Clarification: No Change on Financial Year

Financial year remains the same…There have been rumors about the change in the financial year. It was forwarded with the comment that change had been undertaken because of the coronavirus outbreak. This claim is false. The Ministry of Finance released a late-night notification on March 30, 2020 calling this as “fake news.” It may be noted that only the date of compliance which was required by March 31, 2020 either by the taxpayers or by the tax authorities has been deferred till June 30, 2020.

Confusion regarding amendments to the Indian Stamp Act…The ministry of finance also released notifications related to amendments to the Indian Stamp Act. It pertains to putting in place an efficient mechanism for collection of Stamp Duty. This change was earlier notified to be implemented from April 1, 2020. However, due to the prevailing situation, it has been decided that the date of implementation will now be postponed to July 1, 2020.

RBI’s proposal to align its Financial Year…The fake news about change in the financial year got circulated. This has created a chaos among the taxpayers that the present announcement is resulting in the extension of the financial year. Financial year of RBI used to be from July 1 to June 30 and not normal from April to March. The RBI has now proposed to change it to normal FY of April to March from next year. For this, they will be beginning from July 2020 to March 2021. This news appears to have been wrongly drawn by the majority of the readers.

Any queries? We are here to help…We understand the amount of confusion created, especially at this time of the year. Also, the COVID 19 pandemic has led to the circulation of a lot of fake news and messages. Shoot your tax related queries & we’ll help you simplify them.

Extension for Tax Saving Investments for current FY…The Ministry of Finance has announced the compliance relaxations for Tax Saving Investments u/s 80C, 80D. It is going to give a three-month window till June 30. The deadline for Tax-Saving Investments has always been the last date of Financial Year, i.e March 31. Hence by this time, individuals who wish to claim a Tax Deduction of INR 1.5 lakh on their returns need to make investments under Chapter VI A. But here Comes The Twist!

The government had last week extended the due dates for issue of notice, intimation, notification, approval order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing of return, statements, applications, reports, any other documents and time limit for completion of proceedings by the authority and any compliance by the taxpayer to June 30, 2020.

Investment in saving instruments or investments for roll over benefit of capital gains under Income Tax Act and other acts such as Wealth Tax Act, Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, Black Money Act, STT law, CTT Law, Equalization Levy law, Vivad Se Vishwas law was extended to 30th June 2020.

This will allow taxpayers to make investments in various savings instruments such as National Savings Certificate, Public Provident Fund, National Pension Scheme for income tax rebate by June 30.

It can be highlighted that the lack of access to information and systems including ERP needed to file returns and other documents, due to the lockdown, is leading to delays in compliance.

No extension of the Financial Year: There is a fake news circulating in some section of media that the financial year has been extended.@nsitharamanoffc @Anurag_Office @PIB_India @DDNewslive @airnewsalerts

— Ministry of Finance 🇮🇳 #StayHome #StaySafe (@FinMinIndia) March 30, 2020