CBDT again extends Deadline for filing declaration under ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ Scheme

The Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT ) has again extended the
Deadline for filing declaration under ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ scheme till 31
March, 2021, and the due date for payment without additional amount
under VSV extended to 30th April, 2021.

As per a CBDT’s notification, the date for payment of tax without
additional interest under VSV remains unchanged at 30 April, 2021.
Notification no. 09/2021 in S.O. 964(E) dated 26/02/2021 issued. Date
for payment without additional amount under VSV extended to 30th April,
2021,” the Income Tax department said in a tweet late Friday.

The Vivad se Vishwas scheme is similar to the ‘Indirect Tax, Sabka
Vishwas’ scheme, which was introduced by Finance Minister during her
maiden budget presentation in July 2019. The “Sabka Vishwas” legacy
dispute resolution scheme was aimed at reducing disputes related to
excise and service tax payments.

12% GST applicable on Job Work of Metal Alloy Coating or Thermal Spray: AAR

The Karnataka Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) ruled that 12% GST is
applicable on Job Work of Metal Alloy Coating or Thermal Spray.

The Bombay High Court dismissed the plea of the Goods and Service Tax

Practitioners’ Association’s plea for GSTR9/9C due date extension.

The petitioners further sought the direction to the respondents to
extend periodicity of limitation of filing of annual returns for the
year 2019-20 in the State of Maharashtra under section 44 of the Central
Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 read with Rule 80 of the Central Goods
and Services Tax Rules, 2017 up to June 30, 2021.

It has been averred in the writ petition that the COVID-19 pandemic
particularly in the State of Maharashtra is not yet over. Rather in
recent days, there has been an increase in the number of cases of people
being infected with covid-19. Lock-down imposed in the State of
Maharashtra has not yet been completely withdrawn. As a matter of fact,
several areas in the State of Maharashtra have seen fresh lock-downs in
different forms in the recent past. Which has not been accepted.

MCA-CBIC MoU for exchange of Data

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes
and Customs (CBIC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on
February 25, 2021.

Highlights
•       The MoU was signed and is now in the force for data exchange between
both the organisations.
•       It was signed by Joint Secretary of MCA, Shri Manoj Pandey and the ADG
of CBIC, Shri B. B. Gupta.
•       MoU comply with the vision of both the organisation to harness the
data capabilities so as to ensure effective enforcement.
•       With the signing of the MoU, MCA and CBIC will benefit from getting
access to each other’s databases.
•       These databases include the details regarding import-export
transactions and consolidated financial statements of companies which
are registered in India.
•       The data sharing agreement has become more significance in the context
of development of MCA21 Version 3.
•       The MCA21 version will utilise state of the art technology to enhance
ease of doing business across India.
•       It will also improve the regulatory enforcement.

MCA notifies Period for Notice of issue of Share Capital under section 62

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on 11th February 2021 has
published the Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Amendment Rules,
2021 to further amend the Companies (Share Capital and Debentures)
Rules, 2014.

The Amendment brings in a new rule 12A which notifies the period for
notice of issue of share capital under section 62.

According to the notification the time period within which the offer of
acceptance towards the issue of further shares by a company shall be not
less than seven days from the date of the offer.

The Family Pension has been Increased by The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW)

The Union Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office and Personnel,
Public Grievances & Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh, stated on February 12,
2021 that the upper ceiling for family pension has been increased from
Rs 45,000 to Rs 1,25,000 per month

Highlights

This decision was taken in order to bring Ease of Living for the family
members of the deceased employees.
It would help in providing adequate financial security to the family
members.
The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) has also
clarified the amount admissible when a child is eligible to draw two
family pensions after the death of parents.
The notification says that the amount of both the family pensions will
be restricted to Rs 1,25,000 per month. This amounts to two and half
times more than the earlier limit.
Further the sub-rule (11) of rule 54 under the Central Civil Services
(Pension) Rules 1972 states that if both wife and husband are Government
servants and are governed by the provisions of that rule, then, on their
death the surviving child will be eligible for two family pensions

PPF stays out of tax on EPF interest

The removal of tax exemption on annual contributions of ₹2.5 lakh and
above to provident fund accounts will not apply to the Public Provident
Fund (PPF), a senior official said.

“The cap is not applicable on PPF because there is already a limit of
₹1.5 lakh contribution in a year to PPF,” the official said.

The government has proposed changing taxation rules for provident funds
by levying income-tax on the interest earned on contributions exceeding
₹2.5 lakh in a financial year.

SC tells CBDT to address NRI tax fears

The tax uncertainty faced by non-resident Indians (NRIs) — which the
Budget didn’t address — and difficulties that companies may run into
following the proposal to dismantle Income Tax Settlement Commission
(ITSC) have triggered court cases.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court directed the apex tax body Central Board
of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to respond to a representation from an NRI, who
may be exposed to higher tax, for having overstayed in India due to
Covid-19. And, on Tuesday, Saravana Bhavan, the largest chain of
restaurants serving South Indian food, filed a petition before the
Madras High Court to direct ITSC, which was formed to settle complex tax
disputes, to accept its application.

RBI to set up a 24×7 helpline for Digital Payment Services

The Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Shaktikanta Das, recently
announced that the central bank will set up a 24*7 helpline platform in
order to strengthen the digital payment services in India. This
announcement was made through the Statement on Development and
Regulatory policy.

Highlights

1) RBI has come up with many safety and security features apart from the
measures to redress the grievances of the users in the past as well.
2) This announcement will further enhance the digital payments
experience of users in India.
3) The RBI released the Payment Systems Vision document.
4) The document highlights the need of setting up a 24×7 helpline in
order to address the customer queries with respect to the digital
payment products.
5) As per the guideline, major payment system operators are required to
facilitate setting-up of a centralised 24×7 helpline to address the
customer queries by September 2021.
6) Apart from this helpline facility, guidelines will also be issued on
the outsourcing for the Operators and Participants of Authorised Payment
Systems.

RBI to adopt “One Nation One Ombudsman” approach

Key facts

Currently, there are dedicated ombudsman schemes for the consumer
grievance redressal in the banking, non-bank finance companies and
digital transactions.
Now, the bank has decided to integrate the three Ombudsman schemes.
The central bank has also operationalized the complaint management
system (CMS) portal as a one stop solution. This portal will be used for
the alternate dispute resolution of the customer complaints which are
not resolved by regulated entities.

Objectives of the move

The central bank has decided to adopt the approach of “One Nation, One
Ombudsman” with the objective of making the process of redress of grievances
easy. The approach will make the grievance process easy by enabling the
customers to register the complaints under the integrated scheme with a
centralised reference point.