Tax reassessment: Supreme Court sets aside HC orders, revives show-cause notices

• May 05, 2022

  The Supreme Court held that the reassessment notices issued under the unamended Section 148 of the Income Tax Act on or after April 1, 2021, will not be deemed to be invalid just because they were issued under the old law. While modifying the relevant orders of various high courts that quashed the reassessment notices issued under the Section after the cut-off date, the SC said that these notices will be deemed as show-cause notices issued to the respective assessees under the new Section 148A of the Act.

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Income Tax

PAN or Aadhaar made mandatory for cash deposits or withdrawals above Rs 20 lakh

• May 12, 2022
  In a notification issued on May 10, 2022, the government has come out with new rules especially pertaining to those making financial transactions without a Permanent Account Number (PAN) or Aadhaar. The Central Board of Direct Taxes has made new rules, called the Income–tax (Fifteenth Amendment) Rules, 2022.As per the new rules, furnishing PAN or Aadhaar will be compulsory in the following transactions:
  

General

No new show cause notices to small taxpayers: CBDT tells officials

• May 12, 2022
  
  

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued on Wednesday extensive guidelines for implementing a Supreme Court (SC) order in reassessment cases. The court had early this month ruled that the thousands of show cause notices the Income Tax department had issued under a previous regime should be treated as ones issued under a new one for reopening assessment cases. The CBDT said that for three years, viz. assessment years (AY) 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, reassessment notices will not be issued for small taxpayers whose asset is less than Rs 50 lakh. The CBDT also clarified about subsequent years--AY 2016-17 and AY 2017-18--where timeline to issue notices under Section 148, as extended by various Taxation & Other Laws Amendment Acts ('TOLA') till June 30, falls within period of three years. Tax officers, in such cases, will issue show cause notices and provide material/ information to taxpayers for initiating reassessment proceedings, within 30 days--June 2.

Income Tax

I-T dept issues guidelines for selection of tax returns for complete scrutiny

• May 13, 2022
  The income tax department has issued guidelines for selection of I-T returns for complete scrutiny in the current fiscal and said such scrutiny would be applicable in cases where information about tax evasion is available from any other authority. The guidelines for selection for complete scrutiny have also added an additional limb of obtaining prior administrative approval of the Principal Commissioner/ Principal Director/ Commissioner / Director in certain cases, for selection of such cases for complete scrutiny.For instance, cases pertaining to survey, search and seizure and cases where charitable trusts have claimed exemption without a valid approval have been made subject to prior approval before transmission to the National Faceless Assessment Centre (NaFAC) for serving necessary scrutiny notices. Under complete scrutiny, a detailed scrutiny of the return of income is carried out by tax officers to confirm the genuineness of various claims, deductions, etc made by the taxpayer.

Income Tax

No capital gains or any other tax for Adani deal: Holcim CEO Jan Jenisch

• May 17, 2022
  
  
• Switzerland’s building materials conglomerate Holcim Group will not incur capital gains tax or any other tax following the stake sale of its Indian assets – Ambuja Cements and ACC – for about $10.5 billion to Adani Group. This gains importance as Hong Kong-based Hutchison was marred in a controversy following a $11-billion deal with UK’s Vodafone Group in 2007. “Our analysis comes to the conclusion that there is no capital gains or any other tax for this transaction. Never know if any complication would arise, but we assume we will get the 6.4 billion Swiss francs as net proceeds,” Holcim Chief Executive Officer Jan Jenisch said in an analysts’ call on Monday.
  

General

Non-ITR filers will face higher TDS

• May 19, 2022

• If you have not filed the income tax return for fiscal 2020-21, then you will be on the list of non-tax filers and have to face higher tax deduction at source from this financial fear. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a circular to determine the non-filers, or “specified person” who are subject to higher tax withholding or collection for FY 2022-23, while relaxing some of the guidelines.
  According to the circular, if the ITR was not filed for the relevant previous fiscal year and the aggregate TDS and tax collected at source exceeded Rs 50,000 that year, it would attract a high TDS. Banks will be required to check if an individual has met both conditions to attract a higher TDS.

Income Tax

Finance Ministry to clarify doubts on applicability of TDS on perks received in business, profession

May 19, 2022

The finance ministry will clarify doubts on the applicability of new TDS provision regarding benefits or perquisites received in a business or profession, a senior tax official said on Wednesday. Joint Secretary in the finance ministry Kamlesh C Varshney said that such benefits and perquisites are income and were always taxable whether received in cash or kind. The Budget 2022-23 brought in the provision of tax deducted at source (TDS) on such income to check tax revenue leakage.

Tax Deduction at Source

Foreign investors from Mauritius likely to keep taxman at bay

• May 20, 2022
  Foreign investors coming from Mauritius are often denied capital gains tax relief on the grounds that persons controlling the tax haven companies are based in other countries. This may change now. One such attempt by the Income tax (I-T) department to lift the 'corporate veil' was struck down this week by a court which ruled that the tricky subject of 'beneficial ownership' (BO) of the Mauritian entity cannot be linked to capital gains. The ruling by Income tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), a quasi-judicial authority, relating to Blackstone FP Capital Partners Mauritius V Ltd, pertains to financial year 2015-16 when it booked capital gains of over ?900 crore after selling stocks of CMS Info Systems.
  

Income Tax