The department said it was the final call for filing of belated or revised ITRs for assessment years 2016-17 and 2017-18
The Income Tax Department on Friday urged those who deposited “large amounts of cash” post demonetisation and all companies to file their returns by March 31, failing which they may face penalty and prosecution.
It also cautioned eligible trusts, political parties and associations to file their income tax returns by this final deadline and “come clean”.
The department, in public advertisements issued in leading dailies, said it was the final call for filing of belated or revised ITRs for assessment years 2016-17 and 2017 -18.
It underlined that there was still time for these categories of taxpayers and that they should avoid last minute rush and file the ITRs well before the deadline.
“If you have deposited large amounts of cash in your bank account/made high value transactions, please consider the same while filling your ITRs.
“Non-filing or incorrect filing of return of income may result in penalty and prosecution,” the public advisory said. It said all companies, firms and limited liability partnership concerns were also required to do so.
The deadline is also applicable, it said,to trusts, associations and political parties whose income prior to claim of exemptions exceeds the minimum chargeable to tax. Individuals and Hindu Undivided Families having income more than Rs 2.5 lakh and senior citizens with income of over Rs 3 lakh (60-80 years of age) and Rs five lakh (over 80 years of age) too need to file their returns for the mentioned assessment years, it said.
About two months ago, tax offices were directed to accept only those revised tax returns where there is a “bonafide inadvertent error” or “a mistake” on the part of the assessee.
The income-tax department will in all likelihood go into overdrive in the next three months with the Central Board of Direct Taxes — the apex body — alerting all senior tax officials that their performance is being “monitored at the highest level.” It will also give a renewed push towards imposing and recovering tax on Rs 3 lakh crore deposit, which is suspected to be the quantum of unexplained cash parked with banks post demonetisation.
“There will be searches, surveys, information verification, and follow-ups. Explanations on ‘cash in hand’ amounts are being sought from different kinds of assessees, and not just from large establishments and jewellers… We will be knocking on many doors even if our respective targets are met,” a senior tax officer told ET.
This was broadly the message conveyed by the CBDT chief during a recent video-conference with tax officials.According to another person in the department, direct tax offices in various circles may be required to go full steam due to a drop in GST collection following cut in tax rates and refunds.
‘Dispose of Appeals Before March 31’
Till now many in the department were caught up with assessments pertaining to notices which were sent in September 2015 (for the financial year 2014-15) as these matters were getting time-barred in December 2017. Now, tax officers have the time to focus on recovery till March 31. “A possible slowdown in income tax refund, directing the CIT Appeal to dispose of appeals confirming the additions, investigating cases where assesses have deposited more than Rs 10 lakh in demonetised notes may push up gross collection. But does this really reflect the true state of tax collection in a slowing economy where the GDP growth rate is admitted to have come down,” said senior chartered accountant Dilip Lakhani.
In some of the large tax collection zones like Mumbai, the chief commissioner has written to several offices of the commissioner of income tax (Appeals), which is the first appellate authority, to dispose of many appeals before the close of the financial year.
Tax authorities technically have the power to come down heavily on those who are unable to explain their cash deposit by slapping 60% tax and penalty – even though the process could take some time.
About two months ago, tax offices were directed to accept only those revised tax returns where there is a “bonafide inadvertent error” or “a mistake” on the part of the assessee. This was to tax the unaccounted cash that was deposited after demonetisation (of high denomination currency bills in November 2016) and subsequently regularised through a revised return and payment of tax on it at the normal rate of 30%.
However, the communique to tax officers guidelines were only suggestive in nature as the law allows filing of revised return due to various reasons including an intention to conceal income.
World Bank says India has huge potential, projects 7.3% growth
India’s growth rate in 2018 is projected to hit 7.3 per cent and 7.5 per cent in the next two years, according to the World Bank, which said the country has “enormous growth potential” compared to other emerging economies with the implementation of comprehensive reforms.
India is estimated to have grown at 6.7 per cent in 2017 despite initial setbacks from demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), according to the 2018 Global Economics Prospect released by the World Bank here yesterday.
“In all likelihood India is going to register higher growth rate than other major emerging market economies in the next decade. So, I wouldn’t focus on the short-term numbers. I would look at the big picture for India and big picture is telling us that it has enormous potential,” Ayhan Kose, Director, Development Prospects Group at the World Bank, told PTI in an interview.
He said in comparison with China, which is slowing, the World Bank is expecting India to gradually accelerate.
“The growth numbers of the past three years were very healthy,” Kose, author of the report, said.
India’s economy is likely to grow 7.3 per cent in 2018 and then accelerate to 7.5 per cent in the next two years, the bank said.
China grew at 6.8 per cent in 2017, 0.1 per cent more than that of India, while in 2018, its growth rate is projected at 6.4 per cent. And in the next two years, the country’s growth rate will drop marginally to 6.3 and 6.2 per cent, respectively.
To materialise its potential, India, Kose said, needs to take steps to boost investment prospects.
There are measures underway to do in terms of non- performing loans and productivity, he said.
“On the productivity side, India has enormous potential with respect to secondary education completion rate. All in all, improved labour market reforms, education and health reforms as well as relaxing investment bottleneck will help improve India’s prospects,” Kose said.
India has a favourable demographic profile which is rarely seen in other economies, he said.
“In that context, improving female labour force participation rate is going to be important. Female labour force participation still remains low relative to other emerging market economies,” he said.
Reducing youth unemployment is critical, and pushing for private investment, where problems are already well-known like bank assets quality issues…If these are done, India can reach its potential easily and exceed, Kose asserted.
“In fact, we expect India to do better than its potential in 2018 and move forward,” he said.
India’s growth potential, he said would be around 7 per cent for the next 10 years.
The Indian government is “very serious” with the GST being a major turning point and banking recapitalisation programme is really important, Kose said.
“The Indian government has already recognised some of these problems and undertaking measures and willing to see the outcomes of these measures,” he said.
“India is a very large economy. It has a huge potential. At the same time, it has its own challenges. This government is very much aware of these challenges and is showing just doing its best in terms of dealing with them,” the World Bank official said.
The latest World Bank growth estimate for 2017 is 0.5 per cent, less than the previous projection, and 0.2 per cent less in the next two years.
“It is slightly lower than its previous forecast, primarily because India is undertaking major reforms,” Kose said.
These reforms, of course, will bring certain policy uncertainty, he said, “but the big issue about India, when you look at India’s growth potential and our numbers down the road 2019 and 2020, is that it is going to be the fastest growing large emerging market.”
“India has an ambitious government undertaking comprehensive reforms. The GST is a major reform to have harmonised taxes, is one nation one market one tax concept. Then, of course, the late 2016 demonetisation reform was there. The government is well aware of these short-term implications,” Kose said.
He said there might have been some temporary disruptions but “all in all” the Indian economy has done well.
“The potential growth rate of the Indian economy is very healthy to 7 per cent. I think the growth is going to be at a high rate going forward,” the World Bank official said.
In a South Asia regional press release, the World Bank said India is estimated to grow 6.7 percent in fiscal year 2017-18, slightly down from the 7.1 percent of the previous fiscal year.
This is due in part to the effects of the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax, but also to protracted balance sheet weaknesses, including corporate debt burdens and non- performing loans in the banking sector, weighing down private investment, it said.
The disruptive impact of demonetisation announced last year is a temporary phenomenon and the scrapping of the high-value currency would bring “permanent and substantial benefits”, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In an interview to CNBC TV18, IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of Research Maurice Obstfeld said that although demonetisation, as well as implementation of the Goods and Services tax (GST) caused short-term disruptions, both measures would bring long-term benefits.
“The costs of demonetisation are largely temporary and we see permanent and substantial benefits accruing from the move,” Obstfeld said.
Demonetisation caused long queues outside banks.
“Both demonetisation and the GST introduction will bring long-term benefits, though these caused short-term disruption,” he said.
The IMF Chief Economist described GST as a “work in progress” to which the Indian economy is “gradually adjusting”.
With businesses going into a “destocking” mode on inventories in anticipation of the GST rollout from July 1, sluggish manufacturing growth, among other factors, pulled down growth in the Indian economy during the first quarter of this fiscal to 5.7 percent, clocking the lowest GDP growth rate under the Narendra Modi dispensation.
Breaking a five-quarter slump, however, a rise in manufacturing sector output pushed the growth rate higher to 6.3 percent during the second quarter (July-September) of 2017-18.
Obstfeld also listed some of the reforms being undertaken by the Indian government that have impressed the multilateral agencies.
“The government has taken important first steps like bringing in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which helped India improve its position substantially in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings,” he said.
He also mentioned the recent recapitalisation plan for state-run banks announced by the government and the Asset Quality Review of commercial banks earlier ordered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Both measures are designed to address the issue of massive non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, accumulated in the Indian banking system that have crossed a staggering Rs 8.5 lakh crore.
In a report released in Washington on Thursday, the IMF cautioned that the high volume of NPAs and the slow pace of mending corporate balance sheets are holding back investment and growth in India even though structural reforms have helped the nation record stronger growth.
The IMF’s Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA) for India said that overall “India’s key banks appear resilient, but the system is subject to considerable vulnerabilities”.
“The financial sector is facing considerable challenges, and economic growth has recently slowed down,” the report said.
“High non-performing assets and slow deleveraging and repair of corporate balance sheets are testing the resilience of the banking system, and holding back investment and growth.”
“Stress tests show that… a group of public sector banks are highly vulnerable to further declines in asset quality and higher provisioning needs,” it added.
I-T department is set to issue notices to 4 to 5 lakh high networth individuals across the country who were trading in bitcoins on exchanges. Last week, the department had conducted surveys across major cities
Widening its probe into bitcoin investments and trade, the Income Tax (I-T) department is set to issue notices to 4 to 5 lakh high networth individuals (HNI) across the country who were trading on the exchanges of this unregulated virtual currency.
The taxman had conducted surveys at nine such exchanges last week to check instances of tax evasion.
The department, official sources said, found that out of the estimated 20 lakh entities registered on these exchanges, about 4 to 5 lakh were “operational” and indulging in transactions and investments.
Sources told PTI that the Bengaluru investigation wing of the tax department, which supervised last week’s operations, has now dispatched the information of the individuals and entities found on these databases to eight other such wings across the country for a detailed probe.
“Those individuals and entities whose records were recovered by the department are now being probed under tax evasion charges. Notices are being issued and they will have to pay capital gains tax on the bitcoin investments and trade,” a senior official privy to the operation said.
About 4-5 lakh HNIs and their businesses are being issued notices which will first seek their relevant financial details and subsequently establish the tax demand, if any, he said.
As the bitcoins or the virtual currencies (VCs) are illegal and unregulated in the country as of now, the IT department has taken action as per the existing provisions, they said.
The survey operations conducted last week, under section 133 A of the Income Tax Act, were undertaken for “gathering evidence for establishing the identity of investors and traders, the transaction undertaken by them, identity of counter-parties, related bank accounts used, among others,” they said.
A survey action under the IT law pertains to the tax officials making a surprise visit to the business premises of the party under action but not their residential ones. The trigger for the action is understood to be the huge spike being registered in the value of bitcoins and other virtual currencies in the recent past.
Suspected black money being converted into white, post demonetisation, through the use of bitcoins was also under the department’s scanner, officials said. Earlier this month, there was a spurt in the value of a bitcoin. It rose from under $10,000 at the start of the year to close to $20,000, before a sharp 20 per cent plunge within hours.
Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is not regulated in the country and its circulation has been a cause for concern among central bankers the world over for quite a while now.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies. The government has also said that it does not recognise ‘crypto-currency’ as legal tender in India. In March, the Union finance ministry constituted an Inter-Disciplinary Committee to take stock of the present status of virtual currencies both in India and globally and suggest measures for dealing with them.
The committee has submitted its report which is being examined.
The RBI has cleared its stand on cryptocurrencies since long. “There is no underlying or backing of any asset for VCs. As such, their value seems to be a matter of speculation. Huge volatility in the value of VCs has been noticed in the recent past. Thus, the users are exposed to potential losses on account of such volatility in value,” the central bank had said in a December 24, 2013 note.
After taking a break from buying into Indian equities in August and September, FPIs bought equities in abundance in November.
Foreign investors pumped over Rs 19,700 crore into the country’s stock markets in November, the highest in eight months, mainly due to government’s plan to recapitalise PSU banks and surge in India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business.
In addition, such investors put in Rs 530 crore in the debt markets during the period under review.
According to depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) invested a net amount of Rs 19,728 crore in equities last month.
This is the highest net investment by FPIs since March, when they had poured in Rs 30,906 crore in the equity market.It has been a tremendous journey for the Indian equity markets in 2017. After taking a break from buying into Indian equities in August and September, FPIs bought equities in abundance in November.
The strong inflow could be largely attributed to the government’s decision to recapitalise public-sector banks, which is expected to enhance lending and propel economic growth, said Morningstar India’s senior analyst manager (research) Himanshu Srivastava.
“This is particularly seen as a positive step after the questions have been raised from various quarters on the government’s ability to effectively implement economic reforms. Further, the slow pace of economic growth was also believed to be due to rising non performing assets (NPAs) problem in public sector banks, hence this decision provided a much-needed impetus to FPIs to again look back at Indian equity space,” he added.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the PSU bank recapitalisation plan of Rs 2.11 trillion, out of which Rs 1.35 trillion will come from recapitalisation bonds, and the rest from markets and budgetary support.
Additionally, the news about India faring well in the World Bank’s Ease of Business index and a jump in core sector growth also turned the tide in India’s favour, Srivastava said.
India gained 30 places in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index for 2018 to 100th among 190 nations.
“These (bank’s recapitalisation plan and world bank’s ranking) and positive developments in the recent times provided a much-needed breather to FPIs who were concerned about the short-term impact of demonetisation and goods and services tax (GST) on the domestic economy and sluggish pace of economic recovery,” he added.
Yet another positive piece of news has come from Moody’s Investor Services, which upgraded its India rating by a notch to ‘Baa2’ from ‘Baa3’ with a stable outlook, citing improved economic growth prospects driven by the government reforms.
Overall, FPIs have invested Rs 53,800 crore in equities so far in 2017 and another Rs 1.46 lakh crore in debt markets.
The move comes at a time when the tax department’s field formations have apparently been on an overdrive after the demonetisation move brought large chunks of supposedly tax-evaded cash into the banking system.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has sent a missive to all assessing officers (AOs) to stick to protocol while pursuing cases of “limited scrutiny” and not resort to “fishing and roving inquiries” in such cases.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has sent a missive to all assessing officers (AOs) to stick to protocol while pursuing cases of “limited scrutiny” and not resort to “fishing and roving inquiries” in such cases. The move comes at a time when the tax department’s field formations have apparently been on an overdrive after the demonetisation move brought large chunks of supposedly tax-evaded cash into the banking system. The department selects cases of “limited scrutiny” — which restricts probe into a single aspect rather than a complete appraisal of tax liability — through Computer Aided Scrutiny Selection (CASS). The data mined include annual information reports and 26AS, which includes tax payment/TDS history. In its latest direction to the assessing officers (AOs), the board said it has come across instances where AOs have ventured beyond their jurisdiction while making assessments in ‘limited scrutiny’ cases by initiating inquiries on new issues without following the due procedure.
“These instances have been viewed very seriously by the CBDT and in one case, the Central Inspection Team of CBDT was tasked with examination of assessment records on receipt of allegations of several irregularities,” the letter said. The CBDT in fact suspended the officer concerned after it was found that there was no reason recorded for expanding the scope of limited scrutiny. Violating standard operating procedure, the officer had not sought approval from principal commissioner for converting limited scrutiny cases into a complete scrutiny case. Moreover, the AO hadn’t maintained the order sheet properly, which gave rise to strong suspicion of mala fide intentions. The purpose of introducing ‘limited scrutiny’ was to curb overarching powers of AOs and improve ease of paying taxes. The CBDT has previously issued instruction to AOs to confine the questionnaire to the specific issues and complete the case expeditiously in a limited number of hearings.
The CBDT reiterated that AOs must maintain “order-sheet” properly by ensuring that the minutes of the hearing in a case are entered along with relevant date. Further, it said that the order-sheet must have entries for each posting, hearing and seeking and granting of adjournments. Order-sheet is meant to chronicle the progress of an assessment case by the concerned official. “Suspension of undisciplined officers clearly conveys the message that the government aims to make India’s taxation regime transparent, non-adversarial and taxpayer friendly. But the established fact is that real picture is drawn from the enforcement and not policy formulation. Hoping that the tax authorities follow the instructions diligently going forward and end the era a tax terrorism,” Rakesh Nangia, managing partner at Nangia & Co said.
