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Government of India
Department of Revenue
Ministry of Finance
Central Board of Direct Taxes
New Delhi, 27th October, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
Payment Date Extended for Vivad se Vishwas Scheme:Finance Secretary urges I-T Department to Reach Out to the Taxpayers.
In order to provide further relief to the taxpayers desirous of settling disputes under Vivad se Vishwas Scheme, the Government today further extended the date for making payment without additional amount from 31st December 2020 to 31st March 2021. The last date for making declaration under the Scheme has also been notified as 31st December 2020. As per the notification issued today, the declaration under the Vivad se Vishwas Scheme shall be required to be furnished latest by 31st December 2020, however, only in respect of said declarations made by 31st December 2020 the payment without additional amount can now be made up to 31st March 2021.
Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey today reviewed the progress made so far by the Income Tax Department on Vivad se Vishwas Schemein a high level meeting through video conferencing along with CBDT Chairman and Board members with all Principal Chief Commissioners of Income Tax across the country to expedite the Scheme which, he said, is highly beneficial to the taxpayers, adding further that “We need to advance the Vivad se Vishwas Scheme with greater persuasion and perseverance and must reach out to the taxpayers to facilitate all necessary handholding.”
In the meeting, suggestions and comments of the Field Officers were also discussed regarding the action plan for successful implementation of the Scheme in a time bound manner.
Finance Secretary Dr. Pandey said, “This is a scheme for the benefit and convenience of the taxpayers as they would get instant disposal of the dispute with no further cost of litigation besides monetary benefits in the form of waiver of penalty, interest and prosecution. With this Scheme, on the one hand, a taxpayer would be benefitted with stress-free time to put her/his efforts for more meaningful daily life/routine or expanding business activities while on the other, the government would be getting its due long pending revenue and also, savings on the huge cost on resources that these disputes consume.”
In the meeting, the Chairman CBDT, Sri P C Mody mentioned the importance of cleaning up of demand for facilitating and persuading the taxpayers for filing declarations under the Scheme. He emphasized on Pr. Chief Commissioners of Income Tax to carry out all possible actions such as disposing pending rectifications, giving pending appeal effects, removing duplicate demands, etc. so as to arrive at a final demand for each assessee so that whenever a taxpayer files Form 1 or 2 under the Vivad se Vishwas Scheme, the Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax concerned is in a position to issue Form 3 promptly.
It was also decided in the meeting to adopt a proactive approach for implementation of the Scheme by approaching taxpayers directly, guiding and facilitating them in filing of declarations and removing any difficulties or problems faced by them in availing the Scheme. It was further decided to have periodic review of the progress of the Scheme every fortnight.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020 was enacted on 17th March, 2020 with the objective to reduce pending income tax litigation, generate timely revenue for the Government and to benefit taxpayers by providing them peace of mind, certainty and savings on account of time and resources that would otherwise be spent on the long-drawn and vexatious litigation process. In order to provide more time to taxpayers to settle disputes, earlier the date for filing declaration and making payment without additional amount under Vivad se Vishwas was extended from 31st March 2020 to 30th June, 2020. Later again, this date was extended further to 31st December, 2020. Therefore, earlier both the declaration and the payment without additional amount under the Vivad se Vishwas were required to be made by 31st December, 2020.
(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
New Delhi, 24th October, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
Extension of due date of furnishing of Income Tax Returns and Audit Reports
In view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Government brought the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (‘the Ordinance’) on 31st March, 2020 which, inter alia, extended various time limits. The Ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.
2. The Government issued a Notification on 24th June, 2020 under the Ordinance which, inter alia, extended the due date for all Income Tax Returns for the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) to 30th November, 2020. Hence, the returns of income which were required to be filed by 31st July, 2020 and 31st October, 2020 are required to be filed by 30th November, 2020. Consequently, the date for furnishing various audit reports including tax audit report under the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) has also been extended to 31st October, 2020.
3. In order to provide more time to taxpayers for furnishing of Income Tax Returns, it has been decided to further extend the due date for furnishing of Income-Tax Returns as under:
(A) The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the taxpayers (including their partners) who are required to get their accounts audited [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the said notification) as per the Act is 31st October, 2020] has been extended to 31st January, 2021.
(B) The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the taxpayers who are required to furnish report in respect of international/specified domestic transactions [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the said notification) as per the Act is 30th November, 2020] has been extended to 31st January, 2021.
(C) The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the other taxpayers [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the said notification) as per the Act was 31st July, 2020] has been extended to 31st December, 2020.
4. Consequently, the date for furnishing of various audit reports under the Act including tax audit report and report in respect of international/specified domestic transaction has also been extended to 31st December, 2020.
5. Further, in order to provide relief to small and middle class taxpayers, the said notification dated 24th June, 2020 had also extended the due date for payment of self-assessment tax for the taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs. 1 lakh. Accordingly, the due date for payment of self-assessment tax for the taxpayers who are not required to get their accounts audited was extended from 31st July, 2020 to 30th November, 2020 and for the auditable cases, this due date was extended from 31st October, 2020 to 30th November, 2020.
6. In order to provide relief for the second time to small and middle class taxpayers in the matter of payment of self-assessment tax, the due date for payment of self-assessment tax date is hereby again being extended. Accordingly, the due date for payment of self-assessment tax for taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs. 1 lakh has been extended to 31st January, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(A) and para 3(B) and to 31st December, 2020 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(C).
7. The necessary notification in this regard shall be issued in due course.
(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
New Delhi, 21st October, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
Income Tax Department carries out searches in Bihar
The Income Tax Department carried out searches on 19.10.2020 in the cases of two Government contractors having premises in Purnea, Katihar and Saharasa and a silk trader in Bhagalpur in Bihar. The searches were based on intelligence gathered, which indicated that large scale unaccounted cash was being generated and used for various purposes.
The contractors were making bogus claims of labour, transportation and fuel expenses, which were found to be not supported by any document. Further, they have been found to be withdrawing money in cash from the bank accounts of fictitious parties. Incriminating documents including signed blank cheques have been seized during the searches. In some cases, the liabilities were shown to be continuing in the books of accounts for bogus expenses. They were also maintaining undisclosed bank accounts, in which unaccounted cash was being deposited which was used for making fixed deposits, which in turn were pledged to Government departments as security for getting contracts. Large cash withdrawals have also been noticed in these bank accounts. The assessees could not explain the purpose of these cash withdrawals. The transactions in the undisclosed bank accounts are being examined.
During the search, unaccounted cash, fixed deposits and bullion of more than Rs. 2.40 crore have been seized / restrained. In the case of the silk trader, unaccounted stock has also been detected. Evidences indicating suppression of income of about Rs. 10 crore, alongwith documents showing large unaccounted investments in immovable properties have been found and seized. These properties are in the process of being valued and attached.
Further investigations are in progress.
(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
New Delhi, 15th October, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
Income Tax Department carries out searches in Delhi, NCR and Haryana
The Income Tax Department has carried out a search and seizure action on 14.10.2020 in the case of a leading advocate practicing in the field of commercial arbitration and alternate dispute resolution. He was suspected to be receiving substantial amounts in cash from his clients, to settle their disputes. During the search 38 premises spread over Delhi, NCR and Haryana have been covered.
During the search, cash of Rs. 5.5 crore has been seized, while 10 lockers have been placed under restraint. Incriminating documents of unaccounted cash transactions and investments made by the assessee over several years have been found. Substantial digital data reflecting unaccounted transactions of the assessee and his associates, who are financers and builders, has also been recovered.
In one case, the assessee had received Rs. 117 crore from a client in cash, whereas he had shown only Rs. 21 crore in his records, which was received through cheque. In another case, he received more than Rs. 100 crore in cash from an infrastructure and engineering company for its arbitration proceedings with a public sector company.
The unaccounted cash received, has been invested by the assessee in purchase of residential and commercial properties and in taking over of trusts engaged in running of schools. Evidences recovered indicate investment of more than Rs. 100 crore in cash in several properties in posh areas in the last two years. The assessee and his associates have also purchased several schools and properties, for which also more than Rs. 100 crore was paid in cash. He has also taken accommodation entries worth several crores.
Further investigations are in progress.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Finance statement on misinterpretation of LTC stimulus and its benefits
Dated: 13 OCT 2020
A report has appeared in the Economic Times Markets (ETMarkets.com) which gives the impression that the LTC voucher scheme for Government employees may not be attractive. Unfortunately, the piece which it relies on has a serious factual error in its understanding of how Government LTC works. It is based on the erroneous assumption that leave travel money can be retained by paying income tax without travelling. The key assumption in the report claims:
"They would be better off paying taxes on the LTC amount availed instead."
The Government LTC is quite different from Leave Travel Allowance in the corporate sector. A person claiming LTC is not eligible unless he actually travels; if he fails to travel the amount is deducted from his pay and he may be liable for disciplinary action. He does not have the option of keeping the money and paying income tax. Under the government system, the employee had only two choices:
1)Travel and spend (and the incidentals like hotel, food,etc. are to be incurred by him) or
2) Forgo the entitlement if not claimed within the date. Now a third option of "spend on something other than travel" has been given. In the current Covid environment, travel carries serious perceived health risks.
The assumption in the report that employees would otherwise not pay GST when they purchase something from their money and are only incurring it because of the scheme is surprising. Everybody pays GST on their consumption unless they choose to buy without bills in black, a practice the Government obviously does not condone and which hopeful the ET does not want to encourage.
Incidentally, the entitlements under the scheme have been worked out at full cost (i.e. including the GST element in fares).
Surprisingly, the same piece relied on acknowledges that : "the central government employees are least impacted in terms of savings due to lockdown and no salary loss". It is precisely for this reason that they are in a position to boost their own spending on goods or services of their own choice, using the LTC money as effectively a steep discount to reduce the cost of whatever they choose to buy. Rhetorical questions based on erroneous factual assumptions on Government rules, based on corporate sector practices, do not enrich the debate.
RM/KMN
(Release ID: 1664165)