 1961

Finance Act, 2021 inserted two new sections 206AB and 206CCA in the Income-tax Act 1961 which takes effect from 1^st day of July, 2021. These sections mandate tax deduction or tax collection at higher rate in case of certain non-filers (specified persons). Higher rate is twice the prescribed rate or 5%, whichever is higher.

To implement these two provisions, tax deductor/collector was required to do a due diligence of satisfying himself if the deductee/collectee is a specified person. This would have resulted in extra compliance burden on such tax deductor/collector. To ease this compliance burden the Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued a new functionality "Compliance Check for Sections 206AB & 206CCA". This functionality is already functioning through reporting portal of the Income-tax Department (https://report.insight.gov.in).

The tax deductor/collector can feed the single PAN (PAN search) or multiple PANs (bulk search) of the deductee/ coIIectee and can get a response from the functionality if such deductee/collectee is a specified person. For PAN Search, response will be visible on the screen which can be downloaded in the PDF format. For Bulk Search, response would be in the form of downloadable file which can be kept for record.

The logic of the functionality has been explained through CBDT Circular No. 11 of 2021 dated 21st June, 2021 available at (https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/communications/circular/circular_11_2021.pdf). The Circular has further eased the burden of the tax deductors/collectors by ensuring that the deductors/collectors need to check the PAN in the functionality at the beginning of the financial year withoutthere being any need to check the PAN of the non-specified person again during that financial year.

With this new functionality, the Government has reiterated its commitment to ease the compliance burden of taxpayers.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

Dated: 22nd June, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

Finance Ministry interaction with tax professionals, other stakeholders and Infosys on issues in the new Income Tax Portal

A meeting was held between senior officials of the Finance Ministry and Infosys on 22.06.2021 on issues in the new Income Tax Portal. The meeting was presided over by Hon’ble FM, Smt. N. Sitharaman. MoS(Finance), Shri Anurag Singh Thakur also participated in the meeting. The interaction was attended by Shri Tarun Bajaj, Secretary Revenue, Shri J. B. Mohapatra, Chairman, CBDT, Smt. Anu J. Singh, Member(L & Systems), CBDT and other senior officers of CBDT. Infosys was represented by its MD & CEO, Shri Salil Parekh and COO, Shri Praveen Rao and other members of their team. The meeting was also attended by 10 tax professionals from across the country, including representatives of ICAI and All India Federation of Tax Practitioners (AIFTP).

The new efiling portal 2.0 of Income Tax Department (incometax.gov.in) went live on 07.06.2021. Since its launch, there were numerous glitches in the functioning of the new portal. Taking note of the grievances voiced on social media by taxpayers, tax professionals and other stakeholders, the Hon’ble Finance Minister had also flagged the issues to the vendor M/s Infosys, calling upon them to address these concerns. However, since the portal continued to be plagued by technical glitches causing inconvenience to taxpayers, it was decided to hold a meeting between Finance Ministry and Infosys as also other stakeholders on 22.06.2021. Suggestions in respect of the glitches on the portal were invited online by 18.06.2021. More than 700 emails detailing over 2000 issues including 90 unique issues/problems in the portal were received in response to the same.

During the meeting, the Hon’ble FM, emphasized that, enhanced taxpayer service is an important priority for the present Government and every effort should be made to amplify the same. While appreciating the role of ICAI and its President, Shri Jambusaria and the ICAI’s positive contribution in giving shape to today’s meeting, she complimented them for providing specific nuanced inputs lying between the intersection of technology and taxation. Hon’ble FM also expressed her gratitude to the people who sent inputs through email and assured them that their suggestions would be taken up in all earnestness and would be addressed on priority.

The Hon’ble Minister exhorted Infosys(service provider) to work on the tax portal to make it more humane and user-friendly. The FM expressed her deep concern on the various problems being faced by the stakeholders in the new portal which was expected to provide a seamless experience to taxpayers. The FM asked Infosys to address all issues without further loss of time, improve their services, redress grievances on priority as it was impacting taxpayers adversely. The Hon’ble FM concluded her remarks by appreciating the taxpayers who have kept up with the timelines of compliances despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The FM also hoped that the positive engagement between taxpayers, tax professionals and the Government would continue in future. She assured them that the Government is responsive to their problems and is proactively committed to enhance taxpayer service and experience.  

The team from Infosys, which was led by the CEO and COO of Infosys, took note of the issues highlighted by the stakeholders. They also noted the observations and suggestions received from various users and stakeholders through email. The Infosys team acknowledged the technical issues in the functioning of the portal and shared the status of the resolution w.r.t the issues highlighted by the stakeholders. They informed that Infosys has been working to fix the technical issues noticed in the functioning of the portal and that they have augmented the resources for execution of the project on the hardware as well as the application side and that some of the issues have already been identified and fixed. For the other remaining technical issues, they assured that their teams were working on these issues and gave the expected timelines within which the issues such as e-proceedings, Form 15CA/15CB, TDS statements, DSC, viewing of past ITRs etc. are expected to be resolved in about a week. It was also decided that the timelines mentioned by Infosys to redress the issues would also be placed in public domain in due course.

This interaction was followed by another detailed meeting between senior officers of the Department of Revenue and the Infosys team, covering technical issues in the new portal.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Ministry of Finance

Finance Ministry refutes news media reports of alleged black money held by Indians in Switzerland

Information sought from Swiss Authorities to verify increase/decrease of deposits

Dated: 19 JUN 2021

Certain reports have appeared in the media on 18.06.2021 stating that funds of Indians in Swiss Banks have risen to over Rs 20,700 crore (CHF 2.55 billion) at the end of 2020 from Rs 6,625 crore (CHF 899 million) at the end of 2019, reversing a 2 year declining trend. It has also been stated that this is also the highest figure of deposits in the last 13 years.

Media reports allude to the fact that the figures reported are official figures reported by banks to Swiss National Bank (SNB) and do not indicate the quantum of much debated alleged black money held by Indians in Switzerland. Further, these statistics do not include the money that Indians, NRIs or others might have in Swiss banks in the names of third–country entities.

However, the customer deposits have actually fallen from the end of 2019. The funds held through fiduciaries has also more than halved from end of 2019. The biggest increase is in “Other amounts due from customers”. These are in form of bonds, securities and various other financial instruments.

It is pertinent to point out that India and Switzerland are signatories to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC) and both countries have also signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) pursuant to which, the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) is activated between the two countries for sharing of financial account information annually for calendar year 2018 onwards.

Exchanges of Financial Account information in respect of residents of each country have taken place between both countries in 2019 as well as 2020. In view of the existing legal arrangement for exchange of information of financial accounts (which has a significant deterrent effect on tax evasion through undisclosed assets abroad), there does not appear to be any significant possibility of the increase of deposits in the Swiss banks which is out of undeclared incomes of Indian residents.

Further, the following factors could potentially explain the increase in deposits:

a. Increase in the deposits held by Indian companies in Switzerland owing to increased business transactions

b. Increase in deposits owing to the business of Swiss Bank branches located in India

c. Increase in Inter- bank transactions between Swiss and Indian Banks

d. A capital increase for a subsidiary of a Swiss Company in India and

e. Increase in the liabilities connected with the outstanding derivative financial instruments

The Swiss Authorities have been requested to provide the relevant facts along with their view on possible reasons for increase/decrease in the light of the media reports highlighted above.

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RM/MV/KMN
(Release ID: 1728429)