Govt cancels GST registration of 163k business entities over non-filing of tax returns

The government has cancelled Goods and Services Tax (GST) registration of over 163,000 business entities due to non-filing of tax returns for more than six months to curb the menace of fly-by-night operators who create bogus firms and fraudulently avail input tax credit (ITC) worth thousands of crores.

The Government has canceled the Goods and Service Tax (GST) registration of 163,000 business entities who have not filed monthly tax returns (GSTR-3B) for the last six months or more.

Furthermore, the department would persuade 25,000 taxpayers, who have not filed returns for October that was due by November 24, to comply with tax return deadlines.

 “All these business entities, who had not filed their GSTR-3B returns for more than six months, were first issued the cancellation notices and then their registrations were cancelled as per standard operating procedure,” one of the officials said.

The Tax officers have been directed to follow up personally with these defaulting taxpayers so that their GSTR-3B returns due for the month are filed by November 30.

The push for better compliance comes on the heels of the tax department’s nationwide drive against fake invoice scams.

It is suspected that fraudsters often register firms under GST but remain mostly dormant on compliance while using the status to claim invalid input tax credit (ITC). As per the sources, in the Ahmedabad zone 11,048 GST registrations have been cancelled.

In the Chennai zone, 19,586 suo motu cancellations have been done so far in respect of GST taxpayers who have failed to file returns for more than six months.

The officials said that the tax authority is also scanning newly registered entities that have not provided correct details at the time of registration.

Out of 720 deemed registrations granted between August 21 and November 16 this year, where Aadhaar authentication was not done, 55 deemed registrations have been identified for the discrepancy and the process of cancellation was initiated in these cases.

Furthermore, the department would persuade 25,000 taxpayers, who have not filed returns for October that was due by November 24, to comply with tax return deadlines.

Income Tax department to reject tax audit reports filed without ICAI authentication

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, in its gazette notification had made the generation of UDIN from the ICAI website mandatory for every kind of certificate/tax audit report and other attests made by their members as required by various regulators. This was introduced to curb fake certifications by non-CAs misrepresenting themselves as Chartered Accountants

The income tax department will validate with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) the unique document identification number (UDIN) of chartered accountants when they upload tax audit reports, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

To curb fake certifications by non-CAs misrepresenting themselves as chartered accountants, the ICAI in 2019 made generation of UDIN from the ICAI website mandatory for every kind of certificate and tax audit report and other attests made by their members as required by various regulators.

The ministry said that in line with the ongoing initiatives of the income tax department for integrating with other government agencies and bodies, income-tax e-filing portal has completed its integration with the ICAI portal for validation of UDIN generated from the ICAI portal by the chartered accountants for documents certified/attested by them.

Income-tax e-filing portal had already factored mandatory quoting of UDIN with effect from April 27, 2020, for documents certified/attested in compliance with the Income Tax Act,1961 by a chartered accountant.

“With this system level integration, UDIN provided for the audit reports/certificates submitted by the chartered accountants in the e-filing portal shall be validated online with the ICAI,” the ministry added.

It said this will help in weeding out fake or incorrect tax audit reports not duly authenticated with the ICAI.

If a chartered accountant was not able to generate UDIN before submission of audit report or certificate, the e-filing portal permits such submission, subject to the CA updating the UDIN within 5 calendar days from the date of form submission in the income tax e-filing portal.

If the UDIN for the audit report/certificate is not updated within the 15 days, such audit report and certificate uploaded shall be treated as invalid submission, the ministry added.

I-T refunds worth Rs 1.32 lakh cr issued to 39.75 lakh taxpayers

This include Personal income tax (PIT) refunds amounting to Rs 35,123 crore and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs 97,677 crore during this period.
The Income Tax department has issued refunds worth over Rs 1.32 lakh crore to over 39 lakh taxpayers so far this fiscal.
 

This include Personal income tax (PIT) refunds amounting to Rs 35,123 crore and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs 97,677 crore during this period.

“CBDT issues refunds of over Rs 1,32,800 crore to to more than 39.75 lakh taxpayers between April 1,2020 to November 10,2020.

Income tax refunds of Rs 35,123 crore have been issued in 37,81,599 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 97,677 crore have been issued in 1,93,813 cases,” the I- T department tweeted.

Source: Economic Times

Finance Ministry extends due date for filing of Income Tax Returns for FY 2019-2020

1. Due Date for Taxpayers (having Tax Audit) - Extended to 31st Jan, 2021 2. Due Date for Taxpayers (Not having Tax Audit) - Extended to 31st Dec, 2020 3. Due Date For Taxpayers (Under TP) - Extended to 31st Jan, 2021 4. Due Date of Deposit Self Assessment Tax (Only if up to Rs. 1 lakh) - Extended to 31st Jan,2021 5. Due Date of Furnishing Audit Report by CA - Extended to 31st Dec, 2020
1. Due Date for Taxpayers (having Tax Audit) – Extended to 31st Jan, 2021 2. Due Date for Taxpayers (Not having Tax Audit) – Extended to 31st Dec, 2020 3. Due Date For Taxpayers (Under TP) – Extended to 31st Jan, 2021 4. Due Date of Deposit Self Assessment Tax (Only if up to Rs. 1 lakh) – Extended to 31st Jan,2021 5. Due Date of Furnishing Audit Report by CA – Extended to 31st Dec, 2020

The income tax return (ITR) filing deadline for FY 2019-20 has been extended to December 31, 2020, for most individual taxpayers, from the earlier deadline of November 30, 2020. This the second time the tax filing deadline for FY20 has been extended.

As per the government’s press release issued on October 24, 2020, “In order to provide more time to taxpayers for furnishing of their ITR, it has been decided to further extend the due date for furnishing of Income-Tax Returns as under:

The due date for furnishing of income tax returns for these individual taxpayers [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the said notification dated June 24, 2020 as per the Act was 31st July, 2020] has been extended to 31st December, 2020.

The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the taxpayers (including their partners) who are required to get their accounts audited [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the said notification dated June 24, 2020) as per the Act is 31st October, 2020] has been extended to 31st January, 2021.

The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the taxpayers who are required to furnish report in respect of international/specified domestic transactions [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the said notification dated June 24, 2020) as per the Act is 30th November, 2020] has been extended to 31st January, 2021.

Consequently, the date for furnishing of various audit reports under the Act including tax audit report and report in respect of international/specified domestic transaction has also been extended to 31st December, 2020, said the government press release issued today.

Further, relief is provided to the small and middle class taxpayers in the matter of payment of self-assessment tax, the due date for payment of self-assessment tax date is hereby again being extended. Accordingly, the due date for payment of self-assessment tax for taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs. 1 lakh has been extended to 31st January, 2021 for the taxpayers whose accounts are required to be audited and to 31st December, 2020 for the taxpayers whose accounts are not required to be audited.”

Source: Press Release

Govt extends due dates for filing IT returns, audit reports, GST annual return

The govt has given a suitable extension for annual compliance under GST laws as well as income tax laws due to disruptions caused by coronavirus.

The government on Saturday said due dates for filing income tax returns and tax audit reports for FY20 for various classes of tax payers have been extended to give more time for tax payers to comply.

The government also, on advice from the federal tax body, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, extended the due date for filing annual return for FY19 from 31 October to 31 December, finance ministry said.

For filing income tax returns for FY20, individuals who are not required to conduct a tax audit report will now get time till 31 December. The original due date of 31 July was earlier extended to 30 November.

Tax payers who are required to file their tax audit reports—professionals with gross receipts more than ₹50 lakh and those running businesses with sales up to ₹1 crore—have also got extra time. They can now file their tax returns by 31 January. The earlier deadline, after one extension, was 30 November.

Assessees who enter into international transactions or specified domestic transactions and are required to file tax audit reports, have also been given extra time to file their FY20 tax returns. As per Saturday’s announcement, they can file their tax returns for FY20 by end of January.

“Consequently, the date for furnishing of various audit reports under the Income Tax Act including tax audit report and report in respect of international or specified domestic transaction has also been extended to 31 December, 2020,” said the finance ministry statement.

The ministry also gave extra time for small tax payers to pay their self- assessment tax. This facility is available only to those with self-assessment tax liability up to ₹1 lakh. Accordingly, those who are liable to get tax audit done, can pay self assessment tax by end of January and others can pay by end of December. Finance ministry said it will notify these changes.

The government also said it has been receiving requests for more time to file GST annual return and the reconciliation statement for FY19. Accordingly the due date for the same has been extended from 31 October to 31 December, said the ministry.

Filing annual return (form GSTR-9/GSTR-9A) for FY19 is optional for taxpayers who had sales below ₹2 crore. Filing of reconciliation statement in form 9C is optional for the taxpayers with sales up to ₹5 crore, said the ministry.

Read the Press release dated 24 October, 2020: GST Annual Return date extended

AGM due date extended till 31.12.2020 for all companies

Companies will be given three months’ extension to hold their AGMs.

A major relief has been granted to around 1.2 million companies, by MCA granting extension of 3 months for holding annual general meeting.

The MCA had earlier allowed companies to hold virtual AGMs due to Covid-19. However, companies were finding it difficult to complete the audit functions and finalize the annual reports.

The Companies with AGM due date as 30.09.2020 can now conduct their AGM by 31.12.2020, as per MCA.

There is no need of separate application in form GNL-1 for extension.

Companies are required to hold the AGM within six months of the end of a financial year which means by September 30, 2020 for FY2019-20. Now, they can hold it by December 31 this year.

Below are the excerpt of the extension notification by the various ROCs.

Section 96 of the Companies Act 2013 provide that every company other than a One Person Company , shall in each year hold an a general meeting as its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and shall specify the meeting as such in the notices calling it and not more than fifteen months shall elapse between the date of one AGM of a company and that of the next

And WHEREAS the first proviso of section 96 of the Act provides that in case of the first AGM, it shall be held within a period of nine months from the date of closing of the first financial year of the company and in other case, within a six months, from the date of closing of the financial year

And WHEREAS, the third proviso to Sub-section (I) of section 96 of the Act provides that the Registrar may, for any special reason, extend the time within which any annual general meeting, other than the first annual general meeting, shall As held, by a period not exceeding three months

And WHEREAS, various representations have been received from the companies, bodies and Professional Institutes pointing out that several companies are finding it difficult to hold their AGM for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020 due to the difficulties faced in view of the COVID 19 pandemic

And WHEREAS, the representations have been considered and the undersign is of the considered opinion that due to such unprecedented special reasons, the time within which the AGM for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020 is required to be held as per provisions to be extended

The undersigned hereby extend the time to hold the AGM, other than the first AGM, for the Financial year ended 31.03.2020 for companies that are unable to hold their AGM within due date of holding or period of three months from the due date are extended without companies requiring to file GNL 1 Form.

The approval for extension of AGM upto 3 months from the due date of AGM shall be deemed to have been granted by the undersigned without any further action on the part of Company.

The MCA issued directions to the registrar of companies (ROCs) to issue orders to even those who have not filed formal applications to this effect. Even those applications, which have already already filed, but not approved, or rejected, are also covered under this relief, MCA said in a release.

Extension of AGM order of Respective ROC’s – Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs