Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry Of Law & Justice

Dated: 25 JUL 2020

ITAT allows exemption of Rs 220 cr to Tata Education & Development Trust

In a major relief for Tata Education and Development Trust, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) bench consisting of Justices PP Bhatt, President, ITAT , on 24^th July ruled in favour of the trust in their appeal against commissioner income tax (CIT) appeal order wherein a demand of more than Rs.220 crore was levied by the tax department .ITAT also stayed the matter of that demand without any minimum pay.

The case pertains to assessment years 2011-12 and 2012-13 on money spent by the Trust for creating an endowment fund at Cornell University, US, to provide scholarships to Indian students, and granting financial assistance to the Harvard Business School for constructing an executive building to be named Tata Hall. It donated ₹197.79 crore in 2011-12 and ₹25.37 crore in 2012-13.

The controversy began after the Public Account Committee (PAC) of the Lok Sabha in 2018 sought an enquiry in the matter as it believed that exemption granted by the direct tax body was in violation of the I-T Act.

Concluding the matter, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) on Friday stated that all other grounds of appeals will be “rendered, academic and infructuous”. "We have decided this issue in favour of the assessee and thus allowed this ground of appeal. We, therefore, uphold the plea of the assessee, and delete the resultant disallowance of claim of exemption,” it said.

The Appellate Tribunal also stated in its order that, “….this wholly avoidable litigation which does not only clog the serious litigation before the judicial forums but also diverts scarce resources of the philanthropic bodies, like the assessee before us, to the areas which do no good to the society at large.”  The Tribunal hoped that the admirable work being done by the Government of India, in pursuing such forward looking policies at the macro level, is not allowed to be overshadowed by the isolated situations like this, at the field level, which must be minimized by sensitising the authorities concerned. It observed, “ An effort should be made to create a taxpayer friendly atmosphere by adopting just and fair approach at every level of the tax administration.”

 The detailed ruling of Appellate Tribunal may be accessed by clicking on link

 

160th Income Tax day: A journey towards Nation Building

The 160th anniversary of Income Tax Day was observed by CBDT and all its field offices across India on July 24, 2020. In her message on Income Tax Day, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman appreciated the continuous efforts of the Department towards making the tax administration taxpayer-friendly, transparent and geared towards facilitating voluntary compliance . She recognized the paradigm shift in its role in recent years, from being just a revenue collecting organization to becoming a more citizen-centric organization. She cited various reform measures undertaken, including, inter alia, the introduction of a new, simpler tax regime, reduced corporate tax rates as also payment of tax at concessional rates for domestic manufacturing  companies, which will pave the way for an ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’, in line with the clarion call given by our Hon’ble PM. She also lauded the Department for being responsive to the needs of the taxpayers during this pandemic time by relaxing various compliance requirements and addressing the liquidity concerns of the taxpayers. She expressed confidence that not only would the Department continue to play a critical role in the growth of the nation, but will also strive to keep improving and set new standards of professionalism.

Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Sh. Anurag Thakur in his message appreciated the Department for its efforts in providing efficient taxpayer services, observing that processes, across the spectrum of departmental functioning, have been made easier to comply with. He noted with satisfaction the efforts made by the Department towards promoting e-governance and providing dispute resolution to reduce litigation by bringing in the Vivad Se Vishwas Act. He also appreciated the speed with which the Department responded to the challenges thrown up by the Covid-19 pandemic by relaxing procedural requirements and addressing liquidity concerns and lauded the departmental officers and officials for the help, at the individual as well as team levels, extended by them to those in distress during the pandemic. He hoped that the Department would continue to make taxation simpler while making the tax administration more responsive.

Dr, Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Finance Secretary, extended his best wishes to the Department.  While recognizing that a tax department has to navigate a delicate balance between enforcement and service, he appreciated the Department for having increasingly oriented itself towards becoming taxpayer-service centric without compromising its enforcement role by deploying non-intrusive tools of data-mining and data analytics. He also recognized the measures adopted by the Department for imparting transparency to its processes and eliminating scope for unwarranted use of discretionary powers as demonstrated by new initiatives like faceless assessment, improved form 26AS, pre-filled returns etc. He also hoped that the Department would keep up the momentum and continue to improve its taxpayer services in the coming months.

 Sh. P.C. Mody, Chairman, CBDT, while extending his wishes to the members of the Aaykar Parivar and their families, complimented them for not only rising to the challenges posed by the prevailing pandemic in the discharge of their official duties but also reaching out to those in need by constituting Covid response teams for providing medical care as well as psychological support. As the head of the Aaykar Parivar, he reiterated the commitment of the Department towards further improving the compliance experience for taxpayers and also making inclusiveness, fairness and transparency its guiding principles

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax (Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT

 

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Dated: 21 JUL 2020

CBIC & CBDT sign MoU to facilitate smoother bilateral exchange of data

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) today, for data exchange between the two organisations. The MoU was signed by Shri Pramod Chandra Mody, Chairman, CBDT, and Shri M. Ajit Kumar, Chairman, CBIC, in the presence of senior officers from both the organizations.

This MoU supersedes the MoU signed between CBDT and the erstwhile Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in the year 2015. Significant developments have taken place since the signing of earlier MoU in 2015 including introduction of GST, incorporation of GSTN and change in the nomenclature of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). Changed circumstances, including advancements in technology, are duly incorporated in the MoU signed today.

This MoU will facilitate the sharing of data and information between CBDT and CBIC on an automatic and regular basis. In addition to regular exchange of data, CBDT and CBIC will also exchange with each other, on request and spontaneous basis, any information available in their respective databases which may have utility for the other organisation.

The MoU comes into force from the date it was signed and is an ongoing initiative of CBDT and CBIC, who are already collaborating through various existing mechanisms. A Data Exchange Steering Group has also been constituted for the initiative, which will meet periodically to review the data exchange status and take steps to further improve the effectiveness of the data sharing mechanism.

The MoU marks the beginning of a new era of cooperation and synergy between the CBDT and CBIC.

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RM/KMN

 

Government of India

Department of Revenue

Ministry of Finance

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 17th July, 2020

PRESS RELEASE

CBDT has refunded Rs. 71,229 crore so far to help taxpayers during Covid days

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued refunds worth Rs 71,229 crore in more than 21.24 lakh cases upto 11th July, 2020, to help taxpayers with liquidity in Covid-19 pandemic days, since the Government’s decision of 8th April, 2020 to issue pending income tax refunds at the earliest.

Income tax refunds amounting to Rs. 24,603 crore have been issued in 19.79 lakh cases to taxpayers and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs. 46,626 crore in 1.45 lakh cases have been issued to taxpayers during Covid days.

It is stated that the government has laid great emphasis on providing tax related services to the taxpayers without any hassles and is aware that during these difficult times of Covid-19 pandemic, many of the taxpayers are waiting to see that their tax demands and refunds reach finality as quickly as possible.

It is further emphasized that all the refund related cleaning up of the tax demands are being taken up on priority and is likely to be completed by 31st August, 2020. Also, all applications for rectifications and for giving effect to appeal orders are to be uploaded on the ITBA. It has been decided to do all the work of rectification and appeal effect on ITBA only.

It is reiterated that taxpayers, for quick processing of their refunds, should provide immediate response to the emails of I-T Department. A quick response from the taxpayer in this regard would facilitate the I-T Department to process their refunds expeditiously. Many taxpayers have submitted their responses electronically for rectification, appeal effects or tax credits. These are being attended to in a time bound manner. All refunds have been issued online and directly into the bank accounts of the taxpayers.

(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, 18th July, 2020

PRESS RELEASE

New Form 26AS is the Faceless hand-holding of the Taxpayers

The new Form 26AS is the faceless hand-holding of the taxpayers to e-file their income tax returns quickly and correctly. From this Assessment Year, taxpayers will see an improved Form 26AS which would carry some additional details on taxpayers’ financial transactions as specified in the Statement of Financial Transactions (SFTs) in various categories.

It is stated that the information being received by the Income Tax Department from the filers of these specified SFTs is now being shown in Part E of Form 26AS to facilitate voluntary compliance, tax accountability and ease of e-filing of returns so that the same can be used by the taxpayer to file her or his income tax return (ITR) by calculating the correct tax liability in a feel-good environment. This would also bring in further transparency and accountability in the tax administration.

The earlier Form 26AS used to give information regarding tax deducted at source and tax collected at source relating to a PAN, besides certain additional information including details of other taxes paid, refunds and TDS defaults. But now, it will have SFTs to help the taxpayers recall all their major financial transactions so that they have a ready reckoner to enable them while filing the ITR.

It is further explained that the Department used to receive information like cash deposit/withdrawal from saving bank accounts, sale/purchase of immovable property, time deposits, credit card payments, purchase of shares, debentures, foreign currency, mutual funds, buy back of shares, cash payment for goods and services, etc. under Section 285BA of Income-tax Act, 1961 from “specified persons" like banks, mutual funds, institutions issuing bonds and registrars or sub-registrars etc., with regard to individuals having high-value financial transactions since the Financial Year 2016 onwards. Now, all such information under different SFTs will be shown in the new Form 26AS.

It is stated that the Form 26AS for any taxpayer, from now onwards, will display in part E of the Form, different fields such as, type of transaction, name of SFT filer, date of transaction, single/joint party transaction, number of parties, amount, mode of payment and remarks etc.

Furthermore, this would help the honest taxpayers with updated financial transactions while filing their returns, whereas it will desist those taxpayers who inadvertently conceal financial transactions in their returns. The new Form 26AS would also have information of transactions which used to be received up to Financial Year 2015-16 in the Annual Information Returns (AIR).

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT