The CBDT today extended the deadline for the PAN-Aadhaar linking to June 30.
The policy-making body of the tax department issued an order extending the deadline from the current last date of March 31.
The order said the deadline for PAN-Aadhaar linking for filing I-T returns is being extended after “consideration of the matter”.
It is understood that the latest order by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come in the backdrop of the Supreme Court, earlier this month, directing extension of the March 31 deadline for linking Aadhaar with various other services.
The apex court ordered for the extension in the deadline till the five-judge constitution bench delivers its judgment on petitions challenging the validity of the biometric scheme and the enabling law.
This is a fourth extension given by the government for individuals to link their Permanent Account Number (PAN) with their biometric ID (Aadhaar).
The government has now made quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns (ITRs) as well as obtaining a new PAN.
Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.
As per updated data till March 5, over 16.65 crore PANs, out of the total about 33 crore, have been linked with Aadhaar.
The earlier deadlines for linking the two databases were July 31, August 31 and December 31, 2017, with the last being March 31 this year.
Blockchain has the potential and can be implemented across diverse sectors such as banking, education, and health.
The use of the internet has undergone rapid evolution in a matter of a few decades.
In the 1990s, the internet was described as “a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents” or simply put, ‘The Internet of Information’ which was primarily used to access data resources and services administered on the web browsers.
Back then, no one would have thought how it would fundamentally change our daily lives in the future. It has rapidly evolved from a platform to gather information to a space where we can shop, bank and communicate. The digital revolution has made the world realise the value of the internet and its implementations.
So, today we are gradually moving towards what Canadian strategist Don Tapscott calls ‘The Internet of Value’; that is the fountainhead of digital assets. Blockchain, which allows us to enable the exchange of any asset across the globe in real-time, ranging from stocks and bonds to music and art, is the next inevitable step in the global progress towards ‘The Internet of Value’.
Various applications of the internet have been made possible which are efficient like peer-to-peer money transfer, because internet reduces the transactional and communication cost to a bare minimum. This is the same force driving the new platforms that have emerged to deliver goods and services at levels of efficiency previously unimaginable, and blockchain is leading the revolution in redefining the new-age internet.
Like a traditional ledger, blockchain is essentially a record of transactions. These transactions can be any movement of money, goods or secure data — for example, a purchase at a supermarket, or the assignment of an Aadhar number. It works in three basic steps. First, it gathers data that the user has provided in forms of smart contracts, transactions IDs. Second, it orders the received data into blocks and finally chains them together securely using cryptography making it decentralised and accessible via any computer/mobile device across the network.
Now the question here is why do we need it? What is it that will change the way groceries are bought, stocks are purchased, money is transferred, bills are paid, and land deeds are made? The answer possibly can be the demand for trust and security emerging from both people and enterprises alike. Blockchain best serves these purposes as the trust factor is native to the medium. For example, if you are transferring money online to your friend, then your medium becomes the internet and to secure your transfer, a clever programming code is written. The same concept is applied by blockchain, but the security is made more secure by cryptography.
Blockchain has the potential and can be implemented across diverse sectors such as banking, education, and health. For instance, we keep our savings, assets and cash with banks because they are trustworthy and secure. However, their data is centralised, making them quite prone to cybercriminals that can bring the entire banking system to a halt. Now consider a person working abroad who wants to send a remittance to his family back home but has to encounter multiple clearances before his family receives it. With blockchain technology, the concept of crypto currency comes into picture, thus resulting in an open-access registry of monetary flows which makes the intermediation of financial institutions unnecessary and even costs less.
Second, in the field of healthcare, while big data analytics and artificial intelligence are simplifying healthcare delivery by smartly diagnosing the diseases from the patterns of numerous plugged-in electrocardiograms, blockchain is turning out to be a perfect platform for recording the medical attention of a patient and identifying a trend from the data recorded. Consider health card: A database which can be perceived as your health identity as it carries your entire medical history. Such technologies can find effective application in reducing information asymmetries within the healthcare and insurance markets by providing the most accurate data on patients.
Finally, blockchain can reorient the education system by delivering academic transparency. It can build an e-portfolio of academic credentials which has your test scores since the day you entered school. Paying for school fee in crypto currency — which is decentralised — from anywhere around the world on a secured network is commendable. Hence, this multi-trillion-dollar industry of education is indeed revolutionising.
Also, if implemented in government operations, blockchain will help break down barriers built from bureaucracy and corruption by providing a means to bypass existing power structures. It could be used to transform the way charities are created and regulated. By implementing a transparent system of transactions that include deposits of cash, transfers of donation and expenses spending will bring about a paradigm shift on how rules are enforced for these organisations.
Moreover, this technology has the competence to revamp the present system by automating manual processes, eradicating frauds and controlling the issues for authorisation. Its implementation across diverse sectors can be a solution to the most foundational problems of mankind. Hence, blockchain could be the perfect platform to transform a knowledge-driven economy into a digital-inclusive society.
Aadhaar has now been made mandatory for so many things, including availing the benefits of various social and government schemes.
If you thought that filing an income tax return or opening a bank account are the only few things which require Aadhaar cards now, then think again. The fact is Aadhaar has now been made mandatory for so many things, including availing the benefits of various social and government schemes. While for some schemes it has already been made compulsory, for some others it will be made mandatory soon. Here we are taking a look at 10 such things:
Income Tax Return: If you have an Aadhaar card, then you are required to link your Aadhaar number to your PAN card for filing your income tax return. Although the deadline for linking one’s Aadhaar number has now been extended to December 31, 2017, however your income tax returns will not be processed by the Income Tax Department unless you link your Aadhaar number to your PAN card. Having an Aadhaar card also makes e-verification of income tax return quick and easy.
Opening of Bank Account: Possessing an Aadhaar card has now been made mandatory for opening a bank account. You are also required to link your Aadhaar number to your existing bank account. The government has laid a deadline of 31st December 2017 for this activity. Also, it is pretty easy to open a bank account using the Aadhaar card. Since the Aadhar card can be used as a proof of identity as well as a proof of address, it reduces the number of documents that are required for opening a bank account.
Banking transactions of Rs 50,000 or above: It is now necessary to submit your Aadhaar number in banking transactions of Rs 50,000 or above. As per a gazette notification of the Ministry of Finance, dated 1st June 2017, Aadhaar will now be sought for all transactions for an amount Rs 50,000 or above.
Mutual Fund Accounts: It has also been made mandatory to link one’s Aadhaar number to one’s mutual fund account, if one invests in mutual funds. The government has set the deadline of December 31, 2017, for doing this. If one fails to do this by this time, then one’s MF account will become inactive.
Digital Locker: The government has introduced an online locker system to store personal documents on the government server. An account in DigiLocker can now be opened only if a person has an Aadhaar card.
Student Scholarship: In order to receive government scholarship, students have to link their Aadhaar number to their bank accounts.
Provident Fund: One can apply for the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal online only if the Aadhaar number is linked with one’s EPF account.
Monthly Pension: Just like EPF, it is mandatory to quote one’s Aadhaar number to receive pension. This rule has been levied to make sure that there are no fraudulent pensions given out. However, this rule is state-specific.
E-KYC for mobile number: The Telecom Ministry has issued an order to the telecom companies to e-verify every user’s phone number using their Aadhaar card.
Gas subsidy: Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labh (PAHAL) scheme, also know as Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL), involves linking of one’s Aadhaar number to the gas connection in order to receive a subsidy on LPG directly to one’s bank account.
Tax payers who were supposed to file their income tax returns by September 30 now have some more time on their hands. The government has extended the deadline to file income tax returns for such tax payers until October 31.
“The ‘due-date’ for filing Income Tax Returns and various reports of audit prescribed under the Income-tax Act,1961 has been extended from 30th September, 2017 to 31st October, 2017 for all taxpayers who were liable to file their Income Tax Returns by 30th September, 2017,” Ministry of Finance said.
This time tax payers will have to quote their 12-digit Aadhaar number or the 28-digit Aadhaar enrolment number while filing the income tax return.
You will have to keep the Form 16, which you got from their employer handy. If you don’t have it, get it asap. Download the Form 26AS from the Income Tax e-filing website. Form 26AS is a consolidated tax statement which states tax credit statement of all taxes received by the Income Tax Department against your PAN number. You will need it to tally with your Form 16.
Availability of the detail of bank accounts in which the refund is to be credited is a precondition for direct credit of refund in bank accounts. Refund generated on processing of return of income is currently credited directly to the bank accounts of the tax-payers. Non-residents, who are claiming refund but do not have bank accounts in India may furnish details of one foreign accounts in ITR for issuance of refund.
Bank accounts details
A tax payer is also required to disclose his/her bank account number along with the IFSC code. However, dormant accounts which have been in use for the past three years or more need not to be mentioned.
Due-date for filing Income Tax Returns & various reports of audit prescribed under the IT Act,1961 has been extended to October 31, 2017.
According to the Income Tax Department now, tax payers have to disclose information of cash deposited in their bank account aggregating to Rs 2 lakh from November 11 to 30 December, 2016.
Ensure that ITR is compliant with amount deposited in bank accounts during the period of demonetisation
Besides that, if any assessee has any unexplained income or investments, he has to report such unexplained income in the new ITR forms and such amount will be taxable at the tax rate of 60 percent plus surcharge and cess.
Tax deductions
If you are claiming tax deductions under 80C, you should keep the following details handy:
Investment details (eg: LIC, PPF, NSC)
Home loan
LTA
Medical
Consequences of Late filing of Return
According to ClearTax, if there are any taxes which are unpaid, penal interest at 1 per cent per month or part thereof will be charged till the date of payment of taxes .Also Penalty of Rs 5,000 may be charged. The penalty is not levied in all cases and depends upon the circumstances of the case.
For returns of FY 2017-18 and onwards, penalty of Rs 5,000 will be charged for returns filed after due date but before 31st December. If returns are filed after 31st December, a penalty of Rs 10,000 shall apply. However, penalty will be Rs 1,000 for those with income upto Rs 5 lakh.
Who has to file?
Every person whose gross total income exceeds the taxable limit must file an Income Tax Return (ITR)
Who has to file?
Every person whose gross total income exceeds the taxable limit must file an Income Tax Return (ITR)
Who has to e-file?
Individuals & HUF having total income exceeding Rs 5 lakh or claiming any refund in the return (excluding individuals of the age of 80 years or more who are furnishing return in Form no. ITR-1 or ITR-2).
Individual or HUF, being a resident other than not ordinarily resident, having any foreign asset/income or claiming any foreign tax relief.
The government on Thursday extended by four months the deadline for linking PAN with biometric identifier Aadhaar till December 31.
The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar for taxpayers was to end on Thursday.
This comes at a time when the government has granted a similar extension for furnishing of Aadhaar for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes.
“To facilitate ease of compliance by the taxpayers, CBDT has extended the date (for) … linking Aadhaar with PAN till December 31, 2017,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
Also, the ‘due-date’ for filing income tax returns and audit reports has been extended by a month to October 31 for all taxpayers who were liable to file their returns by September 30, 2017.
The Supreme Court is hearing petitions challenging the government’s decision on Aadhaar and has posted the matter for next hearing in November.
“Hence, the extension of date for PAN-Aadhaar linking was in line,” a source said.
Section 139 AA (2) of the income tax Act says every person having PAN as on July 1, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.
However, those categorised as non-resident Indians according to the Income Tax laws, people who are not citizens of India, those above 80 years of age and residents of the states of Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir had been exempt from the requirement.
The source further said that people who do not have Aadhaar can file their income tax returns, but their returns will not be processed till they submit their Aadhaar number.
The tax department had on July 31 stated that “unless a finding is made that Aadhaar is constitutionally not valid, tax return filers will need to link their PAN with Aadhaar by August 31”.
Incidentally, December 31 is also the deadline for people to link their bank accounts with Aadhaar.
Tax filers, however, were allowed to file their annual income returns by August 5 without linking their Aadhaar with PAN.
They were to just quote Aadhaar or the acknowledgement number issued after having applied for the ID.
It had further stated that “income-tax returns filed will not be processed should tax filers fail to link Aadhaar and PAN on or before August 31.”
The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar previously was July 31 but was extended to August 31. Now this has been further extended till December 31.
Enforcement action by the income tax department will be reserved for cases where specific tip-offs regarding large-scale tax evasions have been received
The income tax department will maintain the number of income tax returns (ITRs) chosen for scrutiny at the current level of less than 1% of all returns, in spite of a surge in individual tax filings to keep the process non-intrusive and taxpayer-friendly.
Gentle persuasion through text messages, emails and advertisements will remain the department’s main ways of interacting with taxpayers, while enforcement action will be reserved for cases where specific tip-offs regarding large-scale evasions have been received.
Out of the 52.8 million income-tax returns filed for the 2015-16 fiscal year, only about 300,000 cases, or around 0.6%, were scrutinized, a person privy to the deliberations within the tax department said on condition of anonymity.
“Even when the number of our assessees grow, scrutiny will be limited to this level—250,000-400,000 cases. It will always be less than 1% of returns received. We are absolutely non-intrusive to almost everyone. Even in most of the cases scrutinized, we do not hold searches or surveys,” the person cited above said, adding that the income-tax department vests its faith in taxpayers.
Searches conducted by the tax authorities—about 600 such cases happen in a year—will also stay at this level in future. “Only when we get very, very specific information of tax evasion of a substantial amount, we take enforcement action,” said the person.
The department recently sent 17 million text messages to individuals urging them to file returns for fiscal 2017 before the due date of 5 August, said the official.
This has led to a 25% jump in personal income-tax return filings for fiscal year 2016-17 to 27.9 million before the due date compared to the same period in the previous year.
Going by past trends, this figure could rise to about 66 million returns by the end of March 2018. Returns for a particular fiscal year can be filed by the end of the next year, called the assessment year, with interest on tax dues if any.
Close to three-fifths of the 52.8 million returns the department received for 2015-16 had come in after the due date in August 2016.
“Engaging with people through electronic means is easy and is a better strategy to ensure compliance than scrutinizing more tax returns. It is important for taxpayers to meticulously keep a record of their financial matters to remain compliant,” said Rahul Garg, a partner at consulting firm PwC India.
The income-tax department is also processing refunds faster. It has started issuing refunds within 10 days to taxpayers who have met the 5 August deadline for filing returns.
Individuals who make large purchases, such as houses, or cars priced above Rs10 lakh, but do not file income-tax returns figure among those who receive gentle reminders to file their returns as the authority secures information about such transactions from other sources.
Linking the permanent account number (PAN) used in filing tax returns with Aadhaar, the 12-digit number issued by Unique Identification Authority of India that identifies individuals using biometrics, is also enabling officials to check if the investments and spending of income-tax assessees are in line with their known sources of income.
So far, 94 million PANs have been linked with Aadhaar numbers after the central government made quoting the unique identification number compulsory for the filing of income-tax returns from July onwards.
In a last minute decision, the government on Monday extended the deadline for filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs) and linking Aadhaar with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of taxpayers.
While ITRs can now be filed by August 5, the Aadhaar-PAN linking can be done till 31 August.
The government had made mandatory the linking of the two databases for filing ITRs from 1 July, this year.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a statement saying the dates have been extended on receipt of complaints from “some taxpayers” that they were unable to log on to the e-filing website of the Income Tax department.
There were also complaints that the assessees were unable to link Aadhaar with PAN because their names were mentioned differently in the database relating to the two documents, the CBDT, the policy making body of the IT department, said.
A senior tax department official said the decision was taken after a meeting of senior officers of the revenue department and CBDT was held in the finance ministry today to “ease out the panic situation”.
“For the purpose of e-filing return, it would be sufficient as of now to quote Aadhaar or acknowledgement number for having applied for Aadhaar in the e-filing website.
“The actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done subsequently, but any time before August 31, 2017,” the CBDT said.
It, however, cautioned that the returns (ITRs) will not be processed “until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN is done.”
“In order to facilitate the e-filing of return, it is also decided to give extension of five days for e-filing of return. The return can be filed upto August 5,” it said.
The department, till Sunday, had maintained that no extension would be given as already over 2 crore returns have been received and no major glitches on the e-filing portal-http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/– had been detected.
“While technical snags have been removed already, the main reason for failure of people to log in (the efiling portal) is because of last minute rush and panic in which those who have already logged in want to continue for the entire period for fear of losing it,” it said.
The official twitter handle of the I-T department said the move to enhance the time limit for filing ITRs beyond today was made “in view of difficulties faced by taxpayers.”
The department, this time, has also asked taxpayers to declare cash deposits made in bank accounts aggregating Rs 2 lakh or more, post demonetisation between November 9-December 30 last year, in the ITRs.
The ITRs to be filed by 31 July pertain to 2016-17 fiscal or assessment year 2017-18.
The CBDT today extended the deadline for the PAN-Aadhaar linking to June 30.
