The central board of direct taxes (CBDT) has set monetary limitations for waiver or Reduction of Interest on Tax Payments with riders. According to the circular issued late night Monday, principal chief commissioners of Income Tax can waive up to Rs. 50 lakhs, chief commissioners or director generals of Income Tax can waive between Rs. 50 lakhs and Rs. 1.5 crores, and principal chief commissioners of Income Tax can waive interest above Rs. 1.5 crores. The notification will be effective Tuesday. The interest waiver or reduction will be considered if payment of the amount would cause genuine hardship to the taxpayer, or if default was due to circumstances beyond their control, the circular said. Taxpayers must also co-operate in assessment or recovery proceedings, the circular added.
Read More →The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, has recently released updated regulations outlining the process for granting condonation of delays in submitting income tax returns (ITRs) that include claims for refunds or carrying forward losses. These latest directives effectively override any prior guidelines or instructions that were in place. Here are the top points: 1. The authority to approve or deny claims based on amounts are allocated as follows: • Claims up to Rs 1 crore will be decided by Principal Commissioners of Income Tax (Pr. CsIT). • Claims falling between Rs 1 crore and Rs 3 crore are within the jurisdiction of Chief Commissioners (CCsIT). • Claims exceeding Rs 3 crore will be handled by Principal Chief Commissioners (Pr. CCsIT). 2. Time limits for submission of condonation applications: Taxpayers are required to submit condonation applications within five years from the conclusion of the assessment year for refunds or losses claims. This regulation is applicable to applications submitted post October 1, 2024. Authorities must aim to process these applications within six months. 3. Approval Criteria In order to be approved, the taxpayer must show a legitimate justification for the delay and prove that they experienced difficulties in meeting the deadline for filing. If necessary, the authorities may assign a local tax officer to look into the matter. 4. Special Cases: In instances where a refund is issued due to a court order, the five-year limit for refund claims does not include the time the case was under court consideration. Taxpayers are allowed six months from the date of the court order to request condonation. Additional refund claims, known as supplementary refund claims, may be reviewed according to these guidelines. 5. Late refund claims: No interest will be paid on late refund claims; taxpayers filing for delayed refunds should take note of this policy.
Read More →The deadline for submitting income tax audit reports using Form 10B/10BB has been extended for certain taxpayers. The new deadline for this category of taxpayers to submit their tax audit reports is November 10, 2024. This extension was announced by the Ministry of Finance through the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in an order dated October 7, 2024. Which taxpayers will enjoy the extended deadline to submit tax audit report According to the order by the Ministry of Finance, these taxpayers will benefit from this extended deadline: Trusts, institutions, funds, and Others who are liable to file a tax audit report using Form 10B/10BB. Individuals with business or professional income who are subject to a tax audit under section 44AB need to submit their audit report using Form 3CD, 3CA, and 3CB. The extended deadline for these taxpayers was October 7, 2024. It has been brought to the notice of the CBDT that in some cases, such trusts/institutions/funds, could not file the audit report in the correct prescribed form The CBDT in exercise of the powers conferred under section 119 of the Act, hereby further allows such trusts / institutions/ funds to furnish such audit report in the applicable Form No. 1OB / 10BB on or before 10 November, 2024," said CBDT in the said order under section 119.
Read More →To implement the Budget 2024 announcement regarding the adjustment of TDS and TCS from other sources against salary TDS, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a new form called Form 12BAA. This form will be utilized by employees to report to their employers the tax deductions from sources other than their salaries, such as fixed deposits, insurance commissions, dividends from equity shares, or tax collected while making purchases, like buying a car or foreign currency. Employers typically deduct TDS from salary as per the declaration given by the employee, taking into account investments and expenses eligible for tax deductions. However, employers did not adjust the taxes paid by the employee against other sources. Now, this will change with the newly notified form from the CBDT. By informing their employer about TCS collected and TDS deducted via this new form, the employee can lower their tax deduction from their salary. The move will help the employees deal with cash flow issues and increase their income to spend or save. CBDT notified the new form via a notification issued on October 15, 2024.
Read More →After months of discussion, the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) on Monday decided to move towards the International Standard of Audit 600 (ISA 600) for all listed companies, barring public sector companies and state-run banks and their branches. Separately, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) also agreed to revise the Standard on Quality Management (SQM), a mechanism for quality management for audits or reviews of financial statements, where public consultations have been completed.
Read More →The National Financial Reporting Authority's ongoing inspections of major audit firms have prima facie revealed some audit quality issues, for which the regulator is in talks with them, NFRA chairman Ajay Bhushan Prasad Pandey has said. The top five audit firms - BSR & Co, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, SRBC & Co, Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants, and Walker Chandiok & Co LLP - that were inspected last year have introduced some positive changes, but a lot more needs to be done, Pandey told ET's Banikinkar Pattanayak in an interview. Edited excerpts: What is the status of your annual inspection of audit firms this year? Do you notice any change this time around in the standards and processes followed by the auditors you inspected last year? In this round of inspection, we have divided our work into two parts. First, we have taken some firms that were not inspected by us last year as per our rotation policy.
Read More →The Big Five audit firms in India are facing a talent crunch. A regulatory clampdown and a higher number of “relatively safer†career opportunities elsewhere are pulling chartered accountants (CAs) away from the audit profession. A senior partner at a Big Five firm told FE that the auditing verticals in top firms are operating with 20% lower staff than the required strength. At present, the top five firms have around 12,500 people in their audit function. “The amount of work is increasing every year but the staff strength is not growing as fast. Although we need to increase the capacity to handle the additional work and deal with the regulatory oversight, getting the right workforce has certainly become a challenge,†said audit vertical head at a Big Five firm. Another partner in the same firm said that the talent crunch is largely due to heightened regulatory scrutiny and because of the expanding opportunities beyond the traditional audit. “When I completed my CA in 1980s, there were fewer avenues. But young CAs today have a vast number of opportunities, and unless somebody is passionate about auditing, most of them usually land up somewhere else,†he said.
Read More →The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has commenced a thorough examination and validation of specific high-value outward foreign remittances to identify any inconsistencies in their reporting in ITR and potential tax avoidance. Experts say that if you are among the identified taxpayers who have been found to have evaded taxes, then you may get a notice under section 133, and/or 131 (1A) and/or, 142(1) and/or, 143 (2), and/or 148, etc. According to a report by The Economic Times, this comprehensive scrutiny and verification of high-value outward foreign remittances is for transactions above Rs 6 lakh. The reason behind this move is that CBDT has noticed many cases where foreign remittances and expenditures did not align with the income declared by individuals. Highlighting the scale of the discrepancy in reporting, an official quoted in The Economic Times news report said an individual with a declared annual income of Rs 5 lakh has been found to have sent Rs 15 lakh abroad in the last three years using three different dealers so that these transactions do not attract the mandatory Tax Collected at Source (TCS).
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