RELIEF MEASURES AND DATE EXTENSIONS ANNOUNCED BY THE GOVERNMENT

The following relief measures/date extensions were announced by Hon’ble Finance Minister on 24 March 2020.

INCOME TAX

1) Last date for filing income tax Returns for FY 2018-19 extended to June 30 2020

2) Interest rate for payments due for FY 2018-19 made till June 30 2020 reduced to 9% for tax payments (from 12%) and 9% for Tax withholding payments (from 18%)

3) Dates for issue of notices, initiation, filing of appeal, returns, statements, approval, sanctions, applications, proceedings, reports or any other compliance by taxpayers, investments in 80C, investments in capital gains scheme etc., extended to June 30 2020 under the Income tax Act, Wealth tax act, Benami Act, STT Act

4) Aadhaar Pan linking extended to June 30 2020

5) Vivad se Vishwas scheme extended to June 30 2020 without additional 10% tax payment.

GST

1) Last date for filing March, April and May returns and composition returns extended to June 30 2020 – with staggering dates for states and UT in the last week of June 2020 to be announced

2) For Companies with less than Rs 5 crore turnover, no interest, late fee and penalty will be charged.

3) For companies with more than Rs 5 crores turnover only interest will be charged at 9% interest with no late fee and penalty

4) Last date for opting composition is June 30 2020.

CUSTOMS DUTY

1) Sab ka Vishwas extended to June 30, 2020. No interest will be levied till June 30 2020.

2) Customs clearance till June 30 2020 Will operate 24/7

MCA – COMPANIES ACT PROVISIONS

1) Moratorium issued from April 01 20 till September 2020 for filing of forms with no additional fees

2) Relaxation by 60 days for holding board meetings till next two quarters

3) Applicability of CARO 2020 will be made effective from FY 2020-21

4) For the year 2019-20 if no meeting of independent directors is held the same shall not be considered as violation

5) For newly incorporated companies filing of declaration of commencement of business is mandatory within 6 months which is being extended to 12 months

6) Minimum residency requirement for directors of 182 days or more under section 149 of the companies act shall not be treated as a violation

7) Requirement of maintaining deposit reserve of 20% of deposits maturing during the year before April 30 2020 has been extended to June 30 2020

8) Requirement of investing 15% of debentures maturing before April 30 2020 in specified securities is extended to June 30 2020.

INSOLVENCY CODE

1) Threshold of default of Rs 100,000 enhanced to Rs 1,00,00,000 for filing CIRP proceedings

2) Section 7, 9 and 10 of IBBI Act to be suspended for 6 months if lockdown situation continues beyond April 30 2020