Government extends service tax return filing date to April 30 - Things to Know While Filing Tax Returns this Year

Service Tax registration in India

The Centre has extended the last date for filing service tax return by five days to 30 April, in a relief to lakhs of service providers. “The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) hereby extends the date for submission of form ST-3 for the period from 1 October to 31 March 2017, from 25 April to 30 April 2017,” the apex policy making body of the indirect tax department said in an office order.

Every registered service tax assessee has to file service tax return in form ST-3 on a half-yearly basis before the due date to avoid penalty. For filing returns for the period April-September, the due date is 25 October, while for October-March it is 25 April.

The CBEC said that the due date is being extended as the assessees faced “intermittent difficulties” in accessing the Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES) website on 25 April. This, CBEC said, is “circumstances of a special nature” for which the last date for filing is being extended. As per norms, the returns have to be filed online on www.aces.gov.in.

While return is filed half-yearly, the service tax collected by the assesses has to be deposited with the government on a monthly or quarterly basis. Tax experts in India voiced concern over whether the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) portal would be able to take the load of all the tax payers which would include not only service providers, but also traders and manufacturers.

The government is asking existing excise, service tax and VAT assessee to shift to the GSTN portal for payment of tax and filing returns. GST, which will unify 10 local taxes, is expected to kick in from 1 July.

Nangia and Co Director-Indirect Taxation Rajat Mohan said return filing under GST regime would necessitate much more data in terms of invoices, debit notes and credit notes that would be matched online. “After witnessing this extension of due date for filing service tax return, my concern is the government system might not be fully geared up for such large pool of tax payers and in terms of data requirement in returns,” Mohan said.

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Rs 500, Rs 1,000 banned: Here's how I-T sleuths are tightening the screws on evaders

In a move aimed to get cracking on black money hoarders and terror financiers by flushing out fake currency notes, the government starting midnight Tuesday decided to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency denomination from the system.

Even as common people have been standing in queues for hours outside their bank branches to legitimately exchange their old notes, the real targets are those tax evaders looking to dispose of their unaccounted wealth through illegal transactions.

This is because the government has clearly spelt out that cash deposits exceeding Rs 2.5 lakh would face tax and 200 percent penalty, while higher value deposits of Rs 10 lakh or more will be considered tax. The higher penalty will be levied, especially, if a buyer's previously declared sources of income fails to match with the current explanation.

Fearing income tax scrutiny and the apathy to pay such huge fine, tax evaders are looking at ways to dispose of their cash. However, income tax sleuths are keeping track of transactions primarily at the jewelers end where expectations of huge unaccounted wealth is likely to make its way into.

The I-T deparment have already started conducting search operations across the country since yesterday evening on information that jewelers and hawala operators were accepting the banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at 40 percent discount, a Times of India report said.

So, here is how the tax department officials are taking measures to keep a vigil on such transactions:

1) The tax department has been closely watching prominent business centres after the announcement was made, a senior income tax department official has been quoted as saying in media reports.

2) Scrutiny of jewellers has also been stepped up. The jewellers' books for the past few days will be scrutinised. Further, when a jeweller comes to deposit cash by 30 December, he will be asked to account for deposits. He will be asked if he has sold jewellery for Rs 2 lakh in cash, and will also be asked to submit PAN of buyers.

3) Taxmen are also keeping track of transactions where backdated bills are being generated by jewellers.

4) In New Delhi, surveys were conducted in popular market places such as Karol Bagh, Dariba Kalan and Chandni Chowk, along with key trading hubs in Mumbai and Punjab.

5) Also, two big hawala operators were targeted in Mumbai after they found them receiving these banned notes at a discount, the ToI report said.

6) Not just that, the government has also asked jewellery stores across the country to provide CCTV camera footage from the night of 8 November, failing which action will be taken against errant jewellers, said a DNA report.

Through the footage, I-T officials are likely to track down people visiting jewellery shops on 8 November, and whether they have made several trips to the shops thereafter. Besides this, it would also keep a tab on different members of same family that went for jewellery shopping, the report added.

The tax department is hoping that the surveys will discourage traders from resorting to illegal transactions and lead them to deposit cash in bank accounts and pay the corresponding tax and penalty.

Despite its aggressive drive to check tax evaders, the government has been trying to reassure genuine taxpayers that they have nothing to worry about while making cash deposits.

The government has made it clear that cash deposits of less than Rs 2.5 lakh will not attract any scrutiny from the tax department.

Original Source: http://bit.ly/2fWbk1t

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