Key announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman due to impacts of COVID-19 on economy:
Direct Tax:
1. For Financial year 2018-19, last date for returns extended to June 30, 2020. Delayed payments made till June 30, interest rate reduced to 9% from 12%.
2. For delayed deposit of TDS, interest has been reduced to 9 % from 18%
3. Aadhaar-pan linking extended to June 30 from March 31
4. Vivaad se Vishwaas scheme extended to June 30. And no additional payment of 10% to be paid
5. All compliances under Income Tax Act, Wealth Tax Act, Benami Transaction Act, Black Money Act, Vivaad se Vishwaas, have been extended to June 30, 2020
Goods and Services Tax:
6. All GST returns for March, April, May and composition returns extended to June 30, 2020
7. For companies less than 5 cr no late fee and penalty to be charged. For above Rs 5 cr, only int at the rate of 9%
Customs:
8. Sabka Vishwaas scheme for indirect taxes having last date till March 31 has been extended to June 30,2020. No interest to be levied.
9. Customs clearance till June 30 to work 24x7.
Companies and Corporate affairs:
10. In respect of the MCA21 registry, there is a moratorium being issued from April 1 till Sep 30 no additional fees for late filing.
11. There is a mandatory requirement for holding Board meeting. We are relaxing it for 60 days for the next two quarters.
12. For newly incorporated cos, additional time of six more months is being given for filing declaration of commencement of business
13. If there is a company director who does not comply with minimum residency requirement of 182 days, this was treated as a violation. It shall not be treated as one.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code:
14. Threshold of default is Rs one lakh as of now. From Rs one lakh it is being raised to Rs one crore to prevent triggering of insolvency proceedings for SMEs.
15. If it continues like this beyond April, then sec 7, 9, 10 of the IBC will be suspended for a period of six months.
Full press release shall be released soon.