A. Tax exemption Many taxpayers have received financial help from their employers and well-wishers for meeting their expenses incurred for treatment of COVID-19. In order to ensure that no income tax liability arises on this account, it has been decided to provide income-tax exemption to the amount received by a taxpayer for medical treatment from employer or from any person for treatment of COVID-19 during FY 2019-20 and subsequent years. Unfortunately, certain taxpayers have lost their life due to COVID-19. Employers and well-wishers of such taxpayers had extended financial assistance to their family members so that they could cope with the difficulties arisen due to the sudden loss of the earning member of their family. In order to provide relief to the family members of such taxpayer, it has been decided to provide income-tax exemption to ex-gratia payment received by family members of a person from the employer of such person or from other person on the death of the person on account of COVID-19 during FY 2019-20 and subsequent years. The exemption shall be allowed without any limit for the amount received from the employer and the exemption shall be limited to Rs. 10 lakh in aggregate for the amount received from any other persons. Necessary legislative amendments for the above decisions shall be proposed in due course of time.
B. Extension of Timelines In view of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, taxpayers are facing inconvenience in meeting certain tax compliances and also in filing response to various notices. In order to ease the compliance burden of taxpayers during this difficult time, reliefs are being provided through Notifications nos. 74/2021 & 75/2021 dated 25th June, 2021 Circular no. 12/2021 dated 25th June, 2021. These reliefs are
Objections to Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) and Assessing Officer under section 144C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) for which the last date of filing under that section is 1st June, 2021 or thereafter, may be filed within the time provided in that section or by 31st August, 2021, whichever is later.
The Statement of Deduction of Tax for the last quarter of the Financial Year 2020-21, required to be furnished on or before 31st May, 2021 under Rule 31A of the Income-tax Rules,1962 (hereinafter referred to as “the Rules”), as extended to 30th June, 2021 vide Circular No.9 of 2021, may be furnished on or before 15th July, 2021.
The Certificate of Tax Deducted at Source in Form No.16, required to be furnished to the employee by 15th June, 2021 under Rule 31 of the Rules, as extended to 15th July, 2021 vide Circular No.9 of 2021, may be furnished on or before 31st July, 2021.
The Statement of Income paid or credited by an investment fund to its unit holder in Form No. 64D for the Previous Year 2020-21, required to be furnished on or before 15th June, 2021 under Rule 12CB of the Rules, as extended to 30th June, 2021 vide Circular No.9 of 2021, may be furnished on or before 15th July, 2021.
The Statement of Income paid or credited by an investment fund to its unit holder in Form No. 64C for the Previous Year 2020-21, required to be furnished on or before 30th June, 2021 under Rule 12CB of the Rules, as extended to 15th July, 2021 vide Circular No.9 of 2021, may be furnished on or before 31st July, 2021.
The application under Section 10(23C), 12AB, 35(1)(ii)/(iia)/(iii) and 80G of the Act in Form No.10A/ Form No.10AB, for registration/ provisional registration/ intimation/ approval/ provisional approval of Trusts/ Institutions/ Research Associations etc., required to be made on or before 30th June, 2021, may be made on or before 31st August, 2021.
The compliances to be made by the taxpayers such as investment, deposit, payment, acquisition, purchase, construction or such other action, by whatever name called, for the purpose of claiming any exemption under the provisions contained in Section 54 to 54GB of the Act, for which the last date of such compliance falls between 1st April, 2021 to 29th September, 2021 (both days inclusive), may be completed on or before 30th September, 2021.
The Quarterly Statement in Form No. 15CC to be furnished by authorized dealer in respect of remittances made for the quarter ending on 30th June, 2021, required to be furnished on or before 15th July, 2021 under Rule 37 BB of the Rules, may be furnished on or before 31st July, 2021.
The Equalization Levy Statement in Form No. 1 for the Financial Year 2020-21, which is required to be filed on or before 30th June, 2021, may be furnished on or before 31st July, 2021.
The Annual Statement required to be furnished under sub-section (5) of section 9A of the Act by the eligible investment fund in Form No. 3CEK for the Financial Year 2020-21, which is required to be filed on or before 29th June, 2021, may be furnished on or before 31st July, 2021.
Uploading of the declarations received from recipients in Form No. 15G/15H during the quarter ending 30th June, 2021, which is required to be uploaded on or before 15th July, 2021, may be uploaded by 31st August,2021.
Exercising of option to withdraw pending application (filed before the erstwhile Income Tax Settlement Commission) under sub-section (1) of Section 245M of the Act in Form No. 34BB, which is required to be exercised on or before 27th June, 2021, may be exercised on or before 31st July, 2021.
Last date of linkage of Aadhaar with PAN under section 139AA of the Act, which was earlier extended to 30th June, 2021 is further extended to 30th September, 2021.
Last date of payment of amount under Vivad se Vishwas(without additional amount) which was earlier extended to 30th June, 2021 is further extended to 31st August, 2021.
Last date of payment of amount under Vivad se Vishwas (with additional amount) has been notified as 31st October, 2021.
Time Limit for passing assessment order which was earlier extended to 30th June, 2021 is further extended to 30th September, 2021.
Time Limit for passing penalty order which was earlier extended to 30th June, 2021 is further extended to 30th September, 2021.
Time Limit for processing Equalisation Levy returns which was earlier extended to 30th June, 2021 is further extended to 30th September, 2021.
CBDT grants relaxation in electronic filing of forms 15CA & 15CB in view of difficulties reported by taxpayers in filing of forms online on the new e-filing portal http://incometax.gov.in. The forms can be submitted in manual format to the authorised dealers till 30th June, 2021.
Non-availability of e-filing services from 01.06.2021 to 06.06.2021
The Income Tax Department is going to launch its new e-filing portal (www.incometax.gov.in) 7th June 2021, The New E Filing Portal (www.incometax.gov.in) is aimed at providing taxpayer convenience and a modern seamless experience to taxpayers.
Key Features of New Income Tax E Filing Portal :-
New taxpayer friendly portal integrated with immediate processing of Income Tax Returns(ITRs) to issue quick refunds to taxpayers;
All interactions and uploads or pending actions will be displayed on a single dashboard for follow-up action by taxpayer:
Free of cost ITR preparation software available online and offline with interactive questions to help taxpayers fill 1TR even without any tax knowledge, with pre- filling, for minimizing data entry effort;
New call center for taxpayer assistance for immediate answers to taxpayer queries with FAQs, Tutorials, Videos and chatbot / live agent;
All key portal functions on desktop will be available on Mobile App which will be enabled subsequently for full anytime access on mobile network;
New online tax payment system on new portal will be enabled subsequently with multiple new payment options using netbanking, UPI, Credit Card and RTGS/NEFT from any account of taxpayer in any bank, for easy payment of taxes
Due date for TDS return quarter 4 for FY 20-21 is 30th June 2021 earlier it was 31st May 2021
Due date to file return of income u/s 139(1) has been extended to 30th September 2021 for those assesses who were supposed to file return of income on or before 31st July 2021 (Non Audit Cases)
Due date to file return of income u/s 139(1) has been extended to 30th November 2021 for those assesses who were supposed to file return of income on or before 31st October 2021 (Audit Cases)
Due date to file return of income u/s 139(1) has been extended to 31st December 2021 for those assesses who were supposed to file return of income on or before 30th November (Transfer Pricing Cases)
The due date to file tax audit report has been extended to 31st October 2021 for those assesses who were supposed to file tax audit report on or before 30th September 2021.
Due date to file report under section 92E has been extended to 30th November 2021 for those assesses who were supposed to file on or before 31st October 2021.
Due date to furnish belated or revised return of income which was supposed to be filed by 31st December 2021 under 139(4)/139(5) has been extended to 31st January 2022.
SFT for financial year 2020-21 has been extended to 30th June 2021 which was supposed to be filed on or before 31st May 2021
