In view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Government brought the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (‘the Ordinance’) on 31st March, 2020 which, inter alia, extended various time limits. The Ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act. The Government issued a Notification on 24th June, 2020 under the Ordinance which, inter alia, extended the due date for all Income Tax Returns for the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) to 30th November, 2020. Hence, the returns of income which were required to be filed by 31st July, 2020 and 31st October, 2020 were required to be filed by 30th November, 2020. Consequently, the date for furnishing various audit reports including tax audit report under the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) was also extended to 31st October, 2020. In order to provide more time to tax...

  RBI/2020-21/79 DOR.No.BP.BC.30/21.04.048/2020-21 December 14, 2020 All Scheduled Commercial Banks All Payments Banks Madam / Dear Sir, Opening of Current Accounts by Banks - Need for Discipline Please refer to the  circulars DOR.No.BP.BC/7/21.04.048/2020-21 dated August 6, 2020  and  DOR.No.BP.BC.27/21.04.048/2020-21 dated November 2, 2020  on the captioned subject. On a review, it has been decided to permit banks to open specific accounts which are stipulated under various statutes and instructions of other regulators/ regulatory departments, without any restrictions placed in terms of the above-mentioned  circular dated August 6, 2020 . An indicative list of such accounts is as given below: Accounts for real estate projects mandated under Section 4 (2) l (D) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 for the purpose of maintaining 70% of advance payments collected from the home buyers. Nodal or escrow accounts of payment aggregators/prepa...

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, in its gazette notification dated 2nd August, 2019, had made generation of UDIN from ICAI website www.icai.org 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. 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 Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) portal for validation of Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) generated from ICAI portal by the Chartered Accountants for documents certified/attested by them. It may be noted that, in consonance with the above requirement, Income-tax e-filing portal had already factored mandatory quoting of UDIN with effect from 27th April, 2020 for documents ...

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has announced 12 key measures, as part of Government of India’s stimulus to the economy, under AatmaNirbhar Bharat 3.0. The net stimulus announced today amounts to ₹ 2.65 Lakh crore. While addressing the Press Conference here today , SmtSitharaman also informed that the total stimulus announced by the Government and Reserve Bank of India till date, to help the nation tide over the COVID-19 pandemic, works out to ₹ 29.87 lakh crore, which is 15% of national GDP. Out of this, stimulus worth 9% of GDP has been provided by the government. The following are the 12 keyannouncements under AatmaNirbhar Bharat 3.0- 1) AatmaNirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana A new scheme to incentivize job creation during COVID-19 recovery has been launched. If EPFO-registered establishments take in new employees without EPFO registration or those who lost jobs earlier, the Yojana will benefit these employees. Beneficiaries / New Employees und...

Ministry of Finance Extension of due date of furnishing of Income Tax Returns and Audit Reports Posted On: 24 OCT 2020 2:27PM by PIB Delhi In view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Government brought the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (‘the Ordinance’) on 31st March, 2020 which, inter alia, extended various time limits. The Ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act. The Government issued a Notification on 24thJune, 2020 under the Ordinance which, inter alia, extended the due date for all Income Tax Returns for the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) to 30th November, 2020. Hence, the returns of income which were required to be filed by 31st July, 2020 and 31st October, 2020 are required to be filed by 30th November, 2020. Consequently, the date for furnishing various audit reports includin...

The Government has been receiving a number of representations regarding need to extend due date for filing Annual Return (FORM GSTR-9) and Reconciliation Statement (FORM GSTR-9C) for 2018-19 on the grounds that on account of the COVID-19 pandemic related lockdown and restrictions, normal operation of businesses have still not been possible in several parts of the country. It has been requested that the due dates for the same be extended beyond 31st October 2020 to enable the businesses and auditors to comply in this regard. In view of the same, on the recommendations of the GST Council, it has been decided to extend the due date for filing Annual Return (FORM GSTR-9/GSTR-9A) and Reconciliation Statement (FORM GSTR-9C) for Financial Year 2018-19 from 31st October 2020 to 31st December, 2020. Notifications to give effect to this decision would follow. It may be noted that filing of Annual Return (FORM GSTR-9/ GSTR-9A) for 2018-19 is optional for taxpayers who had aggregate turnover below...

Section's 140, 159, 160,168,176, 178 etc. of the Income Tax Act, 1961 envisages many situations where a person would not be able to attend to their Income Tax related affairs on their own. In such cases, their guardian or any other competent person can act on their behalf with specific authorisation. Under the circumstances mentioned below, a user can register as representative of another person for carrying out their activities in e-Filing portal. Prerequisite The following table represents the categories available for applicable user type: Categories of Assesses Who shall Register as 'Representative' Mentally incapacitated Guardian / Manager who is managing the affairs of such person Deceased (Legal heir) Legal heir of the deceased person Minor Guardian / Manager who is managing the affairs of such person Lunatic or Idiot Guardian / Manager who is managing the affairsof such person As Court of Wards etc Administrator General / Official Trustee / Receiver / Manager who man...