MoF extends filing of tax returns

NEW DELHI, June 18: The Finance Ministry has extended the date of filing of personal income tax returns upto September 30 to allow tax-payer...

NEW DELHI, June 18: The Finance Ministry has extended the date of filing of personal income tax returns upto September 30 to allow tax-payers to use the newly-introduced quot;Saralquot; forms.

According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT the due date of submission of returns of income for the assessment year 1998-99 has been extended to September 30, in case of non-corporate assessees who were required to file the same on or before August 31 or June 30.

However, the due date for filing return for the corporate assessees has not been altered. It was further clarified that the as the due date for filing the Wealth Tax returns is the same, the assessees can file their Wealth Tax returns for the assessment year 1998-99 on or before September 30, 1998.

The government, it may be mentioned, has yet to notify the quot;Saralquot; form which can be used by non-corporate tax payers for filing returns. Once the form is notified, the tax collectors will accept the returns filled on these simplified forms. The date forfiling of income tax returns has been extended with a view to allowing tax-payers to use the new form.

Finance minister Yashwant Sinha, in his budget speech, has announced introduction of the quot;simple one page taxpayer-friendly return fromquot; which could be filled up by individuals without the aid of a chartered accountants to tax advisers. As part of the tax widening effort, Sinha also proposed to take help of the NGOs to prompt individuals to voluntary file returns using Saral form. These forms will be distributed through mobile vans and collected on the spot. It was hoped that this would also make an important psychological difference in the mind set of potential tax assessees and volunteer them to file returns.

The filing of returns have assumed significance with the government deciding to make it obligatory for assessees to quote their PAN or GIR number mandatorily in respect of certain high value transactions which would include purchase and sale of immovable property, motor vehicles, transactions inshares exceeding Rs 50,000, opening of a new bank accounts, fixed deposits of more than Rs 50,000, applications for allotment of telephone connection and payment of hotels exceeding Rs 25,000.

The government has also extended reach and the scope of the tax widening scheme of asking people to file returns if they fulfill any one of the six criteria. These include possession of a house, subscription of a motor vehicle, spending on foreign travel, possession of a motor vehicle, holding of a credit card and membership of an expensive clubs.