Date of assessments getting barred will be extended to December 31, 2020, Nirmala Sitharaman said (File)
The Centre today gave an extension for the filing of all income-tax returns as part of the Direct Tax measures taken while drawing up the Rs 20 lakh crore fiscal stimulus to counter the damage on economy inflicted by the seven-week lockdown to counter the coronavirus.
The dates for the financial year 2019-20 have been pushed back from July 31, 2020 and October 31, 2020 to November 30, 2020, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while explaining the contours of the package announce last evening by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The date for the tax audit was also pushed back by a month -- from September 30, 2020 to October 31, 2020, she said.
The date of assessments getting barred on September 30, 2020 will be extended to December 31, 2020 and those getting barred on March 31,2021 will be extended to September 30, 2021, the government said.
The period of "Vivad se Vishwas" Scheme for making payment without additional amount will be extended to December 31, 2020.
In the first of her several addresses to outline the contours of the package, Ms Sitharaman announced 15 different measures today, which involved MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) NBFCs (Non-Bank Financial Companies), Provident Fund, Real Estate and Taxation.
To allow more liquidity in the hands of the people the government offered a 25 per cent reduction in TDS (Tax Deduction at Source) for non-salaried specified payments and TCS (Tax Collection at Source) for specified receipts.
The government also reduced the contribution for Employees Provident Fund for private firms for 3 months – from 12 per cent to 10 per cent. There will be no change for state-run firms.
The government also said it would pay the EPF contribution for employees of MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) to help them recover from the crisis.