Indian FM announced economic stimulus plan, and relaxation of due dates due to the issues faced by the taxpayers & companies amid complete lockdown in India to control COVID-19 (Corona Virus). Covering various statutory, regulatory compliance such as Income Tax, GST, Corporate Affairs.
Also considered the updates from economic stimulus plan announced on May 13th 2020. The key announcements are as follows
Income Tax
Applicable to Individuals and other than Individuals
- The due date for Filing Income Tax Return for FY 2018-19 is extended to 30th Jun 2020 from 31st Mar 2020
- The due date for Filing Income Tax Return for FY 2019-20 is extended to 30th Nov 2020 from 31st Jul 2020
- The TDS rate on payments for contract, professional fee, rent, Commission, dividend, brokerage etc shall be reduced by 25% of existing rates *
- The due date for Linking PAN and Aadhar is extended to 30th Jun 2020 from 31st Mar 2020
- The date for making investments & payments for claiming deduction under Section 80C (LIC, PPF, NSC etc.), 80D (Mediclaim), 80G (Donations), extended to June 30th 2020 for FY 2019-20
- All delayed payments of advance tax, self-assessment tax, TDS, TCS, equalization levy, STT, CTT made between 20/03/2020 and 30/06/2020 will be charges at reduced interest rate i.e., 9% p.a instead of 12% p.a
- The due date for issue of notice, intimation, order, investment in tax saving instruments, investments for rollover benefit of capital gains under Income Tax has been extended to 30/06/2020
GST
Applicable to all who registered under GST
- The due dates for filing Feb, March and April GST returns has been extended till the last week of 30/06/2020 for those whose turnover is below 5 Crores.
- No* interest, Late fee and penalty will be charges for the companies with turnover less than Rs 5 crores for the above period.
- Interest will be charged at reduced rate of 9% p.a instead of 18% p.a for the companies with turnover more than Rs 5 crores. No Late Fee and Penalty will be charged if complied before June 30th 2020
- The due date for filing Annual return for FY 2018-19 is extended to 30/06/2020 from 31/03/2020
- The due date for filing CMP 08 for Composition taxpayers has been extended to 30/06/2020 from 18/04/2020
- The due date for opting into composition scheme has been extended to 30/06/2020 from 31/03/2020
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Applicable to Private Limited, OPC and LLP
- No additional fee shall be charged for late filing during a moratorium period (01/04/2020 to 30/09/2020) in respect of any document, return, statement etc required to be filed in MCA system irrespective of its due date
- Additional time of 6 more months given to newly incorporated companies for declaration of commencement of business in eform 20A. Now, it can be filed up to 1 year from the date of incorporation of company
- A company director who does not comply with minimum residency requirement of 182 days or more in India shall not be considered as violation
- Applicability of CARO-20 which was supposed to be effective from FY 2019-20 has been shifted to FY 2020-21.
- The mandatory requirement of holding Board meetings shall be extended by a period of 60 days till next 2 quarters i.e., till 30th September 2020
Other Announcements
- Due Date for filing Employee Provident Fund (EPF) electronic challan cum return for the month of March is extended to 15/05/2020 from 15/04/2020
- Rs 3 lakh crores Collateral-Free Automatic Loans for Businesses, including MSMEs. To pay after 12 months of moratorium
- Pending refunds to co-operatives, charitable trusts, non-corporates will be processed immediately to relieve.
- Statutory PF Contribution by Employer and employee has been reduced to 10% from 12% for May, Jun, Jul 2020.
- The difference between Manufacturing and service sector is eliminated and the long-due new MSME definition is expected to be approved soon. Gives opportunity for certain MSMEs not to lose the benefits that they used to enojoy per old regime due to increase in the revenue / investment.
