In the ongoing monsoon session, the lower house of the parliament has passed the Taxation reforms bill, 2020 that seeks to provide relaxations on certain provisions by extending the time limit and exempting obligations on certain payments. The bill was earlier in force as an ordinance amidst the Covid19 Pandemic and amends 8 acts.
The bill exempts late penalty charges on payable interest up till the due date announced by the Central government. Beyond which, the maximum interest rate shall not exceed 0.75%. GST payments that cannot be complied with due to force majeure clauses have been exempted.
Discussions regarding the transparency and existence of the PM CARES fund also took place. The Bill makes donations to the fund 100% tax deductible, implying that tax will be collected from the assessee’s income.
The bill also empowers the government to extend the time limits on issuing compliance notifications, filing declarations, resolving indirect tax disputes and related payments.
