INDIAN INCOME TAX 8 --- MISCELLANEOUS

Miscellaneous

Refund status

State Bank of India (SBI) is the refund banker to the Indian Income Tax Department(ITD). Your tax refund details are sent to SBI, by the Income tax department. Then SBI will process the refund, and send you the refund intimation. While filing your return you can choose any one of the two Refund modes ECS or Paper(cheque). The refund status can be checked online at the

Due date of submission of return

The due date of submission of return shall be ascertained according to section 139(1) of the Act as under:-

30 September of the Assessment Year(AY)	-If the assessee is a company (not having any inter-nation transaction), or -If the assessee is any person other than a company whose books of accounts are required to be audited under any law, or -If the assessee is a working partner in a firm whose books of accounts are required to be audited under any law.
30 November of the AY	If the assessee is a company and it is required to furnish report under section 92E pertaining to international transactions.
31 July of the AY	In any other case.

If the Income of a Salaried Individual is less than Rs. 500,000 and he has earned income through salary or Interest or both, such Individuals are exempted from filing their Income Tax return provided that such payment has been received after the deduction of TDS.

CBDT has announced that all individual/HUF taxpayers with income more than Rs. 1 million are required to file their income tax returns online. However, digital signatures won’t be mandatory for such class of taxpayers

Advance tax

Under this scheme, every assessee is required to pay tax in a particular financial year, preceding the assessment year, on an estimated basis. However, if such estimated income is less than Rs. 10000, then no advance tax is payable.

The due dates of payment of advance tax are:-

	In case of corporate assessee	Otherwise
On or before 15 June of the previous year	Up to 15% of advance tax payable	-
On or before 15 September of the previous year	Up to 45% of advance tax payable	Up to 30% of advance tax payable
On or before 15 December of the previous year	Up to 75% of advance tax payable	Up to 60% of advance tax payable
On or before 15 March of the previous year	Up to 100% of advance tax payable	Up to 100% of advance tax payable

Any default in payment of advance tax attracts penalty under section 234B and any deferment of advance tax attracts penalty under section 234C.

Tax deducted at source (TDS)

The general rule is that the total income of an assessee for the previous year is taxable in the relevant assessment year. However, income-tax is recovered from the assessee in the previous year itself by way of TDS. The relevant provisions therein are listed below. (To be used for reference only. The detailed provisions therein are not listed below.¹)

Section	Nature of payment	Threshold limit (up to which no tax is deductible)	TDS to be deducted
192	Salary to any person	Exemption limit	As specified for individual in Part III of I Schedule
193 2	Interest on securities to any resident	Subject to detailed provisions of given section	10%
194A 2	Interest (other than interest on securities) to any resident	Rs. 10000 (for Bank/cooperative bank) & Rs. 5000 otherwise	10%
194B	Winning from lotteries etc. to any person	Rs. 10000	30%
194BB	Winning from horse races to any person	Rs. 5000	30%
194C 2	Payment to resident contractors	Rs. 30000 (for single contract) & Rs. 75000 (for aggregate consideration in a financial year)	2% (for companies/firms) & 1% otherwise
194D	Insurance commission to resident	Rs. 20000	10%
194E	Payment to non-resident sportsmen or sports association	Not applicable	10%
194EE	Payment of deposit under National Savings Scheme to any person	Rs. 2500	20%
194G	Commission on sale of lottery tickets to any person	Rs. 1000	10%
194H 2	Commission/brokerage to a resident	Rs. 5000	10%
194-I 2	Rents paid to any resident	Rs. 180000	2% (for plant,machinery,equipment) & 10% (for land,building,furniture)
194IA	Payment for Purchase of Immovable Property	Rs. 5000000	1%
194J 2	Fees for professional/technical services; Royalty	Rs. 30000	10%
194LB	Interest paid by Infrastructure Development Fund under section 10(47) to non-resident or foreign company	-	5%
195	Interest or other sums (not being salary) paid to non-residents or foreign company except under section 115O	-	As per double taxation avoidance treaty

¹ At what time tax has to be deducted at source and some other specifications are subject to the above sections.

² In most cases, these payments shall not to deducted by an individual or an HUF if books of accounts are not required to be audited in the immediately preceding financial year.

In most cases, the tax deducted should be deposited within 7 days from the end of the month in which tax was deducted.

Corporate income tax

For companies, income is taxed at a flat rate of 30% for Indian companies. Foreign companies pay at the income tax at the rate of 40%.

 An education cess of 3% (on both the tax and the surcharge) are payable.

From 2005-06, electronic filing of company returns is mandatory.

Surcharge ¹

	Total income in the range of Rs.10 million to Rs.100 million	Total income above Rs.100 million
Domestic company	5% of income tax payable	10% of income tax payable
Foreign company	2% of income tax payable	5% of income tax payable

¹ Applicable from assessment year 2014-15 onwards.

Tax returns

There are five categories of Income Tax returns.

1.     Normal return

2.     Belated return

3.     Revised return

4.     Defective return

5.     Returns in response to notices

Normal return

Returns filed within the return filing due date, that is 31 July or 30 September of concerned assessment year.

Belated return

In case of failure to file the return on or before the due date, belated return can be filed before the expiry of one year from the end of the relevant assessment year.

Revised return

In case of any omission or any wrong statement mentioned in the normal return can be revised at any time before the expiry of one year from the end of the relevant assessment year.

Defective return

Assessing Officer considers that the return is defective, he may intimate the defect. One has to rectify the defect within a period of fifteen days from the date of such intimation. If the assessee wants more time, he can file an application to the A O and a further 15 days can be granted at the instance of the A O.

Returns in response To notices

Assessing officer in the process of making assessment, may serve a notice under various sections like 142(1), 148(1), 153A(a) or 153C. Returns are required to be furnished within the date specified on the respective notices.

Annual information return and statements

Annual information return

Those who are responsible for registering, or, maintaining books of account or other documents containing a record of any specified financial transaction, shall furnish an annual information return in Form No.61A.

Statements By film producers

Producers of a cinematographic film during the financial year shall, prepare and deliver to the Assessing Officer a statement in the Form No.52A,

• within 30 days from the end of such financial year or
• within 30 days from the date of the completion of the production of the film,

whichever is earlier.

Statements by non-resident having a liaison office in India

With effect from 01,June 2011, Non-Resident having a liaison office in India shall prepare and deliver a statement in Form No. 49C to the Assessing Officer within sixty days from the end of such financial year.

Tax penalties

The major number of penalties initiated every year as a ritual by I-T Authorities is under section 271(1)(c) which is for either concealment of income or for furnishing inaccurate particulars of income.

"If the Assessing Officer or the Commissioner (Appeals) or the Commissioner in the course of any proceedings under this Act, is satisfied that any person-

(b) has failed to comply with a notice under sub-section (1) of section 142 or sub-section (2) of section 143 or fails to comply with a direction issued under sub-section (2A) of section 142, or

(c) has concealed the particulars of his income or furnished inaccurate particulars of such income, he may direct that such person shall pay by way of penalty,-

(ii) in the cases referred to in clause (b), in addition to any tax payable by him, a sum of ten thousand rupees for each such failure;

(iii) in the cases referred to in clause (c), in addition to any tax payable by him, a sum which shall not be less than, but which shall not exceed three times, the amount of tax sought to be evaded by reason of the concealment of particulars of his income or the furnishing of inaccurate particulars of such income.

Disclaimer

In this note, we have attempted to summarise some of the significant aspects to be kept in mind by readers to ensure compliance of Income tax laws and regulations. Readers should ensure to verify specific provisions as applicable to each case before taking any business decisions. It would be pertinent to note that some changes are being made to the Income tax laws and rules and regulations on a continuous basis by way of notifications, clarifications etc issued by the department based on their practical experience in implementing the legislation.

It may be noted that nothing contained in this note should be regarded as our opinion.  Professional advice should be sought for applicability of legal provisions based on specific facts. Though reasonable efforts have been taken to avoid errors or omissions in this note we are not responsible for any liability arising to readers directly or indirectly due to any mis-statements or error contained in this note. It must be noted that the views expressed in the note are based on our understanding of the law and regulations as published by the Government authorities and we may or may not agree or subscribe to such views/ interpretations .