In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India had passed Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 ('Ordinance') to provide for various reliefs (including extension of various compliances' deadlines falling between 20 March 2020 and 29 June 2020 to 30 June 2020). Post that, it had made an announcement that the deadline for filing the tax returns of all the taxpayers for fiscal year 2019-20 shall be 30 November 2020. Further, through a Press Release it had also extended the deadline for Vivad se Vishwas Scheme (VsV Scheme) from 30 June 2020 to 31 December 2020. However, the notification was awaited.
Recently, the Central Board of Direct Taxes issued a Notification1 extending various timelines (including filing of tax return, deadline under VsV Scheme etc.) and granting certain reliefs. We, at BDO in India, have analysed and summarised this Notification hereunder:
Relief by extending deadlines
The deadlines falling between 20 March 2020 and 31 December 2020 under the Specified Acts (i.e. the Wealth Tax Act, 1957; the Income-tax Act, 1961 (IT Act); The Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988; Chapter VII of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004; Chapter VII of the Finance Act, 2013; The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015; Chapter VIII of the Finance Act, 2016 and the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020) has been extended to 31 March 2021, except for following:
|
Particulars |
Original deadline |
Due date as per the Ordinance |
Due date as per the Notification |
|
Matters other than specifically provided: a. Completion of any proceeding or passing of any order or issuance of any notice, intimation, notification, sanction or approval or such other action, by whatever name called, by any authority, commission or tribunal, by whatever name called, under the provisions of the specified Act; or b. Filing of any appeal, reply or application or furnishing of any report, document, return, statement or such other record, by whatever name called, under the provisions of the specified Act |
Deadline falling between 20 March 2020 and 31 December 2020 |
|
31 March 2021 |
|
Tax return for fiscal year (FY) 2018-19 (Belated/ Revised tax return) |
31 March 2020 |
30 June 2020 |
31 July 2020 |
|
Tax return for FY 2019-20 |
31 July 2020; or 31 October 2020 or 30 November 2020 |
30 November 2020[2] |
30 November 2020 |
|
e-TDS and e-TCS return for Quarter 4 of FY 2019-20 |
31 May 2020 |
30 June 2020 |
31 July 2020 |
|
Issuance of Salary Certificate (i.e. Form 16) for FY 2019-20 |
15 June 2020 |
30 June 2020 |
15 August 2020 |
|
Issuance of TDS Certificates (i.e. Form 16A) for FY 2019-20 |
15 June 2020 |
15 July 2020 |
15 August 2020 |
|
Deduction under section 54 to 54GB (excluding section 54 and 54GB) of the IT Act |
Due dates as per IT Act |
30 June 2020 |
No extension |
|
Deduction under section 54 and 54GB of the IT Act |
Due dates as per IT Act |
30 June 2020 |
30 September 2020 |
|
Deduction under any provisions of Chapter VI-A under the heading "B-Deductions in respect of certain payments" |
Due dates as per IT Act |
30 June 2020 |
30 September 2020 |
|
Date of furnishing tax audit report for FY 2019-20 |
30 September 2020 or 31 October 2020 (where TP is involved) |
31 October 2020[3] |
31 October 2020 |
|
Commencement of Operation for Special Economic Zone units under section 10AA of the IT Act |
31 March 2020 |
30 June 2020 |
30 September 2020 |
|
Payment under Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020 |
31 March 2020 |
30 June 2020 |
31 December 2020 |
Other Relief
- Interest under section 234A of the IT Act (levied for delay in filing the Tax Return) not to be levied if the self-assessment tax liability does not exceed INR 0.1 mn
- The timeline for linking PAN and Aadhar extended to 31 March 2021.
BDO Comments
While the relaxations granted by the CBDT via extension of deadlines is a welcome move, unlike the Ordinance which granted concessional interest and waiver of penalty if the taxes are paid on or before 30 June 2020, the Notification is silent about such relaxation. Further, there is no extension in payment of taxes and accordingly, non-payment of taxes will attract regular rates of interest @12 percent / 18 percent.
Further, the due date for filing the tax return for FY 2019-20 has been extended to 30 November 2020, the relaxation from interest is provided only if the tax liability (after considering the advance taxes paid, TDS credit, Foreign Tax Credit) is less than INR 0.1mn. Hence, taxpayers are advised to pay taxes on their income before the deadline that is applicable to them (i.e. 31 July 2020 or 31 October 2020 or 30 November 2020, as the case may be).
Furthermore, based on the reading of the Notification, it appears that all deadlines falling between 20 March 2020 and 31 December 2020 (say filing of quarterly eTDS return / eTCS return for first three quarters of FY 2020-21, filing of SFT return, etc.), other than the ones mentioned in chart above, have been extended to 31 March 2021. However, with no extension in reduced interest and waiver of penalty, it could be deduced that the interest (at full rate) and penalty could be levied.
Footnotes
1 Notification No. 35/2020/F. No. 370142/23/2020-TPL
2 Press Release dated 13 May 2020, the deadline for filing tax return by all taxpayer has been extended to 30 November 2020
3 Press Release dated 13 May 2020, the deadline for filing tax return by all taxpayer has been extended to 30 November 2020
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
