CBDT extends FY19 income tax return filing deadline till September 30 due to COVID-19

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The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday (July 29) extended the deadline for filing income tax returns for 2018-19 fiscal till September 30 due to corona virus COVID-19 pandemic.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday (July 29) extended the deadline for filing income tax returns for 2018-19 fiscal till September 30 due to coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

“In view of the constraints due to the Covid pandemic & to further ease compliances for taxpayers, CBDT extends the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns for FY 2018-19 (AY 2019-20) from 31st July, 2020 to 30th September, 2020,” the Income Tax Department said in a tweet.

It is to be noted that this is the third extension given by the Centre to taxpayers to file both original and revised tax returns for 2018-19 fiscal.

In March, the Centre had extended the due date from March 31 to June 30 due to corona virus COVID-19 pandemic. Later in June, the date was again extended by a month till July 31.

If an individual fails to file the belated ITR, if due, by the deadline (i.e., September 30, 2020), then he/she will not be able to file the income tax return for the financial year 2018-19.

The CBDT has said that an individual can also file a revised ITR for FY2018-19 within this deadline.

Read the CDBT Circular: CBDT Notification

SEBI extends deadline for filing April-June corporate financial results to September 15

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In a major relief to companies, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today extended the deadline for submission of financial results for the quarter, half-year, and financial year ended 30 June 2020 to September 15. The SEBI circular said that it has received representations requesting an extension of time for submission of financial results for the quarter or half year-ended 30 June 2020, due to the shortened time gap between the extended deadline for submission of financial results for the period-ended 31 March 2020 and the quarter or half year-ended June 30, 2020.

Under Regulation 33 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (‘LODR Regulations’), a listed entity is required to submit its quarterly, half-yearly, or annual financial results within 45 days or 60 days, as applicable, from the end of each quarter, half year, or financial year.

Accordingly, listed entities were required to submit the financial results for the quarter, half-year-ended 30 June 2020 on or before 14 August 2020.

Earlier, the regulatory body had also extended the timeline for submission of financial results by listed entities for the quarter, half-year, or financial year-ended 31 March 2020 to 31 July 2020, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

SEBI further said that today’s announcement shall come into force with immediate effect and advised all stock exchanges to bring the provisions of this circular to the notice of all listed entities.

It has asked the stock exchanges to bring the provisions of the circular to the notice of all listed entities and also disseminate on their websites.

Meanwhile, SEBI’s move to relax the deadlines is expected to give more time to companies already struggling with operations part amid the pandemic.

In-line with the efforts to provide relief to the sagging businesses, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier announced to decriminalise some offences under the Companies Act.

The SEBI has also introduced new norms to give more fund-raising flexibility to stressed firms.

The amendments can help promoters get financial investors on board without losing control of the company.

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

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 The Income Tax department’s data analysis has identified certain taxpayers with high value transactions who have not filed ITR for AY 2019-20 (i.e. 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.

The Board said that the objective of the e-campaign is to facilitate taxpayers to validate their financial transaction information against information available with the IT department and promote voluntary compliance, especially for the assesses for the FY 2018-19 so that they do not need to get into notice and scrutiny process.

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,” CBDT said.

It added that the department has collected information related to GST, exports, imports and transactions in securities, derivatives, commodities and mutual funds under information triangulation set up.

The campaign is scheduled for 11 days starting from July 20, 2020 and ending on July 31, 2020.

With the new e-campaign, the taxpayers will be able to access details of their high value transactions 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.

Also, department has clarified that there would be no need to visit any Income Tax office, as the response has to be submitted online.

This is a dual way move of the department, on one hand this will get more assessees under scrutiny and thus help in identifying defaulters. While on the other hand this will increase the speed of process and avoid unnecessary mental harassment of the assessees.

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.

Read the Press Release of CBDT

CBDT has refunded Rs. 71,229 crore so far to help taxpayers during COVID-19 pandemic

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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 during COVID-19 pandemic, 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-19.

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.

CBDT allows One Time Relaxation for Verification of Tax Returns

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-Through this one time relaxation scheme, ITR for FY 2014-15 to FY 2018-19 can be verified, on or before 30th September 2020.
– All such verified ITRs shall be processed on or before 31st December 2020.
– ITRs can be verified digitally through EVC or by sending duly signed a copy to CPC Bangalore.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday notified the one-time relaxation for verification of tax return for the Assessment Year 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, which are pending due to non-filing of ITR- V form and processing of such returns.

It has been brought to the notice of CBDT that a large number of electronically filed ITR still remains pending with the Income-Tax Department for want of receipt of a valid ITR-V Form at CPC, Bengaluru from the taxpayers concerned.

In law, consequences of non-filing the ITR-V within the time allowed is significant as such a return is/can be declared Non-est in law. Thereafter, all the consequences for non-filing a tax return, as specified in the Income-tax Act,1961 follow.

“The CBDT, in the exercise of powers under section 119 of the Act, in case of returns for Assessment Years 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 which were uploaded electronically by the taxpayer within the time allowed under section 139 of the Act and which have remained incomplete due to non-submission of ITR-V Form for verification, hereby permits verification of such returns either by sending a duly signed physical copy of ITR-V to CPC, Bengaluru through speed post or through EVC/OTP modes as listed in para 1 above.

Such verification process must be completed by 30.09.2020,” the circular said.

However, the circular clarified that this relaxation shall not apply in those cases, where during the intervening period, the Income Tax Department has already taken recourse to any other measure as specified in the Act for ensuring filing of a tax return by the taxpayer concerned after declaring the return as Non-est.

“CBDT also relaxes the time-frame for issuing the intimation as provided in the second proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 143 of the Act and directs that such returns shall be processed by 31.12.2020 and intimation of processing of such returns shall be sent to the taxpayer concerned as per the laid down procedure.

In refund cases, while determining the interest, provision of section 244A (2) of the Act would apply,” the circular said.

Read the Original Circular of CBDT

SEBI signs MoU with CBDT for Data Exchange

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“There is a need to create a regulator or authority for data business, which provides centralized regulation for all non-personal data exchanges,” the government-appointed panel said in the report. Such a regulator would be armed with legal powers to request data, supervise data sharing requests and settle disputes“.
A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today between the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for data exchange between the two organizations.
 
The MoU was signed by Smt. Anu J. Singh, Pr. DGIT (Systems), CBDT, and Smt. MadhabiPuri Buch, Whole Time Member, SEBI in the presence of senior officers from both the organizations via video conference.

The MoU will facilitate the sharing of data and information between SEBI and CBDT on an automatic and regular basis.

In addition to regular exchange of data, CBDT and SEBI will also exchange with each other, on request and suo moto basis, any information available in their respective databases, for the purpose of carrying out scrutiny, inspection, investigation and prosecution,” SEBI said in a statement.

In addition to regular exchange of data, SEBI and CBDT will also exchange with each other, on request and Suo moto basis, any information available in their respective databases, for the purpose of carrying out their functions under various laws.

The MoU comes into force from the date it was signed and is an ongoing initiative of CBDT and SEBI, 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 SEBI and CBDT.

In the past, SEBI has cracked on several entities who had manipulated the stock prices of listed companies. The regulator had observed in the penny stock scam that promoters and market operators were using the stock exchange platform to evade taxes and launder black money.

Read the Press Release: SEBI signs MOU with CBDT for Data Exchange

The Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) hit by Covid pandemic may have something to cheer at last.

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Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has formulated a Special Resolution Process (SRP) for MSMEs who find their financial position unmanageable due to Covid crisis.


While presenting the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ package Finance Minister had announced to come out with a Special insolvency resolution framework for MSMEs under section 240A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

According to sources close to the development, the scheme would be available to corporate MSMEs, that is, units incorporated as Companies or LLP.

The salient features of the scheme are proposed to be:

  —   If an MSME finds it unable to meet its financial obligations, the insolvency resolution process could be initiated on the occurrence of default of at least Rs.1 lakh

  —   It can be triggered by the MSME promoter/ owner only (not by the Financial or other creditors)

  —   During the process of resolution, the MSME owner remains in control and keeps running the unit but all legal proceedings to take control of assets by creditors are stopped.

  —   It provides first right of offer to promoters of the MSME to submit resolution plans

  —   It proposes a simplified claim verification process and preparation of information memorandum

  —   It expands the scope of interim finance to facilitate rescue financing of the CD during COVID-19 with the approval of 3/4th financial creditors in value.

Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) which facilitated a consultation round of MSME associations with IBBI shared that most participants found the scheme potentially useful.

According to Lucknow based V K Agarwal Managing Director of Shashi Cables Ltd and former FISME President, the scheme seemed to be modelled on insolvency provisions under US chapter-11, was very promising indeed but some way needed to be found to make financial creditors to come on board and cooperate.

The scheme envisages appointment of an Insolvency Professional (IP) as Resolution Professional to conduct the process, with the consent of the unrelated financial creditors having at least 25% of the outstanding financial claims.

The scheme is under final stages of approval and is expected to be announced soon.