Taxation bill not introduced in LS as finance minister not present

A bill to give effect to various compliance relief measures for taxpayers, including extending time limits for filing returns and linking PAN with Aadhaar, could not be introduced in the Lok Sabha as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was not present in the House.

The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020, was listed to be introduced in the Lower House on Thursday.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla called for introduction of the bill. However, since the minister was not present, the House then took up discussion on two farm sector related legislations.

The bill seeks to replace the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020, promulgated in March.

Giving relief to taxpayers following the COVID-19 outbreak, the government had through the ordinance extended the deadline for filing of income tax returns for 2018-19 fiscal till September 30 and linking biometric Aadhaar with PAN till March 31, 2021.

Also, the due date for filing income tax return for 2019-20 has been extended to November 30, 2020.

Hence, the returns of income which were required to be filed by July 31 and October 31, 2020 can be filed by November 30, 2020. Consequently, the date for furnishing tax audit report has also been extended to October 31, 2020.

Also, the time limit for making various investments for claiming deductions under the I-T Act, including section 80C (LIC, PPF, NSC etc), 80D (mediclaim), 80G (donations) for 2019-20 was extended till July 31, 2020.

Among other things, the date for furnishing of TDS/ TCS statement and issuance of TDS/ TCS certificate pertaining to the 2019-20 fiscal was also extended to July 31, 2020 and August 15, 2020 respectively.

Further, the date for passing of order or issuance of notice by authorities and various compliances under direct tax and benami transaction laws, which are required to be passed/ issued by December 31, 2020, has been extended to March 31, 2021.