Summary of relief measures relating to Taxation and Corporate Law

Summary of relief measures relating to Statutory and Regulatory compliance under Various laws in view of COVID-19

INCOME TAX

1. Donation to PM CARES Fund:

 Donation to PM CARES FUND would enable the donor to get 100% deduction in section 80G(2)(a)(iiia) i.e. without any internal limit of 10% of adjusted Gross Total Income.

Any person (Including corporate paying concessional tax on income for FY 2020-21 under new regime) can make donation to PM CARES Fund up to 30.06.2020 and can claim deduction u/s 80G against income of FY 2019-20 and shall also not lose his eligibility to pay tax in concessional taxation regime for income of FY 2020-21.

2. Extension of due dates under Income tax Act, 1961.

Sr.No.	Particulars	Due Date Before	Due Date After
1.	Income tax returns original as well as revised for FY 18-19 (AY 2019-20)	31/03/2020	30/06/2020
2.	Aadhaar – PAN linking	31/03/2020	30/06/2020
3.	Vivad se Vishwas Scheme 2020 with no additional amount of 10%	31/03/2020	30/06/2020
4.	Due dates for Issue of: Notice, Intimation, Notification, Approval Order, Sanction Order, Filing of appeal, Furnishing of return, Statements, Reports, Applications, Reports or any other documents Time limit for completion of proceedings by the authority Any compliance by the taxpayer under Income Tax Act, Wealth Tax Act, Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, Black Money Act, STT law, CTT Law, Equalization Levy law, Vivad Se Vishwas law.	Where the time limit is expiring between 20th March 2020 to 29th June 2020	30/06/2020
5.	Investments for roll over benefit of capital gains U/s 54 to 54GB of the IT Act (i.e. All capital gain deductions)	31/03/2020	30/06/2020
6.	Investment for deductions under Chapter-VIA-B of the IT Act from Section 80C to 80GGC Which includes, 80C (LIC, PPF, ELSS Mutual Funds etc) 80D (Mediclaim) 80G (Donations)	31/03/2020	30/06/2020
7.	Commencement of operation for the SEZ units for claiming deduction under Section 10AA of the IT Act for units which receive necessary approvals by 31/03/2020	31/03/2020	30/06/2020
8.	Interest on: Income Tax dues (e.g. Advance Tax, Self Assessment Tax, TDS, TCS) Equalization Levy Securities Transaction Tax (STT) Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) Without any penalty or prosecution for the delay	18% / 12% p.a. after Due Date for the period from 20.3.2020 to 29.6.2020	9% p.a. Upto 30/06/2020

3. Certificate for Lowe/Nill Deduction/Collection of TDS/TCS u/s 195,197 & 206C(9): 

Sr.No.	Particular	FY 2020-21	FY 2019-20
1.	Application filed for FY 2020-21	Certificate Issued	N.A.	Issued Certificate valid for the whole year.
2.	Application Filed for FY 2020-21	Certificate Not Issued	Certificate available	FY 2019-20 certificate valid till 30.06.2020
3.	Application not Filed for FY 20-21	N.A.	Certificate available	FY 2019-20 certificate valid till 30.06.2020
4.	Application not Filed for FY 20-21	N.A.	Certificate not Available	Modified procedure, Make application to AO via mail, Certificate also issued via mail.

• On payments to Non-residents (including foreign companies) having Permanent Establishment in India and not covered by (a) and (b) above, tax on payments made will be deducted at the rate of 10% including surcharge and cess, on such payments till 30.06.2020 of F.Y. 2020-21, or disposal of their applications. whichever is earlier.

GOODS & SERVICE TAX (GST):

Sr.No.	Particulars	Due Date
1.	Those having aggregate annual turnover less than Rs. 5 Crore & GSTR 3B due in March’20, April’20, May’20	Last week of June, 2020. No Interest, Penalty & Late fees will be charged.
2.	Those having aggregate annual turnover Rs. 5 Crore and above & GSTR 3B due in March’20, April’20, May’20.	Last week of June, 2020. No late Fees & Penalty Charged. Reduced Interest @ 9% p.a. from 15days after due date will be charged.
3.	Due date for opting for Composition Scheme	Last week of June, 2020.
4.	For Composition Dealers, Making payments for quarter ending 31st March,2020 and filing of return for 2019-20.	Last week of June, 2020.
5.	GST Annual Return of FY 2019-20	Last week of June, 2020.
6.	Due dates for Issue of: Notice, Notification, Approval Order, Sanction Order, Filing of appeal, Furnishing of return, Statements, Reports, Applications, Reports or any other documents Time limit for any compliance under GST laws where the time limit is expiring between 20th March’20 to 29th June’20	30th June,2020

COMPANIES ACT 2013 & LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP ACT 2008:

1. Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020

• CARO 2020 shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of from 2019-2020.
• For FY 2019-20, CARO 2016 would be applicable.
• Clarification on Spending on CSR funds for COVID-19.
• MCA vide its General Circular No.10/2020 dated 23.03.2020 clarified that Spending of CSR funds for COVID-19 is eligible CSR activity under clauses (i) & (xii) of Schedule VII relating to promotion of health care, including preventive health care and sanitation and Disaster management.
• MCA issues Office memorandum dated 28.03.2020 to clarify that contribution to PM CARES Funds shall be eligible as CSR activity under item No. (viii) of the schedule VII of companies Act, 2013.

3. Special measures under companies Act,2013 (CA-2013) and Limited Liability Partnership Act,2008 in view of COVID-19 outbreak implemented to reduce compliance burden:

• No additional fees shall be charged for late filing any Form under Companies Act 2013 during a moratorium period from 1st April to 30th September 2020, in respect of any document, return, statement etc., required to be filed in the MCA-21 Registry, irrespective of its due date.
• The mandatory requirement of holding meetings of the Board of the companies within prescribed interval provided in the Companies Act (120 days), 2013, shall be extended by a period of 60 days till next two quarters i.e., till 30th September. Accordingly, as a onetime relaxation the gap between two consecutive meetings of the Board may extend to 180 days till the next two quarters, instead of 120 days.
• As per Schedule 4 to the Companies Act, 2013, Independent Directors are required to hold at least one meeting without the attendance of Non-independent directors and members of management. For the year 2019-20, if the IDs of a company have not been able to hold even one meeting, the same shall not be viewed as a violation.
• Requirement to create a Deposit reserve of 20% of deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 before 30th April 2020 shall be allowed to be complied with till 30th June 2020.
• Requirement to invest 15% of debentures maturing during a particular year in specified instruments before 30th April 2020, may be done so before 30th June 2020.
• Newly incorporated companies are required to file a declaration for Commencement of Business within 6 months of incorporation. An additional time of 6 more months shall be allowed.
• Non-compliance of minimum residency in India for a period of at least 182 days by at least one director of every company, under Section 149 of the Companies Act, shall not be treated as a violation.

4. LLP Settlement Scheme,2020 (Revised):

• Validity: From 01.04.2020 to 30.09.2020
• Any Form which due to be filed under LLP Act 2008 till 31st August 2020 can be filed till 30th September 2020 without any additional fee.
• Immunity from prosecution: The defaulting LLPs, which have filed their belated documents till 30^th September,2020 and made good the default, shall not be subjected to prosecution by the Registrar for such defaults.
• Scheme Not to Apply: This scheme not apply to LLPs which have made applications in Form 24 to Registrar, for Striking off their name from register as per Provisions of Rule 37(1) of the LLP Rules,2009.

5. Companies fresh Start Scheme 2020 (CFSS 2020):

• Validity of Scheme: From 01.04.2020 to 30.09.2020
• Defaulting Company: Any Company which has made a default in filing of any of the documents, statements, Returns etc Including Annual statutory documents on the MCA-21 registry.
• Applicability: Every Defaulting company shall be permitted to file belated documents till 30.09.2020 by paying normal fees and no any additional fees payable.
• Scheme not to apply in certain cases:
• Companies against which action for final notice of strike down has been initiated by Designated authority
• Companies have themselves filed application for strike-off
• Companies which have amalgamated
• Where applications have been filed for Dormant status
• Vanishing Companies
• Where any Increase in authorized capital is involved (Form SH-7) & also charge related documents (CHG-1, CHG-4, CHG-8 and CHG-9)

6. Related to ‘Deactivated’ DIN:

• DIN holders of DINs marked as ‘Deactivated’ due to non-filing of DIR-3KYC/DIR-3 KYC-Web and those Companies whose compliance status has been marked as “ACTIVE non-compliant” due to non-filing of Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification (ACTIVE) e form are encouraged to become compliant once again in pursuance of General Circular No. 11 dated 24th March 2020 and file DIR-3KYC/DIR-3KYCWeb/ACTIVE as the case may be between 1st April 2020 to 30th September 2020 without any filing fee of Rs. 5000/10000 respectively.

RELIEF MEASURES BY RESERVE BANK OF INDIA (RBI):

1. Extension of realisation period of export proceeds:

• Presently value of the goods or software exports made by the exporters is required to be realized fully and repatriated to the country within a period of 9 months from the date of exports.
• In view of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the time period for realization and repatriation of export proceeds for exports made up to or on July 31, 2020, has been extended to 15 months from the date of export.

2. Rescheduling / Moratorium of Payments – Term Loans and Working Capital Facilities:

• In respect of all term loans (including agricultural term loans, retail and crop loans), all commercial banks (including regional rural banks, small finance banks and local area banks), co-operative banks, all-India Financial Institutions, and NBFCs (including housing finance companies) (“lending institutions”) are permitted to grant a moratorium of three months on payment of all instalments falling due between 1st March 2020 and 31st May 2020. The repayment schedule for such loans as also the residual tenor, will be shifted across the board by three months after the moratorium period. Interest shall continue to accrue on the outstanding portion of the term loans during the moratorium period.
• In respect of working capital facilities sanctioned in the form of cash credit / overdraft (“CC/OD”), lending institutions are permitted to defer the recovery of interest applied in respect of all such facilities during the period from 1st March 2020 upto 31st May 2020 (“deferment”). The accumulated accrued interest shall be recovered immediately after the completion of this period.
• Since the moratorium/deferment/recalculation of the ‘drawing power’ is being provided specifically to enable the borrowers to tide over economic fallout from COVID-19, the same will not be treated as concession or change in terms and conditions of loan agreements. Consequently, such a measure, by itself, shall not result in asset classification downgrade.
• The rescheduling of payments, including interest, will not qualify as a default for the purposes of supervisory reporting and reporting to Credit Information Companies (CICs) by the lending institutions. CICs shall ensure that the actions taken by lending institutions pursuant to the above announcements do not adversely impact the credit history of the beneficiaries.

RELEIF MEASURES UNDER MISCELLANEOUS LAWS:

1. ESIC CONTRIBUTION: Extension of ESI Contribution due to COVID -19 for February 2020 and March 2020 extended to 15th April 2020 and 15th May 2020 respectively.

2. Ministry of Labour and Employment amends EPF Scheme 1952 to allow non-refundable advance from EPF Account to the extent of lower of 75% of the credit amount or 3 months of basic wages and DA.

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