TAXVANI

Govt sets up Tribunal to resolve ICAI Election Disputes

The Central Government, on last Friday, constituted a Tribunal to resolve the disputes relating to the ICAI election held on December 2018.

s per section 10A of the Act, in case of any dispute regarding any election under clause (a) of subsection (2) of section 9, the aggrieved person may make an application within thirty days from the date of declaration of the result of election to the Secretary of the Institute, who shall forward the same to the Central Government.

Section 10B of the Act empowers the Government to set up a Tribunal consisting of a Presiding Officer and two other Members to decide such dispute and the decision of such Tribunal shall be final.

As per the Notification issued by the Government last week, the Central Government established a Tribunal consisting of the following persons to decide disputes arising under section 10A of the said Act in the matter of election to the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India held in December, 2018.

The Tribunal is presided by Ms. Zoya Hadke, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi. The members are Shri Alok Samantarai, – Member; Director General of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Kota House, Shahjahan Road, Near UPSC, New Delhi and Shri V. K. Khubchandani, – Member. Director of Inspection and Investigation, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Kota House, Shahjahan Road, Near UPSC, New Delhi.

Read more at: https://www.taxscan.in

CBDT identifies 20.4 million non-filers, asks I-T dept to take action

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has directed the Income-Tax Department to initiate penalty proceedings by June 30 against non-filers and ‘drop filers’ of tax returns.

According to the non-filer monitoring system (NMS) of the I-T department, data for 20.4 million non-filers has been obtained between 2013 and 2017, of which 2.5 million are those who are inconsistent — popularly known as ‘dropped filers’.

“We are issuing notices in all the non-filer/dropped filer cases across the country, and proceedings shall be initiated accordingly in the relevant cases," said an assessing officer.

Typically, the penalty for non-filing is pursued under Section 271F of the Income Tax Act, and that for late filing under Section 234. If an assessee files returns after the due date of August 31 but before December 31, it will attract a penalty of Rs 5,000. For those who file returns after December 31, the penalty rises to Rs 10,000. However, there is an exemption for small taxpayers — if the total income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh per annum, the maximum penalty will be Rs 1,000.

The tax department has initiated action based on the NMS database, which has identified such non-filers and dropped filers. The said data has been shared with assessing officers. This information may be acted upon as efficiently as possible to widen the tax base, said the officer cited above.

The NMS data shows a sharp increase in non-filers since 2013. In 2014, the number of non-filers was 1.22 million, which surged to 6.75 million in 2015.

The number of dropped filers in FY18 stood at 2.52 million, down from 2.83 million in FY17.

“If the existing database is acted upon, coupled with optimum tax administration, and if legislative impetus — such as periodical review of provisions related to exemption, deductions, tax incentives, tax collection from the third parties, and taxing new areas such as digital economy — is provided, there will be considerable increase in the tax base," said a senior tax official.

An assessing officer can initiate proceedings for prosecution from three months to two years, along with a fine. The period could be extended if the taxable income exceeds Rs 25 lakh.

Refer:www.business-standard.com

ICAI goes Digital, won’t accept Cheques/ DDs beyond 6th May

As part of converting to the digital platform and to go user-friendly, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ( ICAI ) will not accept payment in cash or any other physical form beyond 4th May 2019.

“The ICAI has been continuously evolving ways to automate and re-engineer processes in order to make transactions easier and user-friendly. One such step has been the creation of SSP (Self Service Portal), an initiative from ICAI to make applications (Forms) and transactions (Services) – faster and easier. The full-scale Student and Member / Firm Services by ICAI will be put to implementation starting the third week of May 2019,” the ICAI said in a statement.

“ICAI has scheduled a one-time migration activity from the old system to a new system from 6th May 2019. The entire IT Systems (including e-services) with respect to Members and Student Services will not be available between 6th May to 22nd May 2019 and the Regional Offices will not be able to process any form or any other transaction. However, the membership renewal link will be available and Members will be able to make fee payments through online mode. However New Students of Foundation Course and Direct Entry will also be able to register,” it said.

“Very Important: As entire ICAI is moving towards new Digital platform, PHYSICAL DAK including CHEQUES / DD’s will not be accepted by Regional Offices and Branches beyond 6th May 2019,” it emphasized.

it said that with effective from 22nd May 2019 (Wednesday), ICAI will accept only Online Application forms only through e-services at the link https://www.icai.org/new_post.html?post_id=5509 on the website www.icai.org.

“Important: Members are requested to update and validate their e-mail address and mobile number (one-time activity) before 6th May 2019 to ensure access to the new system, as all transactions henceforth in the new system will be OTP based transactions,” the announcement said.

Currently, the ICAI is receiving cheques and DDs from students and members for various services such as renewal of membership and exam applications. From now, onwards, the payments would be accepted only through the digital platform.

Read more at: https://www.taxscan.in

Gold and Silver rates as on March 31, 2019

The rate of Gold 995 is Rs. 31,640 per 10 grams and rate of Silver 999 is Rs. 37,245 per 1 KG as on March 29, 2019. The same shall be applicable for March 31, 2019 due to closure of market on Saturday & Sunday.

The rates of Gold and Silver as on March 31 are required for valuation of the inventories. As per the ICDS-II (Inventories), inventories shall be valued at lower of cost or net realisable value whichever is lower.

Refer:www.taxmann.com

Quoting of Aadhaar in ITR of A.Y. 2019-20 is mandatory even if return for preceding year is processed without it

From assessment years 2019-20, linkage of PAN with Aadhar card is mandatory

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Union of India

v.

Shreya Sen*
A.K SIKRI AND ABDUL NAZEER, JJ.

SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION (CIVIL) DIARY NO. 34292 OF 2018†

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

Section 139AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Quoting of Aadhaar number (Return without Aadhar) - Assessment year 2018-19 - High Court by impugned order had permitted assessees to file Income tax returns for assessment year 2018-19 without linking their Aadhar and PAN numbers and also directed that Income Tax Department would not insist on production of their Aadhar number - Aforesaid order was passed by High Court having regard to fact that matter was pending consideration in Supreme Court - Thereafter, Supreme Court decided matter and upheld vires of section 139AA, in view whereof, Linkage of PAN with Aadhar card was mandatory - However, assessees informed that they had filed income tax returns for relevant assessment year 2018-19 in terms of order of High Court and assessment had also been completed - Whether therefore, for subsequent assessment years 2019-20, Income Tax return shall be filed in conformity to Supreme Court order - Held, yes. [Paras 3, 4 and 5] [Partly in favour of assessee]

CASE REVIEW
Shreyasen v. Union of India [2018] 95 taxmann.com 256/257 Taxman 95/407 ITR 37 (Delhi) (para 3) reversed.
K.K. Venugopal, Ld. AG, Zoheb Hossain, Rupesh Kumar, Mrs. Shradha Deshmukh, Advs. and Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR for the Appellant. Mohit Chaudhary, AOR, Ms. Puja Sharma, Balwinder Singh Suri and Ms. Tripty Poddar, Advs. for the Respondent.

ORDER

1. Delay condoned.

2. The High Court vide impugned order dated 24.2.2018 passed in Petition (Civil) No.7444 of 2018, had permitted the respondents herein to file the Income Tax Return for the Assessment Year 2018-19 without linkage of their Aadhar and PAN numbers and it was also directed that the Income Tax Department would not insist on production of their number of Aadhar enrolement.

3. The aforesaid order was passed by the High Court having regard to the fact that the matter was pending consideration in this Court. Thereafter, this Court has decided the matter and upheld the vires of section 139AA of the Income Tax Act. In view thereof, linkage of PAN with Aadhar is mandatory.

4. Insofar as assessment year 2018-19 is concerned, learned counsel appearing for the respondents informs that the respondents had filed the income tax returns in terms of the orders of the High Court and the assessment has also been completed.

5. We therefore make it clear that for the assessment year 2019-20, the income tax return shall be filed in terms of the judgment passed by this Court.

6. The special leave petition is disposed of in the above terms. Pending interlocutory applications, if any, stand disposed of.

Refer:[2019] 104 taxmann.com 160 (SC)

Persons exempt from obtaining registration under Punjab GST -notification

GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB

DEPARTMENT OF EXCISE AND TAXATION

(EXCISE AND TAXATION BRANCH-II)

NOTIFICATION

The 8th April, 2019

No. S.O.33/P.A.5/2017/S.23/2019.-

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 23 of the Punjab Goods and Services
Tax Act, 2017 (Punjab Act No.5 of 2017)(hereafter referred to as the “said Act”), and all other powers enabling him in this behalf, the Governor of Punjab, on the recommendations of the Council, is pleased to specify the following category of persons, as the category of persons exempt from obtaining registration under the said Act, namely,-
Any person, who is engaged in exclusive supply of goods and whose aggregate turnover in the financial year does not exceed forty lakh rupees, except, -
(a) persons required to take compulsory registration under section 24 of the said Act;
(b) persons engaged in making supplies of the goods, the description of which is specified in column (3) of the Table below and falling under the tariff item, sub-heading, heading or Chapter, as the case may be, as specified in the corresponding entry in column (2) of the said Table;
(c) persons engaged in making intra-State supplies in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand; and

(d) persons exercising option under the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 25, or such registered persons who intend to continue with their registration under the said Act.

Table
Sl. Tariff item, sub-heading, Description
No. heading or Chapter
(1) (2) (3)

1 Teriff Head 2105 00 00 Ice cream and other edible ice, whether or not containing cocoa.

2 Teriff Head 2106 90 20 Pan masala

3 Teriff Head 24, all Goods .i.e. Tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes

2. This notification shall come into force on the 1st day of April, 2019.

M.P. SINGH,
Additional Chief Secretary-cum-
Financial Commissioner (Taxation) to
Government of Punjab,
Department of Excise and Taxation.
Courtesy By: Amit Dixit, Advocate

CBDT gives I-T commissioners 3-month deadline to clear pending cases

In a letter outlining the target set for each Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT), the CBDT said that every CIT has to file 10 prosecution cases for default in the filing of return of income.

Considering the Rs 60,000 crore shortfall in direct tax collection in the last fiscal, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has prepared a central action plan for its officers to execute during the first quarter of FY19-20. The department wants all Income Tax commissioners to ensure that each assessing officer disposes off at least 25 domestic cases or 20 international cases during the three-month period.

Most of the cases are post the demonetisation era. The CBDT is not leaving any stone unturned to ascertain it achieves its set target this year.

Moneycontrol has a copy of central action plan, which was sent to I-T commissioners on April 12.

All assessing officers have been asked to complete filing of the cases until June 30. The same deadline has been set for those cases that were set aside for assessment or reopened under section 147 of the I-T Act. The provision empowers assessing officer to assess or reassess tax chargeable on income if he is of the opinion that any income has escaped assessment.

The deadline for filing cases against those companies that were struck off under the companies law has also been set as June 30. In 2017, the government ‘struck off’ several defunct companies introducing an alternative to the usual method of winding up companies.

In a letter outlining the target set for each Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT), the CBDT said that every CIT has to file 10 prosecution cases for default in the filing of return of income, which has already been identified by the systems directorate or identified manually.

Meanwhile, senior lawyer Arti Sathe told Moneycontrol, “The central action plan is an interesting mix of the things expected from the I-T department. Some points in the action plan are for streamlining the administrative processes, while the pointers of starting prosecution proceedings in a time-bound manner could well unleash a ‘tax terrorism’ of sorts and increase the prosecution proceedings for minor violations.”

Further, the CBDT has set a target to auction 20 percent of properties that have been attached until March 31, 2019. The income tax department has made it clear to all concerned that recovery of outstanding tax will be enhanced. Along with that, penalties will be levied and legal cases will be initiated without delay where income tax settlement commission has already passed an order.

Refer:www.moneycontrol.com

Changes in Form 16 and Form 24Q

The CBDT has notified changes in Form 16 (TDS Certificate for Salary Income) and Form 24Q (TDS return in respect of salary). The changes have been made to bring TDS certificate in sync with new ITR forms issued for AY 2019-20. The changes are as follows:

1. Clause-wise reporting of exempt allowances and deduction under Chapter VI-A

In existing Form 16 (Part B), the employer had an option to provide a description of the exempt allowance. Consequently, every organization had created different formats as per their requirements, which resulted in discorded formats of Part B of Form 16. The new Form 16 (Part B) has removed this option to write-down the description of exempt allowances. Now the employers have to mention the amount of exempt allowance before earmarked fields. Similar changes have been made in respect of deduction available under Chapter VI-A and losses under the head house property. These changes would ensure that organizations follow common structure of TDS certificates and employees find it convenient to file the tax return on basis of TDS certificates. Further, it also gives a confirmation that the deductions and exemptions claimed by the employees in Income-tax return match with the information available in TDS certificate.

2. Standard Deduction

The Finance Act, 2018 introduced the standard deduction of up to Rs. 40,000 for the salaried persons. The new Form 16 has accordingly been revised to incorporate the effect of this amendment.

3. Reporting of salary received from other employers

If an employee has received salary from his ex-employer or other employer during the previous year and same has been reported to the current employer for TDS purposes, then separate reporting is required for such salary income in new Form 16.

4. Furnishing of PAN of the lender in case of home loan

In new Form 24Q, it is mandatory to furnish the PAN of the lender in case any deduction has been claimed in respect of housing loan taken from a person other than a Financial Institution or the Employer. Earlier, it was optional.

Refer: www.taxmann.com

Schedule P&L has been enlarged to seek more information

In new ITR forms, in place of existing Part A P and L, following new Parts have been

inserted:

a) Manufacturing Account

b) Trading Account

c) Profit and Loss Account

Thus, if assessee is engaged in manufacturing activities then he shall be required to arrive at cost of goods sold through manufacturing account, gross profit through trading account and net profit through profit and loss account. Manufacturing account is not meant for service providers and traders. Hence, they can start directly from trading account.

This will impact [ITR 3, 5, 6]

Refer: www.taxmann.com

Reporting of donation made in cash to curtail deduction under Section 80G

Section 80G allows deduction for donations made to certain notified funds, charitable institutions or other institutions/ funds set up by the Government of India. The Finance Act, 2017 had reduced the limit of cash donation from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 2,000. Thus, with effect from Assessment Year 2018-19, no deduction is allowed for cash donation made in excess of Rs. 2,000.

The new ITR forms have incorporated new columns to specify the amount of donation made in cash and in other mode. Cash donation made in excess of Rs. 2,000 shall not be allowed as deduction from gross total income.
This change will impact [ITR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Refer: www.taxmann.com

Total Pageviews