E-filing: Over 50 lakh ITRs e-verified by Income Tax department

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The Income Tax department’s ambitious OTP-based ITR filing system for taxpayers has crossed the 50 lakh e-verification mark, while more than 39 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been successfully linked with the PAN database after the scheme was launched over six months back.

The new e-filing system, operationalised last year, allows online verification of a person’s Income Tax Returns (ITR) by using either the Aadhaar number, internet banking, ATM or email, thereby ending the practice of sending paper acknowledgment to the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) of the IT department located in Bengaluru.

“The e-verification of ITRs recently crossed the 50 lakh figure which is a testimony to more and more people and entities opting for electronic filing of their IT returns. While sky is the limit here, getting these numbers just when the new year has begun will enable the government to usher in more and more facilities for e-filing of ITRs in the new financial year begining April 1,” a senior official said.

The official, quoting latest data of the week ending today, said a total of 50,10,282 ITRs have been e-verified, while Aadhaar linkages with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) has been achieved in 39,66,149 cases during the same period.

The online ITR filing portal of the department is available at http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.

According to the rules notified in this regard by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in July last year, any taxpayer whose income is Rs 5 lakh or below per annum and has no refund claims can straightaway generate the ‘Electronic Verification Code’ (EVC) for e-filing and validating their ITR through their registered mobile number and e-mail ID with the department. They get a system generated One-Time Password (OTP) to validate their ITRs.

However, this simplified option will be subject to certain “restrictions” which have been prepared by the taxman based on the concerned taxpayer’s “risk criteria and profile” on a case-to-case basis.

These new measures would completely eliminate the need of sending the paper acknowledgment called ITR-V through post to the Bengaluru based CPC.

In other options, those taxpayers who have activated internet banking facility can also do the e-verification.

Once logged in to the banking portal, the taxpayer will be sent EVC on his mobile number provided to the official e-filing portal of the department which they will put in their ITR for final submission.

The Aadhaar database is also being used by the taxman to verify taxpayers’ credentials.

The department initiated these new technology-based measures in order to fully automate the e-filing system and also to end taxpayers’ grievances with regard to their ITR-V not reaching by post which led to their returns getting rejected.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/e-filing-over-50-lakh-itrs-e-verified-by-income-tax-dept/191519/

All communication of tax scrutiny to be via e-mail from FY17

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The I-T department in the recent times has taken a host of initiatives to reduce human interface between tax official and assessees and make the tax system non-adversarial

 

The income tax department is planning to carry out all communication related to the scrutiny of returns through e-mails from the next fiscal to reduce harassment of tax payers by eliminating interface between assessees and taxmen.

 

The I-T department, on a pilot basis, has already started scrutiny of returns through e-mails in 5 metropolitan cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Chennai regions.

 

“We are working on a software so that all scrutiny communications can be stored in a specified server. Once it is ready, we will shift to e-environment as far as scrutiny, and all communications in this regard are concerned,” a top revenue department official told PTI.

 

The official further said that moving to e-scrutiny would help in combating corruption, as it would reduce the interface between assessee and tax officials. Also, he added that all the communication records with regard to scrutiny would be stored in one place and can be verified whenever needed.

 

“There has been an encouraging response to the pilot project undertaken by the tax department. From next fiscal we want to make all scrutiny communication through emails,” the official said.

 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has already asked the officials to initiate the concept of using emails for corresponding with taxpayers.

 

The I-T department in the recent times has taken a host of initiatives to reduce human interface between tax official and assessees and make the tax system non-adversarial. These include directing field offices to raise only specific queries in income tax assessment cases picked up for scrutiny. It also directed expeditious completion of those scrutiny cases where income concealed is up to Rs.5 lakh.

 

The department had also stipulated that appeals before I-T commissioner should be filed in electronic format by those assessees who e-file their returns.

 

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/q7dtcfDoj7LMFeJkTG1VRK/All-communication-of-tax-scrutiny-to-be-via-email-from-FY17.html

ITR-V verification deadline extended to 31st January

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If you missed your 120 days ITR-V verification deadline, there is good news. The income tax department has extended the verification deadline till 31st January.

If you missed your 120 days ITR-V verification deadline, there is good news. The income tax department has extended the verification deadline till 31st January.

Although it has not been officially notified yet, taxpayers have been receiving this information via email from the I-T department. However, you won’t be able to e-verify. Like old times, will have to physically mail the signed ITR V to CPC Bangalore.

“The electronic verification option gets switched-off automatically after 120 days of the taxpayer filing the return. However, the extended deadline to physically submit the ITR-V is open for all,” says Archit Gupta, founder and CEO, Cleartax.in. The 120 days countdown begins from the date the taxpayer submits their income tax returns forms.

The tax department had extended the filing deadline to September 7 this years. So, people who had filed on the last date still have a window of one day to e-verify. Post that you too will have to mail the ITR-V. The last date to do so will still remain 31st January.

Many individuals who, who had e-verified their return using Aadhar or Net banking, are receiving reminder letters from the CPC at Bangalore to physically send their ITR-V acknowledgement forms on or before the 31st of January, 2015.

“Those trying to e-verify their return once again with reference to the above are getting the message “No returns pending for e-verification” when they try to do so,” says Varun Advani, COO, makemyreturns.com. CAs advice them to re-send their ITR-Vs physically to the department before the deadline to aviod any further problems.

MCA extends last date of filing of AOC-4 and MGT-7 E-Forms to 30.01.2016 to Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry

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MCA

The Circular from Ministry of Corporate Affairs extends one more month time, for Annual Filings of MGT -7 , Annual Return & AOC-4, Audited Financial Statements, without additional fees, to Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry, which were affected by floods.

The extract of the circular issued today, i.e., 30 December, 2015 is as below:

 

In continuation of the ministry’s circular 15/2015 dated 30.11.2015, keeping in view the requests received from various stakeholders stating that due to heavy rains and floods in the State of Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry, the normal life/work was affected, it has been decided to relax the additional fees payable for the State of Tamil Nadu and UT of Puducherry on e-forms AOC-4, AOC (CFS) AOC-4 XBRL and e- Form MGT-7 up to 30.01.2016, wherever additional fee is applicable.

The last date of filing forms AOC-4 (XBRL, non-XBRL & CFS) and MGT-7 till 30th Dec 2015, without additional fees, has ended.

 

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India has earlier vide its General Circular No.15/2015 dated 31/11/2015, extended the last date for filing the Annual Returns by 30 days and relaxed the additional fees for the forms filed till December 31, 2015. This has ended now.

 

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Integrated e-Form INC-29 for Company Incorporation and Ease of doing business

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INC 29Analysis of integrated e-Form INC-29 for Company Incorporation and Ease of doing business

With the introduction of the INC-29, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has begun to make good on its promise to improve India’s ranking on the World Bank’s Ease of Starting a Business Index to within the top 50 from the current 158.

The INC-29 form for company registration, combines the application for DIN allotment, name reservation, incorporation and even PAN & TAN, while making the process faster and simpler. As the entire incorporation process is in a single form, correct filing could mean approval in 48 hours. Compared to the old process, this helps in formation of company saving a lot of time, if properly implemented.

Purpose of the eForm – eForm INC-29 deals with the single application for reservation of name, incorporation of a new company and/or application for allotment of DIN. This eForm is accompanied by supporting documents including details of Directors & subscribers, MoA and AoA etc. Once the eForm is processed and found complete, company would be incorporated with Corporate Identification Number (CIN) and the Certificate of Incorporation would be issued. Also DINs gets issued to the proposed Directors, who do not have a valid DIN. Maximum three Directors are allowed for using this integrated form for allotment of DIN while incorporating a company.

Key Features of e-form INC-29 

  1. The integrated e-Form INC-29 is available with effect from 01.05.2015 for One Person Company, Private Company as well as Public Company.
  2. INC-29 does away with filing of multiple applications/forms saving time and payable fees.

It combines the processes relating to:-

  • Allotment of Director Identification Number (DIN) (up to three Directors),
  • Incorporation of a company, and
  • Appointment of first Directors of the company.

3. The new e-Form does away with the need for reserving a name for the company prior to applying for its incorporation.

  1. Declarations are in-built in the e-Form. Separate attachments containing such declarations are not required.
  1. The e-Form is enabled for future integration with e-Biz platform of DIPP for generating applications for PAN, ESIC and EPFO numbers on the platform and therefore provides a single interface for these applications also.

 

Forms no longer to be filed individually as per the new Form INC 29:

Continued

Government wants to reduce time for registering company

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During the past one year, Corporate Affairs Ministry has taken a number of steps, and is further streamlining processes and regulatory framework, to reduce the overall time taken for incorporating a company as a part of ‘ease of doing business’ effort, Finance Ministry has said.
The Government of India proposes to bring down the average number of days required for incorporating a company to one to two days, a move aimed at further improving ‘ease of doing business’ in the country.

During the past one year, Corporate Affairs Ministry has taken a number of steps, and is further streamlining processes and regulatory framework, to reduce the overall time taken for incorporating a company as a part of ‘ease of doing business’ effort, Finance Ministry said in a statement.
As a result of the many steps, the average number of days taken for incorporation of a company has come down significantly from 9.57 days in December, 2014 to 4.51 days in November, 2015.
“It (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) is targeting that the average number of days would be further reduced to one to two days for approval in normal cases,” the statement said.

Giving details of the step, it said the introduction of an Integrated Incorporation Form INC29 and tighter monitoring of Registrar of Companies’ (ROCs’) performance has resulted in faster approvals and lesser number of clarifications being asked from the stakeholders.
The Corporate Affairs Ministry will soon introduce a new version of Form INC29, incorporating suggestions received from the stakeholders, allowing up to five directors to be appointed and greater flexibility in proposing a name for a company, it said.

“This will allow an even more wider use of this integrated Form, which is already gaining popularity,” the statement added.

Further, the rules with regard to reserving and approving of names for companies are also being simplified, and a centralised new process will be introduced soon for strictly time bound approval of names for companies.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-government-plans-to-reduce-average-time-for-registering-a-company-to-1-2-days-2154784