I-T notices being sent to winners of online games for short-payment of tax: CBDT chief Nitin Gupta

• Sep 28, 2022
  
  

• With Rs 58,000 crore prize money won in the last three years, the income tax department has started issuing notices to individuals who have played and won online games, CBDT Chief Nitin Gupta said on Tuesday.
  The department has started alerting the winners on the tax compliance dashboard wherever there is a mismatch in income and tax payments.
  "We have mounted an action in this (online gaming) sector and determined that Rs 58,000 crore winnings were there in last 3 years. The data is with us. We are in the process of issuing notices," Gupta said.
  He said the notices are being put up on the tax compliance portal and winners are being nudged to pay due taxes."They are expected to voluntarily comply to payment of taxes," Gupta said.He also said the department undertakes enforcement action wherever it finds that data is backed by evidences and in such cases notices are issued.

Income Tax

Nirmala Sitharaman sets out three principles for income tax officials

• Sep 29, 2022

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday urged the income tax department to assess tax returns and process tax refunds even faster and redress pending grievances of assessees as she set a new three-point governing principle for the tax department.
The minister acknowledged that with use of technology, tax returns are now assessed and refunds are issued quickly but further improvements in this will fetch more goodwill to the department. The minister also told officials to resolve pending grievances.

Income Tax

Government extends deadline for filing tax audit report till Oct 7

• Oct 01, 2022
  

  The income tax department extended the due date for filing tax audit reports for fiscal 2021-22 by 7 days till October 30."On consideration of difficulties faced by the taxpayers and other stakeholders in the filing of various reports of audit for the Assessment Year 2022-23, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend the due date for filing of various reports of audit for the Assessment Year 2022-23, which was 30th September 2022 to 07th October 2022," an official statement said.Under the income tax act, those taxpayers who need to get their accounts audited by a chartered accountant are required to file the tax audit report with the I-T department by September 30.

Audits

Gross direct tax revenue jumps 24 pc to Rs 8.98 lakh cr; net collections cross 52 pc of budget target

Oct 10, 2022

The gross collection of tax on corporate and individual earnings jumped nearly 24 per cent so far in the current fiscal year to Rs 8.98 lakh crore, the tax department said on Sunday.This includes a 32 per cent growth in personal income tax (including Securities Transaction Tax) mop up and 16.73 per cent increase in corporate tax revenues over the same period last year.

General

India gets 4th set of Swiss bank account details under automatic info exchange framework

• Oct 11, 2022
  India has received the fourth set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals and organisations as part of an annual automatic information exchange under which Switzerland has shared particulars of nearly 34 lakh financial accounts with 101 countries.Officials said the new details shared with India pertain to “hundreds of financial accounts”, including many cases of multiple accounts associated with some individuals, corporates and trusts.
  

Income Tax

OECD norms to bring clarity on crypto tax

Oct 12, 2022

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has submitted a Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) to the G20 to increase global transparency in the reporting of tax information on transactions in crypto-assets in a standardised manner. The mechanism will facilitate automatic exchange of information among jurisdictions on an annual basis.

International Tax

Educational trusts for profit cannot claim income tax exemption: SC

• Oct 20, 2022
  Supreme Court on Wednesday said profit-oriented educational trusts or societies cannot claim exemption under the Income Tax Act.The bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit, Justices S Ravindra Bhat and PS Narasimha said that such educational trusts or societies should solely be concerned with education or education related activities under Section 10(23C) of the Income Tax Act(the Act).
  

• The Section states that any university or other educational institution existing solely for educational purposes and not for purposes of profit, and which is wholly or substantially financed by the Government qualify for tax exemption under the said section."Our Constitution reflects a value which equates education with charity. That it is to be treated as neither business, trade, nor commerce, has been declared by the pronouncement of this very court," the court said.

Income Tax

Public utilities to lose tax waiver if engaged in commerce: SC

• Oct 21, 2022
  
  

• The Supreme Court held that a general public utility (GPU) cannot engage in any trade or commercial activity if it wants to claim income tax exemptions available to organisations doing charitable work.

  However, statutory corporations, boards, authorities, commissions, etc, in the housing development, town planning, industrial development sectors with objects of GPU are entitled to be considered as charities in the GPU categories for taxation purpose, even when they are involved or engaged in activities in the nature of trade, commerce or business, it added.

General