COVID-19 Relief Provided by Indian Government for GST and ITR

COVID-19 Relief Provided by Indian Government for GST and ITR

On March 24, 2020, the Government of India took the required measures in areas such as ITR (Income Tax Return), GST (Goods and Services Tax), Custom and Central Excise, and so on.

The Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister of India, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, had announced the COVID-19 relief fund for GST and ITR to help corporate section and tax payers to survive in the economic crisis.

Here are some major provisions in the relief fund and relaxation provided by the govt. for statuary and regulatory compliance matters related to the Income Tax and GST.

COVID-19 Relief Fund for Income Tax:

1. The last date for filing Income Tax Returns has been extended to 30th June 2020.
2. The last date for Aadhaar-PAN linking has been extended to 30^th June 2020.
3. No additional amount of 10% will be charged for the payment of Vivad se Vishwas Scheme.
4. The last date for the issue of any kind of notice, intimation, notification, applications, filing of appeal and so on under the Income Tax Act, Wealth Tax Act, Black Money Act, or other such laws or acts, where the time limit is about the expire March 20, 2020 to 29^th June, 2020 has been extended till 30^th June 2020.
5. The interest rate for delayed payment of advanced tax, self-assessment tax, regular tax, TDS, TCS, STT, CTT, and equalization levy has been reduced from 12% and 18% to only 9%.

COVID-19 Relief Fund for GST or Indirect Tax:-

1. Companies with the annual turnover less than 5 Crore INR can now file GSTR-3B by the last week of June. No penalties, late fees or interest will be charged.
2. Companies with the annual turnover more than 5 Crore INR can also file GSTR-3B by the last week of June with a reduced interest of 9% instead of 12%. No penalties, late fees will be charged if they compile the same before 30^th June 2020.
3. The last date of opting for compositions scheme, for filing the return for 2019-2020, and for making quarter ending payments has also been extended till the last week of June 2020.
4. The last date for filing the annual GST returns of FY 2018-2019 which was due on 31^st March 2020 has also been postponed till the end of June.
5. The last Payment date for Sabka Vishwas Scheme has been extended to June 2020.
6. The due date for the issue of any kind of notice, approval order, sanction order, notification, applications, filing of appeal, furnishing of return, statement and such documents under the GST Law where the time limit is about the expire between March 20, 2020 to 29^th June, 2020 has been extended till 30th June 2020.

Above were some provisions from the COVID-19 Relief Fund for GST and ITR announced by Indian government to help small and medium size businesses combat the economic slowdown. The finance ministry of India has taken all the necessary actions to help the nation tackle the emergency situation caused by COVID-19 pandemic.