PIB-24-03-2020
The Union
Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Niramla Sitharaman today
announced several important relief measures taken by the Government of India in
view of COVID-19 outbreak, especially on statutory and regulatory compliance
matters related to several sectors. While addressing the press conference
through video conferencing here today, Smt. Sitharaman announced much-needed
relief measures in areas of Income Tax, GST, Customs & Central Excise,
Corporate Affairs, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) Fisheries, Banking
Sector and Commerce.
The Minister
of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Singh Thakur was also
present besides Shri A.B. Pandey, Finance Secretary and Shri Atanu Chakraborty,
Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.
Following are the decisions with respect to statutory and
regulatory compliance matters related to various sectors: —
Income Tax
1. Extend last date for income tax returns for (FY
18-19) from 31st March, 2020 to 30th June,
2020.
2. Aadhaar-PAN linking date to be extended from 31st March,
2020 to 30th June, 2020.
3. Vivad se
Vishwas scheme – no
additional 10% amount, if payment made by June 30, 2020.
4. 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 including investment in saving instruments or
investments for roll over benefit of capital gains under Income Tax
Act, Wealth Tax Act, Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act,
Black Money Act, STT law, CTT Law, Equalization Levy law, Vivad Se
Vishwas law where the time limit is expiring between 20th March
2020 to 29th June 2020 shall be extended to 30th June
2020.
5. For delayed payments of advanced tax, self-assessment
tax, regular tax, TDS, TCS, equalization levy, STT, CTT made
between 20th March 2020 and 30th June 2020,
reduced interest rate at 9% instead of 12 %/18 % per annum (
i.e. 0.75% per month instead of 1/1.5 percent per month) will be charged
for this period. No late fee/penalty shall be charged for delay
relating to this period.
6. Necessary legal circulars and legislative amendments
for giving effect to the aforesaid relief shall be issued in due course.
GST/Indirect Tax
1. Those having aggregate annual turnover less than Rs.
5 Crore Last date can file GSTR-3B due in March, April and May 2020
by the last week of June, 2020. No interest, late fee, and penalty
to be charged.
2. Others can file returns due in March, April and May
2020 by last week of June 2020 but the same would attract reduced rate of
interest @9 % per annum from 15 days after due date (current interest
rate is 18 % per annum). No late fee and penalty to be charged, if
complied before till 30th June 2020.
3. Date for opting for composition scheme is extended
till the last week of June, 2020. Further, the last date for
making payments for the quarter ending 31st March, 2020 and
filing of return for 2019-20 by the composition dealers will be
extended till the last week of June, 2020.
4. Date for filing GST annual returns of FY 18-19, which
is due on 31st March, 2020 is extended till the last week
of June 2020.
5. Due date for issue of notice, notification, approval
order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing of return, statements,
applications, reports, any other documents, time limit for any compliance under
the GST laws where the time limit is expiring between 20th March
2020 to 29th June 2020 shall be extended to 30th June 2020.
6. Necessary legal circulars and legislative amendments
to give effect to the aforesaid GST relief shall follow with the approval
of GST Council.
7. Payment date under Sabka Vishwas Scheme shall be extended to 30th June, 2020.
No interest for this period shall be charged if paid by 30th June,
2020.
Customs
8. 24X7 Custom clearance till end of 30th June,
2020
9. Due date for issue of notice, notification, approval
order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing applications, reports, any
other documents etc., time limit for any compliance under the Customs Act and
other allied Laws where the time limit is expiring between 20th March
2020 to 29th June 2020 shall be extended to 30th June 2020.
Financial Services
1. Relaxations for 3 months
· Debit
cardholders to withdraw cash for free from any other banks’ ATM for 3 months
· Waiver of
minimum balance fee
· Reduced bank
charges for digital trade transactions for all trade finance consumers.
Corporate Affairs
1. No additional fees shall be charged for late filing
during a moratorium period from 01st April to 30th September 2020, in respect
of any document, return, statement etc., required to be filed in the MCA-21
Registry, irrespective of its due date, which will not only reduce the
compliance burden, including financial burden of companies/ LLPs at large, but
also enable long-standing non-compliant companies/ LLPs to make a ‘fresh
start’;
2. The mandatory requirement of holding meetings of the
Board of the companies within prescribed interval provided in the Companies Act
(120 days), 2013, shall be extended by a period of 60 days till next two
quarters i.e., till 30th September;
3. Applicability of Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order,
2020 shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of from
2019-2020 notified earlier. This will significantly ease the burden on
companies & their auditors for the year 2019-20.
4. As per Schedule 4 to the Companies Act, 2013,
Independent Directors are required to hold at least one meeting without the
attendance of Non-independent directors and members of management. For the year
2019-20, if the IDs of a company have not been able to hold even one meeting,
the same shall not be viewed as a violation.
5. Requirement to create a Deposit reserve of 20% of
deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 before 30th April 2020
shall be allowed to be complied with till 30th June 2020.
6. Requirement to invest 15% of debentures maturing
during a particular year in specified instruments before 30th April 2020, may
be done so before 30th June 2020.
7. Newly incorporated companies are required to file a
declaration for Commencement of Business within 6 months of incorporation. An
additional time of 6 more months shall be allowed.
8. Non-compliance of minimum residency in India for a
period of at least 182 days by at least one director of every company, under
Section 149 of the Companies Act, shall not be treated as a violation.
9. Due to the emerging financial distress faced by most
companies on account of the large-scale economic distress caused by COVID 19,
it has been decided to raise the threshold of default under section 4 of the
IBC 2016 to Rs 1 crore (from the existing threshold of Rs 1 lakh). This will by
and large prevent triggering of insolvency proceedings against MSMEs. If the
current situation continues beyond 30th of April 2020, we may consider
suspending section 7, 9 and 10 of the IBC 2016 for a period of 6 months so as
to stop companies at large from being forced into insolvency proceedings in
such force majeure causes of default.
10. Detailed
notifications/circulars in this regard shall be issued by the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs separately.
Department of Fisheries
1. All Sanitary Permits (SIPs) for import of SPF Shrimp
Broodstock and other Agriculture inputs expiring between 01.03.2020
to 15.04.2020 extended by 3 months
2. Delay upto 1 month in arrival of consignments to be
condoned.
3. Rebooking of quarantine cubicles for cancelled
consignments in Aquatic Quarantine Facility (AQF) Chennai without additional
booking charges
4. The verification of documents and grant of NOC for
Quarantine would be relaxed from 7 days to 3 days.
Department of Commerce
Extension of
timelines for various compliance and procedures will be given. Detailed
notifications will be issued by Ministry of Commerce.
****
RM/KMN
(Release ID :200639)
(Release ID :200639)
