Direct Tax Relaxations Lockdown 4.0

May 12, 2020 in News

FY2019-20 ITR filing deadline may be extended as Form 16 deadline put off to June 30

Various income tax-related deadlines for individuals have been extended to June 30, 2020 via an ordinance dated 31 March 2020 by the government due to the impact of the coronavirus lockdown. As per chartered accountants the deadline for employers to issue the TDS certificate i.e. Form 16 for FY2019-20 to employees also stands extended to June 30, 2020.

It would be difficult for employees to file their income tax returns by July 31 – the usual deadline for most individuals to file their tax return – if they get their salary TDS certificates as late as June 30. Consequently, it is likely that the deadline of July 31 to file ITRs would also be extended, they say. This has also been the trend whenever the deadline to issue Form 16 has been extended in earlier years.

As per income tax laws, the last date for filing TDS returns for an employer is May 31 and Form 16 has to be issued latest by June 15, unless the date is extended by the government. Therefore, before the extension of deadlines, for FY 2019-20, the deadline for filing TDS returns for employers was May 31, 2020 and the date of issuing Form 16 was June 15, 2020.

Last year also, the government had extended the last date for filing TDS returns for FY 2018-19 to June 30, 2019 and deadline to issue Form 16 to July 10, 2019. An extension of these deadlines last year led to extension of the ITR filing deadline for FY 2018-19 to August 31, 2019.

ET Wealth Online spoke to various experts, and this is what they had to say:

Shalini Jain, Partner, EY India says, “As per the Ordinance passed by the government on 31 March 2020, where the due date for filing of any appeal, reply, or application or furnishing of any report, document, return, statement or such other record, by whatever name called, under the provisions of the specified Act falls during the period from the 20 March 2020 to 29 June 2020, the same shall stand extended to 30 June 2020 or such other date after 30 June 2020, as the central government may, by notification, specify in this behalf. Therefore, the due date for filing of TDS return by the employer (Form 24Q) for Quarter 4 of the FY 2019-20 and issue of Form 16 to the employees for FY 2019-20 shall be deferred to 30 June 2020.”
Abhay Sharma, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Company says, “On a plain reading of the ordinance, date for filing a TDS return and issuing Form 16 for the financial year 2019-20 seem to have been extended to June 30th.”

Abhishek Soni, CEO & Founder, Tax2win.in, an ITR filing website says, “In our view, the due date of TDS Return filing and Form 16 due date is extended to June 30 as per the said ordinance.”

Saraswathi Kasturirangan, Partner, Deloitte India says, “Yes, the government has extended the date for filing TDS returns by the employer from May 31, 2020 to June 30, 2020 for the FY 2019-20. Similarly, the last date to issue Form 16 by the employer to employee has also been extended to June 30, 2020.”

Is the ITR filing deadline for FY 2019-20 for individuals likely to be extended?

Chartered Accountant Naveen Wadhwa, DGM, Taxmann.com says, “Previously, the government has always extended the due dates for filing of Income-tax return if the due date for issue of Form 16 and Form 16A has been extended. Looking at the previous trend, we may expect that the due date for filing of ITR for the assessment year 2020-21 shall certainly be extended for those taxpayers who are liable to file the return by 31-07-2020.”

Kasturirangan says, “It is likely that the government may have to extend the deadline to file ITR for FY 2019-20 from July 31, 2020, to a later date to provide ample time to the individual taxpayers to file an income tax return. Further, the govt is yet to notify the ITR forms (other than ITR-1).”

Soni says, “Due to the extension of Form 16 due date, it is expected that the due date of ITR filing of FY 2019-20 will also be extended consequently.”

May 11, 2020 in News

Villagers pay tribute to Irrfan Khan by naming locality after him: ‘He was a guardian angel to so many families’

Villagers in Maharashtra’s Igatpuri have decided to pay a tribute to late actor Irrfan Khan. They have renamed the area where his farmhouse stands to Hero-chi-Wadi (neighbourhood of a hero in Marathi).

According to a report in India Today, the villagers were grateful for all that Irrfan had done for them. The actor gifted the villagers an ambulance, computers, books, raincoats, sweaters for their kids and would also send sweets on festivals.

“He was a guardian angel to so many families. He never said no whenever anyone asked for help,” Gorakh Bodke, a member of the Zilla Parishad told the website. Irrfan bought his house in Igatpuri a decade ago when the met the locals and decided to help them.

Irrfan Khan, who was hospitalised with colon infection, breathed his last in Mumbai on April 29. He was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour two years ago. In a note to his fans after his death, his family wrote the actor never liked the idea of “one dimensional reality” and that gives them hope to take his death not as a loss but a gain “of the things he taught us” and try to see rhythm in everything.

The best way to celebrate Irrfan’s life, his wife Sutapa Sikdar, said would be to implement those teachings and evolve and that’s what she and their two sons — Babil and Ayaan — plan to do.

May 11, 2020 in News

ESA STUDY FIND HUMAN URINE COULD BE USED TO MAKE CONCRETE ON THE MOON

The European Space Agency said Friday that human urine could one day become a useful ingredient in making concrete to build on the moon.

The agency said researchers in a recent study it sponsored found that urea, the main organic compound in urine, would make the mixture for a “lunar concrete” more malleable before it hardens into its sturdy final form.

It noted that using only materials available on site for a moon base or other construction would reduce the need to launch supplies from Earth.

Studies into recreating Moondust is enhancing our understanding of how materials from the lunar surface could be transformed into building blocks for the next extra-terrestrial base. Image credit: ESA

The main ingredient in “lunar concrete” would be a powdery soil found on the moon’s surface known as lunar regolith. ESA said urea, which can break hydrogen bonds and reduce the viscosity of fluid mixtures, would limit the amount of water necessary in the recipe.

“Thanks to future lunar inhabitants, the 1.5 litres of liquid waste a person generates each day could become a promising by-product for space exploration,” it said in a statement.

On Earth, urea is used as an industrial fertilizer and a raw material by chemical and medical companies.

“The hope is that astronaut urine could be essentially used as it is on a future lunar base, with minor adjustments to the water content,” study co-author Marlies Arnhof said in the ESA statement. “This is very practical, and avoids the need to further complicate the sophisticated water recycling systems in space.”