Infosys directed to fix glitches in income tax e-filing portal

• Jun 08, 2022

• The Income Tax department on Tuesday directed vendor Infosys to address fresh technical glitches on the tax department’s e-filing portal. “Issue relating to the search functionality of the e-filing website has come to our notice. The Income Tax Department is seized of the matter. @Infosys has been directed to look into it & @Infosys has confirmed that they are resolving the issue on priority. @SalilParekh,” the department tweeted.
  No taxpayer data has been breached, a finance ministry spokesperson said. Taxpayers and consultants have been complaining about the new e-filing portal since it was launched in June 2021. With technical problems affecting taxpayer services eight days after the launch of the new income tax e-filing portal in June 2021, senior finance ministry officials held an interactive meeting with Infosys officials on the glitches. But, the glitches persisted for a long.

Income Tax

Rate of TDS on virtual digital assets shall be 1 per cent, clarifies government

• Jun 09, 2022
  
  

• The government in a late evening circular, clarified that the rate of TDS on Virtual Digital Assets continues to be 1 per cent, debunking earlier media reports that rate of TDS on Virtual Digital Assets(VDA) has been reduced to 0.1%. The 1% TDS is set to be applicable starting July 1 and has been the key reason for a drastic drop in volumes on Indian crypto exchanges, worsened by the global crypto crash. Earlier in the day, media reports mentioned that the TDS rate for virtual digital assets has been dropped to 0.1% from 1% as announced earlier in the budget. However, after the change was noticed by many the website updated the document rectifying the error. "Some media reports have come to the notice of CBDT claiming that the rate of TDS on Virtual Digital Assets(VDA) has been reduced to 0.1%. It is hereby clarified that there is no change in the rate of TDS on VDA, which continues to be 1%, " read the official clarification

Tax Deduction at Source

Centre moots ruling authority to fix direct tax liability, settle disputes

• Jun 11, 2022

• The revenue department is considering the setting up of a ruling authority like the Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) or Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) to ascertain tax liabilities and settle tax disputes. This will allow the Income-Tax Department and taxpayers to sit together and resolve disputes, and agree on the tax to be paid.The direct tax claims locked in litigation are about Rs 5 trillion. The concept is part of the minutes of the meeting circulated internally last month, when the revenue department discussed measures and the road map in line with its vision 2047.Business Standard has reviewed the minutes, which are being prepared following the annual conference attended by officials of the finance ministry and Central Board of Direct Taxes, and senior revenue officers.
  At present, APA deals with transfer-pricing cases that determine tax liabilities in advance to avoid any dispute. The DRP is an alternative mechanism that deals mainly with international taxation cases.
  Experts say various Authorities for Advance Ruling (AARs) take up issues from a technical standpoint and do not cover wider matters of income tax. Also AAR decisions have not helped in containing litigation because most of the matters go for appeal.
  “Such a process of optional and non-binding mediation can be helpful in eliminating tax disputes, particularly those relating to transfer pricing and other matters as well,” said Akhilesh Ranjan, advisor on tax policy at PwC and former member of the CBDT. Among other measures, the department is looking to tax the corporate sector in agriculture, phase out exemptions, and tap new and emerging sectors like crypto assets, to increase the tax-GDP ratio to 15-20 per cent.

Income Tax

Fine for missing ITR filing deadline halved

Jun 13, 2022

The last date of filing income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2021-22 is July 31, 2022. Until, FY 2019-20 if a taxpayer missed the ITR filing deadline, the maximum penalty he/she had to shell out was Rs 10, 000. However, with effect from FY 2020-21 (AY 2021-22) i.e., last year, the penalty amount has been reduced by half, i.e., a maximum penalty of up to Rs 5,000.

Income Tax

Income Tax department notifies cost inflation index for current fiscal

• Jun 15, 2022
• The Income Tax Department has notified the cost inflation index for the current fiscal to calculate long-term capital gains arising from the sale of immovable property, securities and jewellery. The cost inflation index (CII) is used by a taxpayer to compute gains arising out of the sale of capital assets after adjusting for inflation. The Cost Inflation Index for FY 2022-23 relevant to AY 2023-24 is 331.AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said the CII will help taxpayers to compute long-term capital gains tax, enabling them to remit advance tax on time.
  

Income Tax

Direct tax collections so far this fiscal rise 53.2% to Rs 2.58 lakh crore

• Jun 16, 2022
 

The net direct tax collections, which include income tax and corporate tax, reached Rs 2.58 lakh crore as of June 14 in financial year 2022-23 against Rs 1.86 lakh crore YoY, according to a CNBC-TV18 report, reigniting hopes of sustained economic recovery, despite inflationary concerns and the disruption caused by geopolitical tensions. The net direct tax collection has increased by around 53.2 percent from April 1 to June 14 over the year-ago period.The advance collection of corporate tax and personal income tax in the first quarter witnessed a healthy growth over last year, initial trends indicated.The government expects the advanced tax collection in the first quarter to grow around 50 to 60 percent over last year.

Income Tax

CBDT issues guidelines on TDS applicability on non-salary perquisites

• Jun 17, 2022
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  • The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Thursday issued guidelines seeking to address likely issues emanating from application of the newly introduced section 194R of the Income Tax Act for withholding 10% tax (TDS) on benefits or perquisites from non-salary sources.The new provision part of the Finance Act 2022 will become effective from July 1.

Income Tax

Income Tax department issues revised instruction on action against officers for high-pitched assessments

• Jun 17, 2022
 

The income tax department on Thursday said it has issued revised instruction, which provides for initiation of suitable administrative action against the officer concerned, in cases of high-pitched assessments. In 2015, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had provided for the constitution of ‘local committees to deal with taxpayer grievances from high-pitched scrutiny assessment’ in each principal commissionerate region. Considering the implementation of faceless assessment regime, the CBDT has now issued a revised instruction regarding constitution and functioning of these committees.

Income Tax