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

 

Ministry of Finance

CBDT to start e-campaign on Voluntary Compliance of Income Tax for FY 2018-19 from 20th July, 2020

Dated: 18 JUL 2020

The Income Tax Department is all set to start an e-campaign on voluntary compliance of Income Tax for the convenience of taxpayers from Monday, the 20th of July, 2020. The 11 days campaign ending on 31st July, 2020 focuses on the assessees/taxpayers who are either non-filers or have discrepancies/deficiency in their returns for the FY 2018-19.

The objective of the e-campaign is to facilitate taxpayers to validate online their tax/financial transaction information available with the I-T Department, especially for the assessees for FY 2018-19 and promote voluntary compliance, so that they do not get into notice and scrutiny process etc.

This e-campaign is being run for the benefit of the taxpayers. Under this e-campaign the Income Tax Department will send email/sms to identified taxpayers to verify their financial transactions related information received by the I-T Department from various sources such as Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT), Tax Deduction at Source (TDS), Tax Collection at Source (TCS), Foreign Remittances (Form 15CC) etc. The Department, has also collected information related to GST, exports, imports and transactions in securities, derivatives, commodities, mutual funds, etc., under information triangulation set up and data analytics.

It is stated that data analysis has identified certain taxpayers with high value transactions who have not filed returns for AY 2019-20 (relevant to FY 2018-19). In addition to the non-filers, another set of return filers have also been identified wherein the high value transactions do not appear to be in line with their Income Tax Return.

Under the e-campaign, the taxpayers will be able to access details of their high value transaction related information on the designated portal. They will also be able to submit online response by selecting among any of these options: (i) Information is correct, (ii) Information is not fully correct, (iii) Information related to other person/year, (iv) Information is duplicate/included in other displayed information, and (v) Information is denied. There would be no need to visit any Income Tax office, as the response has to be submitted online.

It may be noted that the last date for filing as well as revising the Income Tax Return for Assessment Year 2019-20 (relevant to FY 2018-19) is 31st July 2020. Taxpayers are requested to avail the opportunity to participate in the e-campaign for their own ease and benefit.

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RM/KMN
(Release ID: 1639664) 

 

Click here to read and download Notification No. 47/2020/F. No. 300196/13/2019-ITA-I

 

Government of India

Department of Revenue

Ministry of Finance

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 12th July, 2020

PRESS RELEASE

CBDT provides Utility to ascertain TDS applicability rates on cash withdrawals

The Income Tax Department has facilitated a new functionality for Banks and Post offices through which they can ascertain the TDS applicability rates on cash withdrawal of above Rs.20 lakh in case of a non-filer of Income Tax Return (ITR) and that of above Rs. 1 crore in case of a filer of the ITR. So far, more than 53,000 verification requests have been executed successfully on this facility.

This functionality has been available as “Verification of applicability u/s 194N” on www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in since 1st July, 2020 and has also been made available to the Banks through web-services, so that the entire process can be automated and be linked to the Bank’s internal core banking solution.

It is stated that now the Bank/Post Office has to only enter the PAN of the person who is withdrawing cash for ascertaining the applicable rate of TDS. On entering PAN, a message will be instantly displayed on the departmental utility: “TDS is deductible at the rate of 2% if cash withdrawal exceeds Rs. 1 crore” [if the person withdrawing cash is a filer of ITR] and “TDS is deductible at the rate 2% if cash withdrawal exceeds Rs. 20 lakh and at the rate of 5% if it exceeds Rs. 1 crore” [if the person withdrawing cash is a non-filer of ITR].

It is further stated that the data on cash withdrawal indicated that huge amount of cash is being withdrawn by the persons who have never filed Income Tax Returns. To ensure filing of return by these persons and to keep track on cash withdrawals by the non-filers, and to curb black money, the Finance Act, 2020 w.e.f. 1st July, 2020 further amended Income-tax Act, 1961 to lower the threshold of cash withdrawal to Rs. 20 lakh for the applicability of this TDS for non-filers and also mandated TDS at a higher rate of 5% on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs. 1 crore by the non-filers.

It may be noted, that, in order to discourage cash transactions and move towards less-cash economy, the Finance (No.2) Act, 2019 had inserted section 194N in the Income-tax Act, 1961 w.e.f. 1st September, 2019 to provide for levy of TDS @ 2% on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs. 1 crore from a Bank/Post Office account/s subject to certain exceptions.

(Surabhi Ahluwalia)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT