The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the deadline to file the income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2019-20 to December 31, beyond the usual date of July 31, owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the deadline to file the income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2019-20 to December 31, beyond the usual date of July 31, owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

According to the rules, individuals below 60 years of age earning Rs 250,000 or more annually are mandatorily required to file ITRs, whereas, the limit for senior citizens or those between 60 years and 80 years of age is Rs 500,000.

This year the government has raised the penalty amount for missing the deadline, by imposing a fine up to Rs. 10,000, as opposed to the Rs. 5,000, imposed last year. The practise of charging late filing fees under section 234F was introduced in the Budget of 2017 and became effective for financial year 2017-18 or assessment year 2018-19 onward.

The hefty late filing fee is only applicable if the taxpayer’s net total income, i.e. income after claiming eligible deductions and tax exemptions, exceeds Rs 500,000 in the current financial year. Individuals with taxable income up to Rs 500,000 will have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 if they file their ITR after December 31. For individuals whose taxable income is more than Rs 500,000, the same penalty will go up to Rs 10,000.

There are however, exemptions to the above rule due to the amendments made in the Income-tax Act, 1961, via Budget 2019 which stipulates the following categories of people will not be exempted from the penalty;

1. Individuals who have deposited an amount or aggregates of the amount exceeding Rs.1 crore in one or more banking accounts.
2. Individuals who have incurred expenditures exceeding Rs 2 lakh due to foreign travel.
3. Individuals who incur expenditure or aggregate expenditures of Rs 1 lakh and more due to electricity consumption.

Filing ITR dues also guarantees that the interest payable on the tax refund is calculated from April 1 of the relevant assessment year. In case of belated filings the individual loses out on some amount of the interest.

Rule 138(14)(j)

Rule 138(14)(j) कहता है कि अगर कोई goods exempt है , तो उनको Eway Bill बनाने की ज़रूरत नही है 

लेकिन वो छूट Exempt goods 07/2017 CTR (Supply to CSD to Canteen) और 26/2017 CTR (Supply to Atomic Engergy) के लिए है 

मतलब ये है की RP का Exempted goods Eway Bill के Rule 138(14)(j) के लिए exempt goods नही है

अगर डिपार्टमेंट Registered Person को Fake Invoice allegation के बेसिस पर ITC Reversal करने के लिए बोलता है तो RP को कभी भी उसको admit करके Reversal नहीं करना चाहिए की ये तो छोटा amount है और कौन डिपार्टमेंट से dispute करे और penalty दे करके 

लेकिन उसको प्राब्लम तब आयेंगे तब उसकी पूरी Purchase Income Tax में Sec 68/69/115BBE/271AAD/40A(3) में disallow होकर वहा penalty लग जायेंगी

मतलब सीधा है की अगर आपने fake Purchase GST में Admit की है तो उसको Income Tax में भी Fake माना जाएगा और GST में ITC Reversal होगा जबकि Income Tax में पूरी purchase Disallow हो जायेगी

*Quarterly Return Monthly Payment Scheme*

*GST UPDATE*

*Quarterly Return Monthly Payment Scheme*

The Return filing of GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B can be filed on Quarterly basis by Taxpayers having aggregate Turnover less than 5 crores. 

The option to file on Quarterly basis can be exercised on the GST Portal. *The option is available from 5 Dec to 31 Jan.*

If this scheme is opted the Tax Payment has to be done on monthly basis by depositing in Cash Ledger.

माह दिसम्बर2020 की निर्धारित अंतिम तिथि

Reminder

1-TDS/TCS Liability Deposit for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-07

2-(i) GSTR-7(Monthly) for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-10

   (ii) GSTR-8(Monthly) for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-10

3- GSTR-1(Monthly) for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-11

4- GSTR-6(Monthly) for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-13

5- (i) PF/ESI Deposit for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-15

(ii) Advance Tax Payment for Oct to Dec’20 is due on 2020-12-15

6 (i) GSTR-5(Monthly) for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-20

(ii) GSTR-5A(Monthly) for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-20

7- GSTR-3B for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-22

7- GSTR-3B for Nov 2020 is due on 2020-12-24

8-(i) Form MSME(outstanding payments to MSMEs) for Oct’19-Mar’20 is due on 2020-12-31

(ii) Form 11(LLP Annual returns) for FY 2019-20 is due on 2020-12-31

(iii) DIR-3 KYC for FY 2019-20 is due on 2020-12-31

(iv) Form DPT-3 for FY 2019-20 is due on 2020-12-31

(v) Eligible pending filings for LLP and Company is due on 2020-12-31

(vi) GSTR-9(Yearly) for FY 2018-19 is due on 2020-12-31

(vii) GSTR-9C(Yearly) for FY 2018-19 is due on 2020-12-31

(viii) Tax audit report for FY 2019-20(AY 2020-21) is due on 2020-12-31

(ix) Income Tax Return for FY 2019-20(AY 2020-21) is due on 2020-12-31

*Deferment of provisions for new registration procedure of Charitable Trusts and Institutions u/s 12AB/10(23C)/80G:*

*Deferment of provisions for new registration procedure of Charitable Trusts and Institutions u/s 12AB/10(23C)/80G:*

~The Finance Act, 2020 prescribed a new electronic registration procedure for Charitable Trusts and Institutions under section 12AA/ 12AB / 10(23C)/ 80G.

~Originally was made applicable from 1st June 2020 : Subsequently extended to 1st October 2020 :Finally withdrawn from Finance Act, 2020 and made applicable from 1st April 2021. 

~ So, New Scheme of electronic Registration deferred and made applicable w.e.f. 1st April 2021. Old Scheme would continue uptill 31st March 2021.

*Amendments applicable from A.Y. 2020-21:*

~Audit Report in Form No. 10BB shall be uploaded one month prior to the due

date of submission of return of income. For A.Y. 2020-21 – uptill 31-12-2020.

~Income by way of Corpus Donation: By insertion of an Explanation, it has been clarified that w.e.f. A.Y. 2020-21, income of an entity covered by section 10(23C)(iv)/(v)/(vi)/(via) shall not include income in the form of voluntary contributions which are received with a specific direction that they shall form part of the corpus of the recipient.

~Corpus Donation given to other entities: Shall not be taken as application of income of the entity giving donation from the A.Y. 2020-21, if the following conditions are satisfied-

a) is given by an entity covered by section 10(23C)(iv)/(v)/(vi)/(via);

b) is given voluntarily with a specific direction that it shall form part of the

corpus of recipient; and

c) is given to an entity covered by section 10(23C)(iv)/(v)/(vi)/(via) or to a trust registered u/s. 12AA.

CA Amresh Vashisht

CBDT to validate Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) generated from ICAI portal at the time of upload of Tax Audit Reports

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, in its gazette notification dated 2^nd August, 2019, had made generation of UDIN from ICAI website www.icai.org mandatory for every kind of certificate/tax audit report and other attests made by their members as required by various regulators. This was introduced to curb fake certifications by non-CAs misrepresenting themselves as Chartered Accountants.

In line with the ongoing initiatives of the Income Tax Department for integrating with other Government agencies and bodies, Income-tax e-filing portal has completed its integration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) portal for validation of Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) generated from ICAI portal by the Chartered Accountants for documents certified/attested by them.

It may be noted that, in consonance with the above requirement, Income-tax e-filing portal had already factored mandatory quoting of UDIN with effect from 27^th April, 2020 for documents certified/attested in compliance with the Income-tax Act,1961 by a Chartered Accountant. With this system level integration, UDIN provided for the audit reports/certificates submitted by the Chartered Accountants in the e-filing portal shall be validated online with the ICAI.  This will help in weeding out fake or incorrect Tax Audit Reports not duly authenticated with the ICAI.

If for any reason, a Chartered Accountant was not able to generate UDIN before submission of audit report/certificate, the Income-tax e-filing portal permits such submission, subject to the Chartered Accountant updating the UDIN generated for the form within 15 calendar days from the date of form submission in the Income- tax e-filing portal. If the UDIN for the audit report/certificate is not updated within the 15 days provided for the same, such audit report/certificate uploaded shall be treated as invalid submission.

The Press Release can be accessed at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1676103

*Fifteen (15) Important Points about Quarterly Return and Monthly Payment (‘QRMP’) Scheme*

1. QRMP Scheme will be effective from *January 01, 2021* and the GSTN system would itself compute the aggregate annual turnover of the taxpayer.

2. The registered person whose aggregate turnover in the preceding financial year is *up to Rs 5 crore* & who is required to furnish Form GSTR-3B is eligible;

3. The option to avail the QRMP Scheme *GSTIN wise is available*, i.e., some GSTINs for a PAN can opt for the QRMP Scheme and remaining GSTINs may not opt for the Scheme but once it is exercised it would be valid for future tax periods.

4. The registered persons opting for the Scheme would be required to furnish the details of outward supply in Form *GSTR-1 on quarterly basis*;

5. *Invoice furnishing facility* (‘IFF’) has been introduced in respect of reporting the invoice for details of supply made to registered persons for the first two months of the quarter.

6. The supplier can upload these invoices *on monthly basis*. The taxpayer can upload maximum of Rs 50 Lakhs worth invoices in each of the two months of quarter. 

7. The IFF facility is *optional*. 

8. The registered persons, whose aggregate turnover for the FY 2019-20 is up to Rs 5 crore and who have furnished the return in Form GSTR-3B for the month of October, 2020 by 30th November, 2020, shall be *automatically migrated* on the common portal.

9. The registered taxpayer having turnover less than Rs 1.5 crores and filing monthly GSTR 1 *would not be automatically migrated* to QRMP scheme.

10. The registered person under the QRMP Scheme would be required to *pay the tax due on monthly basis*  in each of the first two months of the quarter by depositing the due amount in *Form GST PMT-06*. 

11. The amount of tax shall be deposited by the *25th day of next month*.

12. Two types of Payment schemes are made available for first two months of the Quarter – *Fixed Sum Method and Self-Assessment Method*.

13. The registered persons opting for the QRPM Scheme would be required to *furnish Form GSTR-3B, for each quarter*, on or before 22nd or 24th day of the month succeeding such quarter for Class A States and Class B States respectively.

14. The facility for opting out of the Scheme for a quarter will be available from *first day of second month of preceding quarter to the last day of the first month of the quarter*.

15. Registered person, whose aggregate turnover *crosses 5 crore rupees* during a quarter in current financial year, *shall opt for furnishing of return on a monthly basis from the succeeding quarter*.

Income Tax Department conducts searches in Kerala

The Income Tax Department has carried out search and seizure operations on 05.11.2020 in the case of a well-known self-styled evangelist of Thiruvalla in Kerala and his group of various trusts that enjoy exemption under the Income-tax Act, 1961 as charitable/religious trusts. The group operates places of worship, a number of schools and colleges across the country, a medical college and a hospital in Kerala. The action covered 66 premises located in Kerala, Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Punjab and Telengana. The searches were carried out as credible information was received that the group has received donations from foreign countries ostensibly for helping the poor and the destitute and for evangelical purposes, but was actually siphoning out such tax-exempted funds in cash to engage in unaccounted cash transactions for personal and other illegal expenses in real estate transactions. The group operates about 30 trusts, registered across the country, and most of them exist only on paper and have been found to be used for routing the unaccounted funds and for accommodation transactions. It has been found that the modus operandi of the group is to systematically inflate expenses with the help of other parties, who would return the inflated amount in cash through domestic hawala channels to the functionaries of the group. Some of these other parties were also covered in the search action. During the search action, evidences have been found of systematic inflation of expenses in purchase of consumables, construction expenses, real estate development expenses, payment of salary, etc. The search has led to unearthing of a number of real estate transactions involving unaccounted cash payments. Related documents such as sale agreements, etc have been seized. The group has also inflated the price in real estate transactions to show as if the money received in donations is being spent on the activities of the trusts. The evidence found so far indicate that the siphoning of funds in cash may be running into hundreds of crores of rupees. Unexplained cash of approximately Rs. 6 crore has also been found during the search, including Rs 3.85 crore in a place of worship in Delhi. Substantial electronic computing and data storage has been found, which is being examined. Further investigations are going on. The Press Release can be accessed at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1670628

*Extendion of Income Tax due dates*

*Extendion of Income Tax due dates*

*IT return FY 2019-20*

i. Without tax audit –31.12.20

ii. TP, tax audit & tax audit firm partners– 31.01.21

*TAR &other reports*

Various audit reports (tax audit, transfer pricing etc) – 31.12.20

*Already Extended ITR*

Income tax return FY 2018-19 -30.11.20 -No Change

*GST Date Extension*

GSTR9/9A/9C FY 2018-19 Annual Return & Reconcilation Statement – 31st December 2020

CA Amresh Vashisht

The 42nd GST Council met under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman through video conferencing here today.

The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance& States/ UTs.

The GST Council has made the following recommendations:

1. Levy of Compensation Cess to be extended beyond the transition period of five years i.e. beyond June, 2022, for such period as may be required to meet the revenue gap. Further details to be worked out.

2. Centre is releasing compensation of ₹ 20,000 crore to States today towards loss of revenue during 2020-21 and an amount of about ₹ 25,000 crore towards IGST of 2017-18 by next week.

3. Enhancement in features of return filing: In its 39th Meeting held in March 2020, the Council had recommended an incremental approach to incorporate features of the new return system in the present familiar GSTR-1/3B scheme. Various enhancements have since been made available on the GST Common Portal. With a view to further enhance Ease of Doing Business and improve the compliance experience, the Council has approved the future roadmap for return filing under GST. The approved framework aims to simplify return filing and further reduce the taxpayer’s compliance burden in this regard significantly, such that the timely furnishing of details of outward supplies (GSTR-1) by a taxpayer and his suppliers would (i) allow him to view the ITC available in his electronic credit ledger from all sources i.e. domestic supplies, imports, and payments on reverse charge, etc. prior to the due date for payment of tax, and (ii) enable the system to auto-populate return (GSTR-3B) through the data filed by the taxpayer and all his suppliers. In other words, the timely filing of the GSTR-1 statement alone would be sufficient as the return in FORM GSTR-3B would get auto prepared on the common portal. To this end the Council recommended/decided the following:

• Due date of furnishing quarterly GSTR-1 by quarterly taxpayers to be revised to 13th of the month succeeding the quarterw.e.f. 01.1.2021;
• Roadmap for auto-generation of GSTR-3B from GSTR-1s by:

1. Auto-population of liability from own GSTR-1 w.e.f. 01.01.2021; and
2. Auto-population of the input tax credit from suppliers’ GSTR-1s through the newly developed facility in FORM GSTR-2B for monthly filers w.e.f. 01.01.2021 and for quarterly filers w.e.f. 01.04.2021;

• In order to ensure the auto-population of ITC and liability in GSTR 3B as detailed above, FORM GSTR-1 would be mandatorily required to be filed before FORM GSTR-3B w.e.f. 01.04.2021.
• The present GSTR-1/3B return filing system to be extended till 31.03.2021 and the GST laws to be amended to make the GSTR-1/3B return filing system as the default return filing system.

4. As a further step towards reducing the compliance burden particularly on the small taxpayers having aggregate annual turnover < Rs. 5 cr., the Council’s earlier recommendation of allowing filing of returns on a quarterly basis with monthly payments by such taxpayers to be implemented w.e.f. 01.01.2021. Such quarterly taxpayers would, for the first two months of the quarter, have an option to pay 35% of the net cash tax liability of the last quarter using an auto-generated challan.

5. Revised Requirement of declaring HSN for goods and SAC for services in invoices and in FORM GSTR-1 w.e.f. 01.04.2021 as under:

• HSN/SAC at 6 digits for supplies of both goods and services for taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover above Rs. 5 crores;
• HSN/SAC at 4 digits for B2B supplies of both goods and services for taxpayers with aggregate annual turnover up to Rs. 5 crores;
• Government to have the power to notify 8 digit HSN on the notified class of supplies by all taxpayers.

6. Amendment to the CGST Rules: Variousamendments in the CGST Rules and FORMS have been recommended which includes provision for furnishing of Nil FORM CMP-08 through SMS.

7. Refund to be paid/disbursed in a validated bank account linked with the PAN & Aadhaar of the registrant w.e.f. 01.01.2021.

8. To encourage the domestic launching of satellites particularly by young start-ups, the satellite launch services supplied by ISRO, Antrix Corporation Ltd., and NSIL would be exempted.

Note:- The decisions of the GST Council have been presented in this note in simple language for easy understanding. The same would be given effect to through Gazette notifications/ circulars which alone shall have force of law.

The Press Release can be accessed at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1661827

Dynamic QR Code for B2C Supplies deferred till December 01, 2020

The CBIC vide Notification No. 14/2020 dated March 21, 2020 notified the class of registered person required to have Dynamic Quick Response (QR) Code. Relevant extract is reproduced below: “an invoice issued by a registered person, whose aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeds five hundred crore rupees, other than those referred to in sub-rules (2), (3), (4) and (4A) of rule 54 of said rules, and registered person referred to in section 14 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, to an unregistered person (hereinafter referred to as B2C invoice), shall have Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code: Provided that where such registered person makes a Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code available to the recipient through a digital display, such B2C invoice issued by such registered person containing cross-reference of the payment using a Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code, shall be deemed to be having Quick Response (QR) code. 2. This notification shall come into force from the 1st day of October, 2020.” Notification: The CBIC vide Notification No. 71/2020 dated September 30, 2020 amended Notification No. 14/2020 dated March 21, 2020 to consider aggregate turnover of any preceding FY from 2017-18 onwards and deferred its implementation till November 30, 2020. Relevant extract is reproduced below: “..an invoice issued by a registered person, whose aggregate turnover in any preceding financial year from 2017-18 onwards exceeds five hundred crore rupees, other than those referred to in sub-rules (2), (3), (4) and (4A) of rule 54 of said rules, and registered person referred to in section 14 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, to an unregistered person (hereinafter referred to as B2C invoice), shall have Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code: Provided that where such registered person makes a Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code available to the recipient through a digital display, such B2C invoice issued by such registered person containing cross-reference of the payment using a Dynamic Quick Response (QR) code, shall be deemed to be having Quick Response (QR) code. 2. This notification shall come into force from the 1st day of December, 2020.” The Notification can be accessed at: https://www.cbic.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/gst/notfctn-71-central-tax-english-2020.pdf

माल की बिक्री के संबंध में प्राप्त राशि पर टीसीएस का नये प्रावधान धारा 206C(1H) – सुधीर हालाखंडी

Relaxation for generation of e-invoice for one month, now applicable from November 01, 2020

The CBIC vide Notification No. 72/2020- Central Tax dated September 30, 2020 issued Central Goods and Services Tax (Eleven Amendment) Rules, 2020 effective from September 30, 2020. Amendments are discussed below:

1. Sub- rule (r) inserted in Rule 46 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (“CGST Rules”) for mentioning Quick Refence code having embedded Invoice Reference Number (“IRN”) in tax invoice referred to in Section 31 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“CGST Act”):

“(r) Quick Reference code, having embedded Invoice Reference Number (IRN) in it, in case invoice has been issued in the manner prescribed under sub-rule (4) of rule 48.”.

2. Inserted proviso to sub-rule (4) of Rule 48 of the CGST Rules to give power to the Commissioner to exempt person or a class of registered persons from issuance e-invoice under Rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules. Relevant portion is reproduced below:

“(4) The invoice shall be prepared by such class of registered persons as may be notified by the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, by including such particulars contained in FORM GST INV-01 after obtaining an Invoice Reference Number by uploading information contained therein on the Common Goods and Services Tax Electronic Portal in such manner and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the notification.

Provided that the Commissioner may, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, exempt a person or a class of registered persons from issuance of invoice under this sub-rule for a specified period, subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the said notification.”

3. Substituted sub-rule (2) of Rule 138A of the CGST Rules to provide for Quick Refence code having embedded IRN in the invoice issued under sub-rule (4) of Rule 48 of the CGST Rules for electronic verification; meaning thereby now there is no need for physical verification of invoice. Relevant portion is reproduced below:

“(2) In case, invoice is issued in the manner prescribed under sub-rule (4) of rule 48, the Quick Reference (QR) code having an embedded Invoice Reference Number (IRN) in it, may be produced electronically, for verification by the proper officer in lieu of the physical copy of such tax invoice.”

Further, press release dated September 30, 2020 has been released providing relaxation of one month i.e., during the month of October, 2020 taxpayers required to generate e-invoice can issue invoice without following the manner prescribed under rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules provided that such taxpayers obtain IRN for such invoices from the Invoice Reference Portal (“IRP”) within 30 days of date of invoice. No such relaxation would be available for the invoices issued from November 1, 2020. Relevant portion of is reproduced below:

“2.1 It has been reported that even after more than 9 months of the first notification in this regard, some of these taxpayers having aggregate turnover of Rs. 500 Cr. and above are still not Accordingly, as a last chance, in the initial phase of implementation of e-invoice, it has been decided that the invoices issued by such taxpayers during October 2020 without following the manner prescribed under rule 48(4), shall be deemed to be valid and the penalty leviable under section 122of the CGST Act, 2017, for such non-adherence to provisions, shall stand waived if the Invoice Reference Number (IRN) for such invoices is obtained from the Invoice Reference Portal (IRP) within 30 days of date of invoice.

2.2. The same is illustrated with an example: In case a registered person has issued an invoice dated 3^rdOctober, 2020 without obtaining IRN but reports the details of such invoice to IRP and obtains the IRN of the invoice on or before 2^nd November, 2020 then it shall be deemed that the provisions of rule 48 (5) of the CGST Rules, 2017 are complied with and the penalty imposable under section 122 of the CGST Act, 2017 shall also stand waived. Relevant notifications would follow.

3. It may be noted that no such relaxation would be available for the invoices issued from 1st November 2020 and such invoices issued in violation of rule 48(4) of the CGST Rules 2017 would not be valid and all the applicable provisions of CGST Act and Rules would apply for the said violation.”

The Central Goods and Services Tax (Eleven Amendment) Rules, 2020 can be accessed at: https://www.cbic.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/gst/notfctn-72-central-tax-english-2020.pdf

GST Compliance Calendar -October

October – the last quarter of 2020 is here already!

While this year has seen a lot of roadblocks with a pandemic hitting the world followed by a lockdown and economic crises, it sure has kept our minds occupied and has made us solution-oriented.  

On the GST front, the e-invoicing implementation has finally seen the light of day and is set to roll from 1st October 2020 for companies with turnover Rs. 500 crores or more.

The upcoming GST Council Meeting is said to be scheduled on October 5, 2020. The trending matter of compensation cess to the states will be discussed. The council is expected to approve a two-year extension of compensation cess levy on goods and services to allow the Centre to pay the entire shortfall in GST tax collection by states. 

The GST collection for June stood at Rs 90,917 crore and the collection for July was at Rs 87,422 crore. In the month of August, the GST collection further dropped and stood at Rs 86,449 crore. From this aggregate amount, Rs 15,906 crore is CGST, Rs 21,064 crore is SGST, IGST of Rs 42,264 crore including Rs 19,179 crore collected on import of goods and a cess collection of Rs 7, 215 crores including Rs 673 crore collected on import of goods.

Recently, the government offered relief in late fees to Taxpayers filing Form GSTR 4 or GSTR 10 and change in the navigation of Comparison of liability declared and ITC claimed the report. There have been several new updates released in the past month. 

Prominent Indian festivals like Navratri and Dusshera fall in October. Just like Ganesh Chaturthi, pandaals and group gatherings will be prohibited citing the rising cases of COVID-19 throughout the country. People will have to celebrate keeping in mind the solemnity of the present scenario. 

CircularCBDT extends the due date for filing ITRs for A.Y. 2019-20 till November 30, 2020

The date for furnishing of Income-tax returns under Section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (“the IT Act”) for the Assessment Year 2019-20 was March 31, 2020. However, on consideration of difficulties being faced by the taxpayers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the said date was initially extended to June 30, 2020 and subsequently to July 31, 2020 and September 30, 2020 vide the Taxation and other laws (Relaxations of certain provisions), Ordinance dated March 31, 2020, Notification No. 35/2020 dated June 24, 2020 and Notification No.56/2020 dated July 29, 2020 respectively.

Order:

On further consideration of genuine difficulties being faced by the taxpayers due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CBDT vide F. No. 225/150/2020-ITA-II dated September 30, 2020, in the exercise of powers conferred under Section 119(2)(a) of the IT Act further extended the date for furnishing of belated and revised returns for the Assessment Year 2019-20 under sub-section (4) and (5) of Section 139 of the IT Act respectively, from September 30, 2020 to November 30, 2020.

ITR: No requirement of scrip wise reporting for day trading and short-term sale or purchase of listed shares

There was a report in certain section of media that stock traders/day traders are required to furnish scrip wise details in the return of income for AY 2020-21. 

The gain from share trading in the case of stock traders or day traders is generally categorised as short-term capital gains or business income. 

This is because their holding period of shares/units in most of the cases is less than one year which is a prerequisite for the gains to be categorised as long-term capital gains. As there is no requirement in the return of income for scrip wise reporting in case of short-term/business income arising from share transactions, these reports are distorted and misleading.

The Finance Act, 2018 allowed exemption to the gains made on the listed shares/specified units up to 31.01.2018 by introducing grandfathering mechanism for the computation of long-term capital gains for these shares. 

The scrip wise details in the return of income for AY 2020-21 is required to be filled up only for the reporting of the long-term capital gains for these shares/units which are eligible for the benefit of grandfathering.

As the grandfathering is to be allowed by comparing different values (such as cost, sale price and market price as on 31.01.2018) for each shares/units, there is a need to capture the scrip wise details for computing capital gains of these shares/units. The scrip wise details are not required in income tax return forms for AY 2020-21 for computation of capital gains/business income from shares/units which are not eligible for grandfathering.

Without this reporting requirement, there may be situations where taxpayer may not claim or wrongly claim the benefit of grandfathering due to lack of understanding of the provisions. Also, if the above calculation is not made scrip wise and taxpayer is allowed to enter the total figures only, there will be no way for the income tax authorities to check the correctness of the claim and therefore many returns will require to be audited, which may lead to unnecessary grievances/rectifications at a later stage. If scrip wise long-term gain is available, it can be cross verified by the Department electronically with stock exchange, brokerage companies, etc and there will be no need to subject these income tax returns to further audits or scrutiny.

Thus, the main intent behind requiring scrip wise detail is to facilitate the taxpayer incorrectly computing the long-term capital gains on these shares/units. The requirement to provide scrip wise information in the income tax return is not unique to India. Internationally also, the taxpayer is required to provide scrip wise information for reporting capital gains. For example in the USA, a taxpayer having capital gains from the transfer of shares is required to fill scrip wise details in Schedule-D of Form 1040 income tax return form in the USA.

The Press Release can be accessed at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1659412

Govt after CAG report: No diversion of GST cess

1.jpg The government has dismissed suggestions of diverting GST compensation cess into its books and said that the money was temporarily lying in the Consolidated Fund of India, pending reconciliation. In its latest report, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had said that during 2017-18 and 201819, there was “short crediting” of compensation cess of around Rs 47,000 crore, which resulted in overstatement of the Centre’s revenue receipts and understatement of fiscal deficit. The finance ministry chose to respond to political criticism from Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac, who had alleged “diversion” of funds. Denying the charge, a government source said: “…whatsoever was the compensation due to the states for the year 2017-18 and 201819 were fully paid and the time taken in reconciliation of compensation receipts can’t be termed as diversion of GST Cess Fund when the dues were fully released by the central government.” Finance ministry officials said the compensation receipt in the CFI was subject to reconciliation in the coming months in the subsequent financial year.

 “If for that reason the amount remained in the Consolidated Fund of India, how can that be treated as ‘diversion’? Even the CAG in its report has not said so,” a source said. Officials said in line with the Constitutional provi sions, receipts including taxes and cess collected by the Centre need to be first credited into CFI before being transferred to another fund through a budget head. In case of the GST compensation cess, officials said since the final accounts are known only after the end of the financial year, usually around June-end, the excess amount temporarily stays in CFI. “After reconciliation, the amount is transferred to Compensation Fund and from that Fund to states as per their compensation formula,” a source said. During 2017-18, Rs 62,611 crore was collected as compensation cess and Rs 41,146 crore was paid to states. In 2018-19, against collections of Rs 95,081 crore, Rs 69,275 crore was paid. While Rs 47,271 crore did remain unutilised for reconciliation after payment of all the dues, the money has been used up subsequently. “Therefore, it can’t be said that this Rs 47,721 crore was diverted for other uses,” said a source. Read More at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/no-diversion-of-gst-cess-govt-after-cag-report/articleshow/78342219.cms

CNBC-TV18: GSTR 9 & GSTR 9C deadline likely to be extended further by 1 month

http://www.a2ztaxcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GSTR-9-9C.jpg As per the recent tweet of CNBC-TV18, the GST implementation committee considering to extend GSTR-9 & GSTR-9C (For FY18-19) deadline by one month. Extending GSTR-9 & GSTR-9C Deadline For FY18-19 GST Implementation Committee Considering To Extend GSTR-9 & GSTR-9C (For FY18-19) Deadline By One Month Several Trade And Industry Representations Made To The Govt To Extend The Deadline Noting COVID-19 Hardships GST Implementation Committee Yet To Take A Formal Decision Alert: Current Deadline To File GSTR-9 & GSTR-9C (For FY18-19) Is September 30, 2020 Source: https://twitter.com/CNBCTV18Live/status/1309391877934727170

CBIC waived the Late Fees for taxpayers having Nil Liability in Form GSTR-4 for the Period July 2017 to Mar 2020

CBIC vide Notification No. 67/2020 - Central Tax dated September 21, 2020, waived the late fees payable u/s 47 of the CGST Act, in excess of two hundred and fifty rupees (Rs. 250/- for CGST) for the registered taxpayers having liability and fully waived for NIL taxpayers in Form GSTR-4 for the quarters from July, 2017 to March, 2020, if the return is filed between September 22, 2020 to October 31, 2020.

NO EXTENSION

The amended taxation bill passed by loksabha. The ambiguity of language created an impression that dates for filing ITRs etc has been extended.

 However that is not true. 

 The bill starts from third proviso of section 3 which is as under: “Provided also that where the specified Act is the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the compliance relates to— (i) furnishing of return under section 139 thereof, for the assessment year commencing on the— (a) 1st day of April, 2019, the provision of this sub-section shall have the effect as if for the figures, letters and words “31st day of March, 2021”, the figures, letters and words “30th day of September, 2020” had been substituted; (b) 1st day of April, 2020, the provision of this sub-section shall have the effect as if for the figures, letters and words “31st day of March, 2021”, the figures, letters and words “30th day of November, 2020” had been substituted; (vii) furnishing of report of audit under any provision thereof for the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 2020, the provision of this sub-section shall have the effect as if for the figures, letters and words “31st day of March, 2021”, the figures, letters and words “31st day of October, 2020” had been substituted:“ Now after reading the above amendments many believed for once that due date have been extended to 31 March 2021 for all income tax returns and tax audit reports. However, that’s not true.

 If one reads the above bill carefully the first sub section extends all the due date between 20 March 2020 to 31 December 2020 to 31 March 2021 whereas the next proviso clarifies that for various due dates shall not extend to 31 March 2021 where it will extend to some specific date.

 For eg: 1. Due date for return of A.Y. 2019-20 will be 30 September 2020 instead of 31 March 2021.

 2. Due date for return of A.Y. 2020-21 u/s 139(1) will be 30 November 2020 instead of 31 March 2021.

 3. Due date for tax audit report for A.Y. 2020-21 will be 31 October 2020 instead of 31 March 2021. 

 Thus there is no extension as on 19 September 2020 for ITR filing or Tax Audit Due date 

 CA Amresh Vashisht 

Meerut

GSTN Advisory: Delinking of Credit Note/Debit Note from invoice, while reporting them in Form GSTR-1/GSTR-6 or filing Refund

 GSTN has issued an advisory dated September 17, 2020, on Delinking of Credit Note/Debit Note from an invoice, while reporting them in Form GSTR-1 / GSTR-6 or filing Refund. Till now, the original invoice number was mandatorily required to be quoted by the taxpayers, while reporting a Credit Note or Debit Note in Form GSTR-1 or Form GSTR-6.

The taxpayers have now been provided with a facility on the GST Portal to:

• A report in their Form GSTR-1 or in Form GSTR-6, single credit note or debit note issued in respect of multiple invoices
• Choose the note supply type as Regular, SEZ, DE, Export, etc., to identify the table to which such credit note or debit note pertains
• Indicate Place of Supply (POS) against each credit note or debit note, to identify the supply type i.e. Intra-State or Inter-State
• Debit /Credit Notes can be declared with tax amount, but without any taxable value also i.e. if a credit note or debit note is issued for the difference in tax rate only, then note value can be reported as ‘Zero’. The only tax amount will have to be entered in such cases.
• Similar changes have been made while reporting amendments to credit note or debit note

Corresponding changes have also been made in the refund module. Thus, while applying for a refund, taxpayers can now report such credit notes or debit notes in statements (filed during filing the refund application) without mentioning the related invoice number. The taxpayer would be required to select the document type from a drop-down comprising of invoice/ debit note/ credit note.

The change has been provided while filing refund application of following types/ cases:

• Refund for export of services with payment of tax
• Refund on account of goods & services without payment of tax
• Refund on account of supply of goods or services to SEZ with payment of tax
• Refund on account of supply of goods or services to SEZ without payment of tax
• Refund on account of Inverted duty structure

Source: https://www.gst.gov.in/newsandupdates/read/402

MCA: AGM due date for the FY ended 31.03.2020 has been extended till 31.12.2020 for all Companies

 

Background:-

In terms of Sub-section (1) of Section 96 of the Companies Act, 2013 (the Act) provides inter-alia, that every company, other than a One Person Company, shall in each year hold in addition to any other meetings, a general meeting as its annual general meeting (AGM) and shall specify the meeting as such in the notices calling it, and not more than fifteen months shall elapse between the date of one AGM of a company and that of the next and WHEREAS, the first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 96 of the Act provides that in case of the first AGM, it shall be held within a period of nine months from the date of closing of the first financial year of the company and in any other case, within a period of six months, from the date of closing of the financial year.

WHEREAS, the third proviso to Section 96(1) of the Act provides that the Registrar may, for any special reason, extend the time within which any annual general meeting, other than the first annual general meeting, shall be held, by a period not exceeding three months. WHEREAS, various representations have been received from the companies, Industry bodies and Professional Institutes pointing out that several companies are finding it difficult to hold their AGM for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020 due to the difficulties faced in view of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Order/Extension:-

MCA vide Order No. ROC/P/Sec 96/2020/414 dated September 08, 2020, have been considered and the undersigned is of the considered opinion that due to such unprecedented special reasons, the time within which the AGM for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020 is required to be held as per provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 96 ought to be extended in terms of the third proviso to Section 96(1).

Therefore, in terms of the power vested with the undersigned under the third proviso to sub-Section (1) of Section 96 of the Act, extends the time to hold the AGM, other than the first AGM, for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020 for companies within the jurisdiction of this office, which are unable to hold their AGM for such period within the due date of holding the AGM by a period of three months from the due date by which the AGM ought to have been held in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 96 of the Act, without requiring the companies to file applications for seeking such extension by filing the prescribed Form GNL-1.

Explanation: It is hereby clarified that the extension granted under this Order shall also cover all the pending applications filed in Form No. GNL-1 for the extension of AGM for the financial year ended on 31.03.2020, which are yet to be approved. Where the approval for the extension of AGM up to 3 months from the due date of the AGM shall be deemed to have been granted by the undersigned without any further action on the part of the company

GSTN: New functionalities made available for TCS and Composition taxpayers

 1. Provision to make amendment, multiple times, in Table 4 of Form GSTR-8

• Earlier, if no action was taken on TCS details, auto-populated in TDS/TCS credit form, by the supplier or if the same were rejected by them in the said form, the TCS (e-commerce operators) could amend the details only once.
• Based on requests received from stakeholders, the restriction of amending the transaction details only once, in the table 4 (i.e. amendment table) of Form GSTR-8, has now been removed.
• Thus, details of table 4 (i.e. amendment table) of Form GSTR-8, can now be amended multiple times, by e-commerce operators liable to collect tax at source under section 52, while filing their Form GSTR-8.

2. TCS facility extended to composition taxpayers

• The taxpayers under composition scheme, who are permitted to make supplies through E-Commerce Operators, e.g. Restaurant Services, will now be able to view and take necessary actions in their TDS/TCS credit received form.
• E-commerce operators would now be able to add GSTIN of such composition suppliers, in their Form GSTR-8 and file the Form.
• The amount of tax collected at source, reported by E-Commerce Operators in their Form GSTR-8, will now be populated to ‘TDS /TCS credit received’ form of respective composition taxpayers.
• The amount so reported by e-commerce operators will now be available to respective composition taxpayers, for accepting or rejecting the same, in their ‘TDS and TCS credit received’ form.
  • For accepted transactions, the amount would be credited to cash ledger of composition taxpayers, after successful filing of ‘TDS/ TCS Credit received’ form.
  • For rejected transactions, the amount would be shown to e-commerce operators for correction.

Source: https://www.gst.gov.in/newsandupdates/read/397

GSTR 2B Advisory: आप सभी को पता होना चाहिए *

*GSTR 2B Advisory: All you need to Know*

1. CBIC has come up with an *advisory module* of admissible Input Tax Credit at the hands of Taxpayer based on details uploaded by the supplier in their respective GST Returns.

2. Data in GSTR 2B will flow from following types of returns filed by Supplier:

A) *GSTR 1* (Statement of         Outward supply by regular taxpayer), 

B) *GSTR 5* (Registered Non Resident) and

C) *GSTR 6* (Input Service Distrubutor)

3. GSTR 2B shall be a static document i.e the value in GSTR 2B generated will not change once populated, which shall be generated on monthly basis irrespective of whether supplier is filing returns on monthly or quarterly basis.

4. GSTR 2B will be generated on 12th of every month which shall capture data reported by respective suppliers during the period12th of previous month till 11th of current month. Eg. July 20 GSTR 2B will shall generate on 12th August,20 shall capture data reported by respective supplier during the period from 00.00 hrs 12th July,20 to 23:59 hrs of 11th August,20

5. GSTR 2B shall capture following Data reported by respective supplier:

A) ITC from registered supplier's (other than RCM)

B) ITC from input service distributor

C) ITC from registered supplier's under RCM

D) ITC on Import of Goods

E) Credit Notes and Amendments in Invoices 

6. The module is on trial basis and going forward it may replace GSTR 2A for the purpose of calculation of ITC under Rule 36(4) because of following limitations:

A) GSTR 2A is a dynamic documents and therefore ITC of recipient cannot be locked for a particular month.

B) GSTR 2A does not bifurcate ITC between eligible and not eligible category which this module does.

C) GSTR 2A does not analyse and populate ITC blocked due to place of supply or time barred

D) GSTR 2A does not lists the ITC reversal in the manner GSTR 2B does.

7. Details of GSTR 2B shall be available online or through offline utility, which should be reconciled with the ITC availed as per books.

Conclusion: 

GSTR 2B is nothing but a new version of GSTR 2A which is static and represents the data on monthly basis. As of now Rule 36(4) is linked to GSTR 2A but we can assume that after a while this can be amended to be linked to GSTR 2B considering the data analytics auto populated in GSTR 2B which is more reader friendly as compared to GSTR 2A

CA Amresh Vashisht

Meerut

GSTR4 AY 19-20 due date 31-10-2020

Last date GSTR 4 for FY 2019-20 extended to 31st October 2020. Notification will follow

.

आयकर - सर्कुलर 16/2020

CBDT has issued Circular no. 16/2020 on 30th August, 2020 advising banks to immediately refund the charges collected, if any, on or after 1st January, 2020 on transactions carried out using the electronic modes prescribed under section 269SU of the Income-tax Act,1961.

Banks are also advised not to impose any charges on any future transactions carried through these prescribed modes.

GSTR-3B can now be filed without DSC

The GST portal has come out with two new facilities for the taxpayers. 

1. The long-awaited form GST PMT-09 is now available on the GST Portal.
2. Facility to file GSTR-3B without affixing DSC (Digital Signature Certificate)

The option to file GSTR-3B  by EVC(Electronic Verification Code) instead of DSC is made available on the GST portal. Taxpayers can submit GSTR-3B without DSC. It appears that for other returns and documents also the system will provide such a facility in the near future

Form GST PMT-09 allows the transfer of cash balances from one head to another head in the electronic cash ledger.

Are you happy with two facilities available on the GST Portal?

CBIC notified Proviso to Section 50(1) – Interest in GST to be levied on Net Tax liability w.e.f September 1, 2020

CBIC vide Notification No. 63/2020 - Central Tax dated August 25, 2020, has notified proviso to section 50(1) of the CGST Act, 2017, with effect from September 01, 2020. 

 Therefore, Interest in GST to be levied on Net Tax liability, now notified w.e.f September 1, 2020 Interest in GST to be levied on "Net Tax liability", a proviso, which was inserted vide Section 100 of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 (23 of 2019), now got notified w.e.f 01/09/2020 vide Notification No. 63/2020-Central Tax, dated. 25th August 2020. 

 Section100: In section 50 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, in sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:–– “Provided that the interest on tax payable in respect of supplies made during a tax period and declared in the return for the said period furnished after the due date in accordance with the provisions of section 39, except where such return is furnished after the commencement of any proceedings under section 73 or section 74 in respect of the said period, shall be levied on that portion of the tax that is paid by debiting the electronic cash ledger.”.

CBIC issued Press Release on availability of new functionality of Form GSTR-2B for the month of July 2020

The GST Council, in its 39th meeting held on le larch 2020, had recommended to adopt and implement the incremental approach of linking the present system of filing of GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 and other significant changes like enhancements in GSTR-2A and its linking to GSTR-3B. One such enhancement that the Council recommended was the introduction of an auto-drafted input tax credit (ITC) statement which would aid in assisting/determining the input tax credit that is available for every taxpayer. Form GSTR-2B is going to be such an auto-drafted ITC statement which will be generated for every registered person on the basis of the information furnished by his suppliers in their respective GSTR-1, 5 (non-resident taxable person) and 6 (input service distributor). It is a static statement and will be made available for each month, on the 12th day of the succeeding month. It is expected that GSTR-2B will help in reduction in time taken for preparing a return, minimizing errors, assist reconciliation & simplify compliance relating to filing of returns. Key features in GSTR-2B which would assist taxpayers in return filing are as under: i. It contains information on the import of goods from the ICEGATE system including inward supplies of goods received from Special Economic Zones Units/Developers. This is not available with the release of GSTR-2B for the month of July and will be made available shortly. ii. A summary statement that shows all the ITC available and non-available under each section. The advisory given against each section clarifies the action to be taken by the taxpayers in their respective section of GSTR-3B; iii. Document-level details of all invoices, credit notes; debit notes etc. are also provided both for viewing and download; GSTR-2B for the month of July 2020 has been made available on the common portal on a trial basis. Since this is the first time that the statement is being introduced, taxpayers are advised to refer to GSTR-2B for the month of July 2020 only for feedback purposes. All taxpayers are requested to go through their GSTR-2B for July 2020 and after comparing the same with the credit availed by them in July 2020, provide feedback (if any) on any aspect of GSTR-2B by raising a ticket on the self-service portal (https://selfservice.gstsystem.in/) All taxpayers are advised to view the detailed advisory relating to GSTR-2B on the common portal before using the statement. Taxpayers can access their Form GSTR-2B through: Login to GST Portal > Returns Dashboard > Select Return period > GSTR-2B.

I-T department to intimate taxpayers under scrutiny about faceless assessment

 

The income tax (I-T) department will soon start sending out intimation to assessees undergoing scrutiny that such cases would now be handled under faceless assessment, a tax official said on Friday.

CBDT additional commissioner Jaishree Sharma also said that domestic transfer pricing cases too will be covered under the faceless assessment mechanism.

Asked whether the previous notices still stand valid, Sharma said, "Previous notices will not become redundant. First, an intimation would be sent out that your case would now be assessed under faceless assessment scheme and if the assessing officer of the Assessment Unit feels that he needs some more information, he will send fresh (notice) under 142(1)."

A Section 142(1) notice is sent to an assessee to inquire about details and documents before making assessment under the Income Tax Act. Speaking at a webinar organised by industry body PHDCCI, Sharma said reassessment cases would also be part of the faceless scheme. "So all the 148 cases that were going on, they have been transferred to the faceless assessment scheme and NeAC will be sending out intimation in all such cases which would now be assessed under the faceless assessment scheme. So by September 15 or before that, you can expect an intimation from NeAC," Sharma said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had earlier this month notified the National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) at Delhi for all communication with taxpayers under the faceless assessment scheme. Since August 13, all income tax returns picked up for scrutiny, except those relating to search and seizure and international tax, are being assessed under faceless assessment.

Under faceless scrutiny assessment, a central computer picks up tax returns for scrutiny based on risk parameters and mismatch and then allots them randomly to a team of officers. This allocation is reviewed by officers at another randomly selected location and only if concurred, a notice is sent by the centralized computer system. All such notices need to be responded to electronically without the requirement of visiting a tax office or meeting any official.

Read More at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/i-t-department-to-intimate-taxpayers-under-scrutiny-about-faceless-assessment/articleshow/77806446.cms

GSTN has enabled Form GSTR 2B in the GST Portal.

 

The Taxpayer can log in with there login credentials then go to F.Y 20-21 for July 2020, the Form GSTR-2B is available on the Portal.

Source: GST Portal

पिछले 5 साल के ITR को वेरीफाई करे!!

इनकम टैक्स की साइट पर एक बटन एनेबल हुआ है जिसकी सहायता से आप पिछले 5 साल के ITR को वैलिड कर सकते है ।

इसकी समय सीमा 30 सितम्बर है 

No waiver in due date

सरल GST की तरफ कदम बढ़ते हुए..!ओर करदाता की छाती पर लगातार कदम ताल हमलें।मुबारक हो आपको सफल ओर सरल GST...!

Now doctors, CAs, lawyers also can get loan under MSME emergency credit scheme as govt relaxes criteria

The government has decided to relax the eligibility criteria for tapping the Rs 3-lakh-crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to cover professionals and enable a much wider pool of businesses to benefit from it, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.

Although there is no review of the scheme’s overall credit limit (Rs 3 lakh crore) yet, the additional beneficiaries are estimated to be sanctioned guaranteed loans of about Rs 1 lakh crore.

The annual turnover limit of companies to be eligible to tap the scheme will be raised to Rs 250 crore from Rs 100 crore now, in sync with the revised definition of the MSMEs. Financial services secretary Debashish Panda said individuals such as doctors, chartered accountants, lawyers, etc, who wish to take loans for professional purposes, will also be covered under the scheme.

Eligible businesses with up to Rs 50 crore outstanding as of February 29 will be eligible, instead of the extant cap of Rs 25 crore. The Centre has pledged full guarantee for up to 20% extra, collateral-free working capital loans under the ECLGS. This means each eligible borrower can obtain up to Rs 10 crore guaranteed loan. “The relaxation was made, keeping in view the success of the scheme and its potential to help businesses,” Sitharaman said.

As of July 29, loans of as much as Rs 1,36,155 crore were sanctioned to 40 lakh units, of which Rs 87,227 crore was already disbursed a sign of the appeal of the scheme that was rolled out only on June 1.

Asked if the GST Council will be allowed to borrow funds for distribution to states to fight the pandemic, Sitharaman said the opinion of the attorney general has been sought for this purpose. The AG’s opinion will be placed before the next meeting of the council, the date for which is yet to be set.

Financial services secretary Panda said as many as 1.12 crore farmers have been extended kisan credit cards (KCC), with a cumulative sanctioned limit of Rs 90,000 crore. Farmers who take loans through KCC card are also eligible for cover under the crop insurance scheme. No collateral is required for loans up to Rs 1.6 lakh from SBI. This came as a boost to kharif sowing, which typically starts from June, with the arrival of seasonal monsoon showers.

To boost liquidity for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the secretary said total purchases of NBFC assets and debt under the Rs 45,000-crore partial credit guarantee scheme have touched Rs 18,000 crore, and purchases worth another Rs 5,800 are in the offing. In May, the Cabinet approved the proposed partial credit guarantee scheme (PCGS) 2.0 (worth Rs 45,000 crore) to improve liquidity for low-rated shadow lenders, and eased certain criteria for the pooled purchase of NBFC assets by state-run banks under the existing PCGS 1.0.

The ECLGS, the drive to distribute KCC and liquidity for NBFCs were an important part of the government’s 21-lakh-crore relief package (upt o May) to help individuals and businesses tide over the damaging impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The government has earmarked a corpus of Rs 41,600 crore over the current and the next three financial years to implement the ECLGS. Loans under the scheme will have a 4-year tenor with moratorium of 12 months on the repayment of the principal amount. The interest rate will be capped at 9.25% a year for banks and financial institutions and 14% for non-financial banking companies. The scheme can be tapped until October 31 or until the Rs 3-lakh-crore limit is exhausted, whichever is earlier. As many as 45 lakh units can resume business activity and safeguard jobs, Sitharaman had said in May, while announcing the scheme.

Similarly, as many as 2.5 crore PM-Kisan beneficiaries, who didn’t have the KCC, were to be covered under the official credit net through the special drive. The Centre hopes to disburse loans of Rs 2 lakh crore to help these farmers. Farmers in the animal husbandry and fishery sectors are also covered under the KCC, she added.

Read More at: https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/sme/extra-cover-msme-loan-relief-to-now-cover-professionals-like-doctors-lawyers-cas/2042211/