• Aug 23, 2022
  
  

• If you are among those who have filed income tax return (ITR) for the last fiscal (AY 2022-23) and the department owes you refund, then you might receive an email from the I-T Department asking you to confirm it. As per the email sent by the department to taxpayers, individuals who have claimed tax refunds in their filing are required to confirm that the ITR filed by them is correct and tax refunds are due to them.
  This confirmation is required to be made within 15 days of receiving the email. While the email does not mention what will happen if this 15-day deadline is not met, some experts say that the taxpayer may get another notice from the income tax department asking for more proof.

Income Tax

Faceless tax assessment scheme to show human face

• Aug 23, 2022

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is reviewing the operation of its faceless tax assessment procedures to ensure field officers do not make aggressive tax demands and allow natural justice to take its course, a person informed about the discussions in the government said. The review follows an 11 August order by the Allahabad High Court giving instructions about instituting safeguards amid complaints over the system’s alleged over-reliance on data rather than human interaction.

Income Tax

Supreme Court rules that benami law cannot be applied retrospectively

Aug 24, 2022

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the amended Benami Act, which came into effect on November 1, 2016, applied only prospectively, besides declaring “unconstitutional” one of the provisions of the law dealing with a three-year jail term and a penalty. The jail provision was quashed on grounds of it being “manifestly arbitrary” — something that will provide relief to individuals and companies. Harsh punishments have been awarded under this provision.The court also set aside all action taken before the implementation of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016.

General

Advance pricing agreement pipeline for MNCs clogged

Aug 25, 2022

With as many as 1,000 applications from multinational corporations seeking an element of tax certainty in India remaining unresolved, capital inflows into the real economy from abroad may take a hit. These applications filed under the Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) mechanism are for pre-determination of arm’s length prices for certain periods in MNCs‘ transactions with related parties abroad. The APAs, introduced in 2012 and bolstered in 2014, had initially been effective in reducing tax disputes arising out of transfer pricing adjustments by the taxman. But there has been a decline in its efficacy as the agreements got delayed in recent years particularly after the pandemic, analysts said. They added that at a time when fresh investments by the private sector are key to economic revival given the government’s acute fiscal constraints, the delays in finalising APAs could prove to be costlier. In the past 10 years, about 1,500 APA applications have been filed by multinational businesses in India but only about 420 have been concluded, leading to around 1,000 unresolved applications.

General

I-T dept collects Rs 28-cr in taxes from new ITR-U filing

• Aug 26, 2022
  The Income-tax department has collected around Rs 28 crore in taxes after about 1 lakh returns were filed by taxpayers under the newly introduced return filing form called ITR-U, that was notified this year as part of the Budget 2022-23. CBDT Chairman Nitin Gupta said the scheme was brought by the Union government for the benefit of taxpayers so that they can comply with their tax responsibilities without getting into hassles of the law.The abbreviation ITR-U stands for 'income tax return-updated' and is available to taxpayers for filing updated returns for 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years or assessment years 2020-21 and 2021-22.
  

Income Tax

Direct tax collections rise 33% till August 24

• Aug 26, 2022
  
  

• The Centre’s direct tax collections (post-refunds) grew by a robust 33% on year till August 24 of the current financial year, with both personal income tax (PIT) and corporate income tax (CIT) performing much better than anticipated, thanks to higher compliance and a favourable base effect, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Nitin Gupta said. Despite higher refunds, direct tax collections stood at about Rs 4.8 trillion as on August 24 of the current fiscal. During the period, refunds rose by a sharp 78% to about Rs 93,000 crore, compared to Rs 52,000 crore in the year-ago period, Gupta said. The Centre’s direct tax collections are expected to exceed the FY23 Budget target of Rs 14.2 trillion by a substantial amount, as the target for the year is at par with actual receipts of last fiscal.

Income Tax

CBDT urges gamers to pay taxes under new scheme

• Aug 26, 2022
  
  

• Having identified huge tax evasion in the thriving online gaming industry, the tax department wants the winners in such games to use the updated income tax returns (ITR-U) scheme to disclose their incomes and pay the right amounts of taxes with applicable interest.Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Nitin Gupta said on Thursday that players associated with just one gaming portal have been found to have netted as much as Rs 58,000 crore in the three years through FY22 as the gross winning amount.

Income Tax

Supreme Court set to review PMLA verdict, reconsider two provisions

Aug 26, 2022

The Supreme CourT agreed to consider a plea seeking a review of its earlier judgment upholding the constitutional validity of anti-money laundering provisions, including the powers of arrest and seizure.The court said it would re-examine two provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), one with respect to providing a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to the accused and another related to the burden of proof on the accused regarding innocence.A Bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said prima facie the two issues, including not providing the ECIR, required reconsideration, and sought a response from the Centre on the issue. During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the review petitioner, MP Karti Chidambaram, said the Act could be looked into if the court was reviewing its judgment. However, Justice Ram­ana did not accede to this request.

General