01-April-2016 10:27 IST
Notification of Income Tax Returns for Assessment Year 2016-17
With the passage of Finance Bill, 2015, wealth-tax is no longer leviable with effect from assessment year 2016-17. Taxpayers are, therefore, not required to file a wealth tax return from assessment year 2016-17 onwards. While abolishing the charge of Wealth-tax, the Finance Minister also announced that information which was required to be furnished in the return of wealth will now form a part of the Income-tax return.
Individuals and HUFs with income above a specified limit, filing returns in ITR-3 and ITR-4 are already required to furnish information of their assets and liabilities in their annual return of income. With Assessment Year 2016-17, individuals and HUFs filing their returns of income in ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-2A and ITR-4S, having income exceeding Rs.50 lakh will now be required to furnish information regarding assets and liabilities in Schedule-AL of the relevant ITR form.
These changes in ITR forms are in tune with the announcement made in the Budget Speech 2015.
People with an income of more than Rs 50 lakh per annum and having the pleasure of owning a yacht, aircraft or valuable jewellery will now have to disclose these costly assets with the IT department notifying a new set of Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for assessment year 2016-17.
The department has introduced a fresh reporting column in the new ITRs (ITR-2 and 2A) called 'Asset and Liability at the end of the year' which is applicable in cases where the total income exceeds Rs 50 lakhs. Individuals and entities coming under this income bracket will also have to mention the total cost of such assets.
So, while immovable assets like land and building have to be furnished under the new ITR regime, movable assets like cash in hand, jewellery, bullion, vehicles, yachts, boats and aircraft will also have to be disclosed to the taxman.
The entity reporting these high-value possessions will also have to describe their "Liability in relation" to these items.
"The new reporting mechanisms for people earning over Rs 50 lakh per annum are made to check tax evasion by high-net worth individuals and entities. While their income returns used to cover this in a way till now, a new exclusive column was essential to keep the taxman informed," a senior official said.
For the first time, the ITRs, keeping in spirit the government's flagship agenda of promoting startup businesses has brought out a separate column for earnings made from this sector.
The ITR-2A, to be filled by those individuals and HUFs who do not have income from either business, profession or by way of capital gains and do not hold foreign assets, has the new column called Pass Through Income (PTI) and seeks details from business trust or investment fund as per section 115UA and 115UB of the Income Tax Act (investments made in a venture capital company) which pertains to emerging companies or startup firms.
Income tax department launches tax calculator; e-filing of few ITRs begins-LiveMint
At the time of filing the form, the taxpayer has to fill in his PAN, personal information and information on taxes paid and TDS will be auto-filled in the form
E-filing of income tax returns for the assessment year 2016-17 was launched on Sunday for a select category of entities and individuals even as the income tax (IT) department provided an online calculator for filers to do an easy check and obtain their annual tax liability.
“Two Income Tax Returns have been activated over the official e-filing portal of the department today. The two are ITR 1 (Sahaj) meant for individuals having income from salary and interest and ITR 4S (Sugam) meant for individuals, HUF, partnership firms having income from presumptive business,” a senior tax department officer said.
03-April-2016 14:05 IST
Prime Minister to launch the “Stand up India scheme” on April 5th,2016
The “Stand up India Scheme” is being launched now to promote entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste/Schedule Tribe and Women for loans in the range of Rs. 10 Lakhs to Rs. 100 Lakhs. The Scheme is expected to benefit large number of such entrepreneurs, as it is intended to facilitate at least two such projects per bank branch (Scheduled Commercial Bank) on an average one for each category of entrepreneur.
The broad features of the scheme are as under:-
I. Composite loan between Rs. 10 lakh and upto Rs.100 lakh, inclusive of working capital component for setting up any new enterprise.
II. Debit Card (RuPay) for drawal of working capital.
III. Credit history of borrower to be developed.
IV. Refinance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with an initial amount of Rs.10,000 crore.
V. Creation of a corpus of Rs. 5,000 crore for credit guarantee through NCGTC.
VI. Handholding support for borrowers with comprehensive support for pre loan training needs, facilitating loan, factoring, marketing etc.
VII. Web Portal for online registration and support services.
The overall intent of the proposal is to leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to these underserved sectors of the population by facilitating bank loans in the non-farm sector set up by such SC, ST and Women borrowers. The initiative will also develop synergies with ongoing schemes of other Departments.
The process would be led by SIDBI with involvement of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) and various sector – specific institutions all over the country. The offices of SIDBI and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) shall be designated Stand Up Connect Centres (SUCC).
The launch event would involve distribution of 5100 E-Rickshaws by Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC) under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna scheme. In addition the recipients will also be covered under Pradhan Matri Jan Dhan Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jivan Jyoti Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana schemes and other eight significant Prime Minister schemes.
“Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC) aims to spread awareness of the financial inclusion and social security schemes and proposes to take the benefits to poor and destitute people in the country. The idea is to facilitate the up gradation of pedal rickshaw pullers into E Rickshaw owners and help create threefold increment in their income. Credit for all these facilities are being provided under Mudra Scheme. The progression to E rickshaw from pedal rickshaw will also help contribute towards achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Sach hua Sapna, Rickshaw hua apna!, shared Vijay Pandey, Managing Director, Bhartiya Micro Credit.
As the first step of this process the pedal rickshaw pullers are provided training post which certificate is provided by NSDC. 150 women drivers have been trained. In addition the customers will also be able to book E Rickshaw through Ola mobile apps and make online payment via Freecharge, which will be integrated under the Digital India initiative.
Under the scheme, charging and service station will also be set up, which will help the growth of emergence of small and micro enterprises along with creating many opportunities for entrepreneurs. This organically integrates Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC) E-Rickshaws program into Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi flagship ‘Stand Up India’ initiative.
The Prime Minister on 15th August 2014 launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) for “Banking the Unbanked”. As is well known, it met with resounding success as more than 21.3 crore accounts have been opened. Further, Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was launched by the PM for “Funding the Unfunded” by facilitating loans upto Rs. 10 lakh on 8th April, 2015. As on date, over Rs. 1.22 Lakh crore have been disbursed wherein over 57.75 lakh Scheduled Castes, 15.15 lakh Scheduled Tribes and 2.52 crore women entrepreneurs have been benefited under this scheme. To intensify this inclusive growth, the PM in his address to the nation on 15th Aug, 2015 had announced the “Start up India Stand up India” initiative.
04-April-2016 15:39 IST
Release of E-filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) and other forms
In pursuance of the Notification of the Income Tax Returns (ITR) for AY 2016-17 on March 31st, 2016, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)announces the release of electronic filing of ITRs 1 and 4S on its website https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. Other ITRs will be e-enabled shortly.
Online filing of Appeal before Commissioner (Appeal) using newly notified Form 35 has been enabled for taxpayers mandated to E-file their returns using Digital Signature Certificate. Electronic Verification Code (EVC) option will be available shortly for other category of taxpayers. Reference may be made to Notification 11/2016 dated March 1, 2016 for the various categories of taxpayers required to file appeal online.
In pursuance of Notification No 93/2016 dated 16th Dec 2015, effective from 1April 2016, the following forms have been substituted by new forms and are now available for E-filing:
- Form 15CA -payments to a non-resident not being a company, or to a foreign company,
- Form 15CB-Certificate of an accountant,
- Form 15CC -Quarterly statement
Vide Notification No 3/2016 dated 14th Jan 2016, CBDT had substituted with effect from 1 April 2016, Forms 9A (Application for exercise of option under clause (2) of the Explanation to sub-section (1) of section 11 of the Income tax Act, 1961) and Form 10 (Statement to be furnished to the Assessing Officer/Prescribed Authority under sub-section (2) of section 11 of the Income tax Act, 1961). These forms can be filed online using Digital Signature Certificate on the Income Tax Department’s e-filing website. EVC option will be available shortly.
04-April-2016 16:35 IST
Statement by the Ministry of Finance on the story published in today’s Edition of Indian Express dated 4.4.2016
In the context of the commitment of the Central Government to bring-out undisclosed money both from abroad and from within the country, information brought-out by any investigative journalism is welcome.
In the past also based on the investigative journalism of ICIJ in 2013 in which the links of 700 Indian persons were shown to have business connection with off-shore entities, the Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has been able to identify 434 persons out of them as Indian residents. 184 persons out of these have also admitted their relationship with such off-shore entities/transactions. Although, in the previous report of ICIJ, information relating to the financial transactions/bank accounts was not available, the Government authorities have detected credit in the undisclosed foreign accounts of such Indian persons in excess of Rs.2,000 crores. 52 prosecution complaints under the provision of Income-Tax Act have been filed against offenders so far.
Similarly, in response to information received in 2011 from Government of France, relating to the bank accounts of 628 Indian persons in HSBC, Switzerland, a lot of progress has been made in the investigation by the Department. Out of the list, 569 persons have been traced. However, in the information received, details of HSBC amount were shown against 339 persons only. Out of 628, 214 were found not actionable on account of no balance or being non-residents or being non-traceable. Out of the remaining cases, assessments have been completed in 390 cases in which undisclosed income of Rs.5018 crore and tax demand of Rs.4584 crore has been raised. Also the concealment penalty of Rs.1213 crores has been levied in 157 cases. Also 154 prosecution complaints have been filed in HSBC cases. Based on the prosecution complaints of predicate offences, ED has also initiated investigation in 23 cases of HSBC and 20 cases of ICIJ expose of 2013.
The Government is committed to detecting and preventing generation of black money. In this context, the expose of Panama Papers will further help the Government in meeting this objective. As per the directions of Hon’ble Prime Minister given today, a special multi-agency group is being constituted today consisting of officers from Investigative Unit of CBDT, FIU and FT & TR division and representative of RBI. The group will monitor the flow of information in each one of the case. The Government will take all necessary actions as required to get maximum information from all sources including from foreign governments to help in the investigation process.
India is also concerned that there are countries in the world which are being used as tax havens because of which all other countries of the world suffer loss of tax. The recent initiative of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) will help India and other countries in checking this practice of tax-avoidance through such tax havens. India is also fully committed to the BEPS initiative.
In the past also based on the investigative journalism of ICIJ in 2013 in which the links of 700 Indian persons were shown to have business connection with off-shore entities, the Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has been able to identify 434 persons out of them as Indian residents. 184 persons out of these have also admitted their relationship with such off-shore entities/transactions. Although, in the previous report of ICIJ, information relating to the financial transactions/bank accounts was not available, the Government authorities have detected credit in the undisclosed foreign accounts of such Indian persons in excess of Rs.2,000 crores. 52 prosecution complaints under the provision of Income-Tax Act have been filed against offenders so far.
Similarly, in response to information received in 2011 from Government of France, relating to the bank accounts of 628 Indian persons in HSBC, Switzerland, a lot of progress has been made in the investigation by the Department. Out of the list, 569 persons have been traced. However, in the information received, details of HSBC amount were shown against 339 persons only. Out of 628, 214 were found not actionable on account of no balance or being non-residents or being non-traceable. Out of the remaining cases, assessments have been completed in 390 cases in which undisclosed income of Rs.5018 crore and tax demand of Rs.4584 crore has been raised. Also the concealment penalty of Rs.1213 crores has been levied in 157 cases. Also 154 prosecution complaints have been filed in HSBC cases. Based on the prosecution complaints of predicate offences, ED has also initiated investigation in 23 cases of HSBC and 20 cases of ICIJ expose of 2013.
The Government is committed to detecting and preventing generation of black money. In this context, the expose of Panama Papers will further help the Government in meeting this objective. As per the directions of Hon’ble Prime Minister given today, a special multi-agency group is being constituted today consisting of officers from Investigative Unit of CBDT, FIU and FT & TR division and representative of RBI. The group will monitor the flow of information in each one of the case. The Government will take all necessary actions as required to get maximum information from all sources including from foreign governments to help in the investigation process.
India is also concerned that there are countries in the world which are being used as tax havens because of which all other countries of the world suffer loss of tax. The recent initiative of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) will help India and other countries in checking this practice of tax-avoidance through such tax havens. India is also fully committed to the BEPS initiative.
Income Tax dept issues refunds worth ₹1.17 lakh crore in 2015-16-Hindu Business Line
In an effort to improve its taxpayer-friendly image, the Income Tax department has issued refunds worth ₹1,17,000 crore in 2015-16.
“This figure is likely to further increase as banks reconcile the accounts,” the Finance Ministry said on Monday.
The total number of refunds issued rose 47 per cent to 1.61 crore (of over ₹100) in 2015-16.
The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) in Bengaluru issued refunds of ₹37, 870 crore in an automated manner of which 67 per cent were issued within 30 days.
PM Modi steps in: Income Tax, RBI panel to probe Panama Papers trail-Indian Express-05.04.2016
"PM Modi has himself requested that this matter be investigated... I think it's a healthy step that this kind of exposes are being made," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, reacting to The Indian Express story
“The Government is committed to detecting and preventing generation of black money. In this context, the expose of Panama Papers will further help the Government in meeting this objective…The Government will take all necessary actions as required to get maximum information from all sources including from foreign governments to help in the investigation process,” the Ministry said.
04-April-2016 17:51 IST
PM to launch 'Stand Up India' Initiative at Noida tomorrow
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will launch the Stand Up India initiative at Noida tomorrow.
The initiative will promote entrepreneurship among the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Women, by facilitating loans in the range of Rs. 10 Lakhs to Rs. 100 Lakhs. Each branch of a scheduled commercial bank shall facilitate at least two such loans. A web portal will also be launched for the initiative, to enable online registration and support services.
The Prime Minister will flag-off 5100 e-rickshaws on the occasion. He will interact with the beneficiaries, besides inaugurating a Kaushal Vikas Kendra (Skilling Centre).
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