Government extends timelines of certain compliances in light of the severe pandemic

1. Appeal to Commissioner (Appeals) under Chapter XX of the Act, for which the last date of filing under that Section is 1st April, 2021 or thereafter, may be filed within the time provided under that Section or by 31st May, 2021, whichever is later;
2. Objections to Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) under Section 144C of the Act, for which the last date of filing under that Section is 1st April, 2021 or thereafter, may be filed within the time provided under that Section or by 31st May, 2021, whichever is later;
3. Income-tax return in response to notice under Section 148 of the Act, for which the last date of filing of return of income under the said notice is 1st April, 2021 or thereafter, may be filed within the time allowed under that notice or by 31st May, 2021, whichever is later;
4. Filing of belated return under sub-section (4) and revised return under sub-section (5) of Section 139 of the Act, for Assessment Year 2020-21, which was required to be filed on or before 31st March, 2021, may be filed on or before 31st May, 2021;
5. Payment of tax deducted under Section 194-IA, Section 194-IB and Section 194M of the Act, and filing of challan-cum-statement for such tax deducted, which are required to be paid and furnished by 30th April, 2021(respectively) under Rule 30 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, may be paid and furnished on or before 31st May, 2021;
6. Statement in Form No. 61, containing particulars of declarations received in Form No.60,which is due to be furnished on or before 30th April, 2021, may be furnished on or before31st May, 2021.

Also, extend the time limits to June 30, 2021 in the following cases where the time limit was earlier extended to 30th, April 2021.

1. Time limit for passing of any order for assessment or reassessment under the Income-tax Act, 1961(hereinafter called ‘the Act’ ) the time limit for which is provided under section 153 or section 153B thereof.
2. Time limit for passing an order consequent to direction of DRP under subsection (13) of section 144C of the Act.
3. Time limit for issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act for reopening the assessment where income has escaped assessment.
4. Time Limit for sending intimation of processing of Equalisation Levy under sub-section (1) of section 168 of the Finance Act 2016.
5. It has also been decided that time for payment of amount payable under the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020, without an additional amount, shall be further extended to June 30, 2021.

Judicial Update

1. Section 56(2) (viib): The object of s. 56(2)(viib) is to tax excessive share premium received unjustifiably by private companies on issue of shares without carrying underlying value. However, shares issued to shareholders of an amalgamating company in terms of a scheme of amalgamation does not fall within the sweep of the deeming provisions of s. 56(2) (viib). The so-called excess value of assets vested on amalgamation cannot be notionally termed as premium over the face value for the purposes of the deeming provision.(DCIT Vs. M/s Ozone India Ltd. I.T.A. Nos. 2081/Ahd/2018)
2. Mumbai ITAT recently allows Goldman Sach’s appeal against denial of carry forward of short term capital loss exempt under India-Singapore DTAA and extends the benefit of section 74 being more beneficial over the treaty provisions.(Goldman sachs India Investments(Singapore) PTE Limited vs. DCIT(International Taxation)-2(2)(2) ITA No. 6619/Mum/2016)
3. Interest received on account of compulsory acquisition of agricultural land is not taxable as per the provision of Income Tax Act,1961(Nariender Kumar vs. ITO I.T.A No. 5206/DEL/2017)
4. Section 147: (i) A Writ Petition can be filed in the Bombay High Court against an order passed in Delhi if the assessee is based in Mumbai. The litigant has the right to go to ‘a Court’ where part of cause of action arises. (ii) A s. 148 notice & s. 147 reassessment order passed against an amalgamated (non-existing) company is without jurisdiction. The defect cannot be treated as procedural defect. Mere participation of the assessee in the assessment proceedings is of no effect as there is no estoppel against law. Such a defect cannot be cured by invoking section 292B.(Tata Communication Ltd Vs. UOI Writ  Petition No. 732 of 2021)