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Government of India
Department of Revenue
Ministry of Finance
Central Board of Direct Taxes
New Delhi, 26th November, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
CBDT to validate Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) generated from ICAI portal at the time of upload of Tax Audit Reports
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, in its gazette notification dated 2 nd August, 2019, had made generation of UDIN from ICAI website www.icai.org mandatory for every kind of certificate/tax audit report and other attests made by their
members as required by various regulators. This was introduced to curb fake certifications by non-CAs misrepresenting themselves as Chartered Accountants.
In line with the ongoing initiatives of the Income Tax Department for integrating with other Government agencies and bodies, Income-tax e-filing portal has completed its integration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) portal for
validation of Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) generated from ICAI portal by the Chartered Accountants for documents certified/attested by them.
It may be noted that, in consonance with the above requirement, Income-tax e-filing portal had already factored mandatory quoting of UDIN with effect from 27 th April, 2020 for documents certified/attested in compliance with the Income-tax Act,1961 by a Chartered Accountant. With this system level integration, UDIN provided for the audit reports/certificates submitted by the Chartered Accountants in the e-filing portal shall be validated online with the ICAI. This will help in weeding out fake or incorrect Tax Audit Reports not duly authenticated with the ICAI.
If for any reason, a Chartered Accountant was not able to generate UDIN before submission of audit report/certificate, the Income-tax e-filing portal permits such submission, subject to the Chartered Accountant updating the UDIN generated for the
form within 15 calendar days from the date of form submission in the Income- tax e-filing portal. If the UDIN for the audit report/certificate is not updated within the 15 days provided for the same, such audit report/certificate uploaded shall be treated as invalid submission.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Government of India
Department of Revenue
Ministry of Finance
Central Board of Direct Taxes
Dated: 20th, November, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
Income Tax Department conducts searches at various locations in Uttar Pradesh
The Income Tax Department started a search and survey action on 18/11/2020 in the case of a leading cattle feed producer in Northern India. The search and survey actions are being carried out at 16 locations in Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Noida, Delhi and Ludhiana.
The main allegations against the group are that it has taken accommodation entries of more than Rs.100 crore in the form of non-genuine unsecured loans from certain Delhi-based shell companies; unusually high sundry creditors; suppression of net profit; and also that a related group chit fund company had received unsecured loans of several crore from unknown sources.
During the course of search action, it has been established that the shell companies from which loans had been taken exist only on paper and have no real business and creditworthiness. Directors of these shell companies are dummy, non-filers and individuals of no means. One of the Directors of these companies has been found to be a taxi driver, having 11 bank accounts, showing huge routing of funds. Therefore, it has been established that the accommodation entries of more than Rs.121 crore in the form of unsecured loans from these shell companies are bogus and actually represent the unaccounted income of the group.
It has been further gathered during the search that one of these shell companies is a chit subscriber in the group’s chit fund concern, which is a violation of the provisions of the Chit Funds Act, 1982.
Search has revealed huge unaccounted investment in the construction of the residences of the main persons of the group. The same is under verification and will be referred for valuation.
Till now gold and diamond jewellery to the tune of Rs. 52 lakh has been seized. The sources of acquisition of the remaining jewellery are being verified. The source of total cash found amounting to Rs. 1.30 crore is being further verified. A total of 7 lockers have been found, which are yet to be operated.
Further investigations are going on.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Ministry of Finance
Income Tax relief for Real-estate Developers and Home Buyers
Dated: 13 NOV 2020
As part of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Package 3.0 as announced by Hon’ble Finance Minister on 12th November, 2020, certain income tax relief measures were brought in for real-estate developers and home buyers.
Up to 2018, section 43CA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’) provided for deeming of the stamp duty value (circle rate) as sale consideration for transfer of real-estate inventory in the case the circle rate exceeded the declared consideration. Consequentially, stamp duty value was deemed as purchase consideration in case of buyer under section 56(2)(x) of the Act.
In order to provide relief to real estate developers and buyers, the Finance Act, 2018, provided a safe harbour of 5%. Accordingly, these deeming provisions triggered only where the difference between the sale/purchase consideration and the circle rate was more than 5%. In order to provide further relief in this matter, Finance Act, 2020 increased this safe harbour from 5% to 10%. Therefore, currently, the circle rate is deemed to be the sale/purchase consideration for real estate developers and buyers only where the variation between the agreement value and the circle rate is more than 10%.
In order to boost demand in the real-estate sector and to enable the real-estate developers to liquidate their unsold inventory at a rate substantially lower than the circle rate and giving benefit to the home buyers, it has been decided to further increase the safe harbour from 10% to 20% under section 43CA of the Act for the period from 12th November, 2020 to 30th June, 2021 in respect of only primary sale of residential units of value up to Rs. 2 crore. Consequential relief by increasing the safe harbour from 10% to 20% shall also be allowed to buyers of these residential units under section 56(2)(x) of the Act for the said period. Therefore, for these transactions, circle rate shall be deemed as sale/purchase consideration only if the variation between the agreement value and the circle rate is more than 20%.
Legislative amendments in this regard shall be proposed in due course.
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RM/KMN
(Release ID: 1672636)
Ministry of Finance
Income Tax Department conducts searches in Tamil Nadu
Dated: 12 NOV 2020
The Income Tax Department conducted searches on 10/11/2020 in the case of a leading wholesale bullion and Gold Jewellery dealer doing business from Chennai. The search operation was carried out at 32 premises located in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Salem, Trichy, Madurai and Tirunelveli.
The evidence unearthed include unaccounted stock maintained by the assessee at various places. Around 814 kg of excess stock valued at around Rs. 400 crore was identified and would be brought to tax. Since it is a business stock, the same could not be seized as Income-tax Act, 1961 restrains seizure of business stock. The data from the system maintained by the group shows a net income of Rs.102 crore outside books for the financial year 2018-19 alone. The data for financial years 2019-20, 2020-2021 available in the system is being culled out using forensic tools. Similarly, the excess stock of 50 kg found in the business premises of related concerns was not seized, but identified for quantification of unaccounted income.
The group has been maintaining a custom made package called Jpac to cleverly conceal the true facts of the business. The goods were transported by raising bills/invoices as rough estimation, which would be destroyed on delivery of goods. The data so obtained will be used to unearth the unaccounted transactions of other parties based on the data extracted. Forensic experts using specialised tools are culling out more data to reach a final quantification of unaccounted income.
The searches, so far, have resulted in the detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs. 500 crore. In fact, the assessee has made voluntary disclosure of Rs. 150 crore out of the undisclosed income detected so far. Investigation into the non-business investments of the group and use of accommodation entries to reduce profits is also in progress.
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RM/KMN
(Release ID: 1672235)
Ministry of Finance
Finance Minister announces measures on AatmaNirbhar Bharat 3.0
A new Scheme “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana” launched
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs, businesses, MUDRA borrowers and individuals extended till March 31, 2021 and additional credit up to 20%
Production Linked Incentive worth ₹ 1.46 Lakh crore offered to 10 champion sectors
₹18,000 Crore Additional outlay for PM Awaas Yojana – Urban
Relaxationof Earnest Deposit Money & Performance Security on Government Tenders
Increase in differential between circle rate and agreement value to 20% providing Income Tax relief for Developers & Home Buyers
₹6,000 crore equity investment in debt platform of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)
₹65,000 Crore for subsidized fertilizers provided to support agriculture
Additional outlay of ₹10,000 Crore has been provided for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana
₹3,000 crore boost to be given for project exports through assistance given by India to developing countries
₹10,200 crore additional budget stimulus will be provided for capital and industrial expenditure
₹900 crore is being provided for Research and Development of Indian COVID Vaccine
Dated: 12 NOV 2020
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has announced 12 key measures, as part of Government of India’s stimulus to the economy, under AatmaNirbhar Bharat 3.0. The net stimulus announced today amounts to ₹ 2.65 Lakh crore. While addressing the Press Conference here today , SmtSitharaman also informed that the total stimulus announced by the Government and Reserve Bank of India till date, to help the nation tide over the COVID-19 pandemic, works out to ₹ 29.87 lakh crore, which is 15% of national GDP. Out of this, stimulus worth 9% of GDP has been provided by the government.
The following are the 12 keyannouncements under AatmaNirbhar Bharat 3.0-
1) AatmaNirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana
A new scheme to incentivize job creation during COVID-19 recovery has been launched. If EPFO-registered establishments take in new employees without EPFO registration or those who lost jobs earlier, the Yojana will benefit these employees.
Beneficiaries / New Employees under the scheme would be:
Central Govt. will provide subsidy for two years in respect of new eligible employees engaged on or after 01.10.2020 at following scale:
The scheme will be effective from October 1, 2020 and operational till 30th June 2021. Certain other eligibility criteria would have to be met, and Central Government will provide subsidy for two years in respect of new eligible employees.
2)Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Schemefor MSMEs, businesses, MUDRA borrowers and individuals (loans for business purposes), has been extended till March 31, 2021.
A Credit guarantee support scheme ECLGS 2.0 is being launched for Healthcare sector and 26 stressed sectors with credit outstanding of above Rs. 50 crore and up to ₹ 500 Croreas on 29.2.2020stressed due to COVID-19, among other criteria. Entities will get additional credit up to 20% of outstanding credit with a tenor of five years, including 1 year moratorium on principal repayment. This scheme will be available till 31.3.2021.
3) Production Linked Incentive worth ₹ 1.46 Lakh Crore to 10 champion sectors.
10 more Champion Sectors will be covered under the Production Linked Incentives Scheme to help boost competitiveness of domestic manufacturing. This will give a big boost to economy, investment, exports and job creation. A total amount of nearly 1.5 Lakh Crore has been earmarked across sectors, for next five years. The ten sectors are - Advance Cell Chemistry Battery, Electronic/Technology Products, Automobiles & Auto Components, Pharmaceuticals Drugs, Telecom & Networking Products, Textile Products, Food Products, High Efficiency Solar PV Modules, White Goods (ACs & LED), and Specialty Steel.
4) ₹ 18,000 Crore Additional outlay of for PM Awaas Yojana - Urban
A sum of Rs 18000 cr is being provided for PMAY- Urban over and above Rs. 8000 Crore already allocated this year. This will help ground 12 Lakh houses and complete 18 Lakh houses, create additional 78 Lakh jobs and improve production and sale of steel and cement, resulting in multiplier effect on economy.
5) Support for Construction & Infrastructure – Relaxation of Earnest Deposit Money & Performance Security on Government Tenders
To provide ease of doing business and relief to contractors whose money otherwise remains locked up, performance security on contracts has been reduced from 5-10% to 3%.It will also extend to ongoing contracts and Public Sector Enterprises. EMDfor tenders will be replaced by Bid Security Declaration. The relaxations in the General Financial Rules will be in force till December 31, 2021.
6) Income Tax relief for Developers & Home Buyers
Differential between circle rate and agreement value in real estate income tax under Section 43 CA of IT Act has been increased from 10% to 20%. This is for primary sale of residential units up to ₹ 2 Crore (from date of announcement of this scheme, till June 30 2021).Consequential Relief up to 20% shall also be allowed to buyers of these units under section 56(2)(x) of IT Act for the said period.The Income Tax relief provides incentive to middle class to buy homes.
7) Platform for Infra Debt Financing
Government will make ₹6,000 Crore equity investment in debt platform of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), which will help NIIF provide a debt of ₹ 1.1 Lakh Crore for infrastructure projects by 2025.
8) Support for Agriculture: ₹65,000 Crore for subsidized fertilizers
As fertilizer consumption is going up significantly, ₹65,000 Crore is being provided to ensure increased supply of fertilizers to farmers to enable timely availability of fertilisers in the upcoming crop season.
9) Boost for Rural Employment:
Additional outlay of ₹10,000 Crore is being provided for PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana to provide rural employment. This will help accelerate rural economy.
10) Boost for Project Exports
₹3,000 Crore boost is being providedto EXIM Bank for promoting project exports under Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS Scheme). This will help EXIM Bank facilitate Lines of Credit development assistance activities and promote exports from India.
11) Capital and Industrial Stimulus
₹10,200 Crore additional budget stimulus is being provided for capital and industrial expenditure on domestic defence equipment, industrial infrastructure and green energy.
12) R&D grant for COVID Vaccine
₹900 Crore is being provided to Department of Biotechnology for Research and Development of Indian COVID Vaccine.
RM/KMN
(Release ID: 1672321)