The E-filling of return both under direct and indirect system is a big relief to the Tax payers and professionals who are working for and on behalf of the tax payers. E-filling of Income tax returns has made the life of Taxpayers and professionals very easy and refunds are coming very fast. The whole system is paperless hence it is a big saving of the National resources. The same can also be said for service tax and central excise. We can see that Indian Tax professionals are now working in very sophisticated atmosphere and days of going again and again to Government offices are almost over.
What is written here is one side of the picture. Let us have a look at the negative sides of the system in which our administrators are working. There is no time limit for introducing the returns to be e-filed. Let us take an example of ITRs for assessment year 2013-14 and we have only ITR -1 and ITR-4S (Introduced almost 45 days after beginning of the year) ready for the E-filling. The ITR-2 was introduced one or two days back. The Tax payers and professionals are still waiting for the rest of the returns. There was same story in the assessment year 2012-13. There may be problems for preparing and introducing the schema for ITRs and these problems were there last year also but the same is still not solved in the second year and this shows that how the system is working. The last dates of filling of returns are fixed and further the department is encouraging the Tax payers to maximize the use of E-filling facility then how the delay in introduction of schema of ITRs. If two months are wasted in introduction of returns ready for E-filling then how the tax payers will meet the deadline of last dates.
There should be a clarification from CBDT about the reasons of such a long delay for two consecutive assessment years. We are very fast developing IT nation then why the early preparations are not made so that the returns for E-filling are introduced within time. We have not seen any protest from any side in this matter and the originations and Institutes which are concerned with the matter are taking this delay as inevitable hence the administrators are also taking the matter very lightly.
The same story is applicable with service tax. The returns for the first 2 quarters of 2012-13 were introduced very late and after one or two extension of filling of date. The last date for filling of return for half year ending with 31st March 2013 is extended from 25th April 2013 to 31st. Aug 2013 but the declaration on the site is very clear that still the return is not ready. Let us see the relevant notification in this respect:-
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule(4) of rule 7 of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, the Central Board of Excise & Customs hereby extends the date of submission of the Form ST-3, for the period from 1st October 2012 to 31st March 2013, from 25th April, 2013 to 31st August, 2013.
The circumstances of a special nature, which have given rise to this extension of time, are as follows:
“The Form ST-3, for the period from 1 st October 2012 to 31st March 2013, is expected to be available on ACES around 31st of July, 2013”.
See here the strange reason but there is no explanation why so much time is needed for introducing the return format. The story is the same both for direct and indirect tax and it seems that there is a shortage of expertise and that is the main reason for the delay and further nobody is asking for the reason hence “what is going on is going on”.
There should be a concern about the problem at top level and also there should be concrete protest at the level which is affecting by this delay and a clear action should be taken for the next year.
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CA Sudhir Halakhandi – CA Abhas Halakhandi
“Halakhandi”, Laxmi Market, Beawar-305901(RAJ)
Cell- 9828067256, E-Mail – [email protected]
Author Bio
Dear Sudhir Ji,
We are at the fag end of Financial Year and in another 60 days, we shall be preparing for a new battle. Please enlighten all those concerned and raise our voice to reach the deaf ears………………………………
Before I plead a request to all concerned to be active so that no one terms your laxity a collusion with un ethical practices.
I request them to be sympathetic to Tax Professionals (every one knows how much pressure and stress a professional undergoes in case of delayed releases with frequent changes to meet out dead lines) and release ITR Utilities in advance before the close of the year so that we can start filling from the day one.
First of all Kudos to Sudhir and Ahbas Halakhandi for bringing this up. It is absolutely shocking that we are subjected to this year after year. And yet the Central Council and Regional Council members are mum on this. What may be the reason for this only they can explain. Imagine a delay of nearly 60 days only to release the schema. The Finance Ministry needs to get its act together. I had clients who are very diligent and give me details in April itself. I feel frustrated as a practisiing professional to give the real reasons to them. Shouldnt our Institute take up the matter? We should protest and ask the Finance Ministry to issue a notification to this effect. Also the Schema has to be ready by the 1st April of the respective year. Or else pull up the officials. Own up and take responsibility, Mr. Finance Minister. Institute – dont just be fence sitters.
I have few of my client waiting to file their return to avail bank credit facility and it is delayed due to non declaration of forms. It seems govt has all the time on earth to work on granting subsidies for everything, but no time for people to contribute to payment of such subsidies.
I completely agree with the author and it is ridiculous and frustrating for both the tax payers and CAs who are at the mercy of the Authorities to wait for the IT Forms to be uploaded on the site to file the returns.
Any explanation/reasoning on this is not justifiable. Having done such a commendable job for E-filing this basic gap needs to be plugged ASAP.
Ravi Prakash ‘s suggestion of amending the sec. can be implemented immediately.
(First of all I do not understand why mere notification with least amendments takes so much time .
TAX Guru may take the initaitive and seek software experts comments on this.)
all the deadlines are applicable only to the tax payers and in turn passed on to us professionals.
old data has been input in the system but without intimation to the assessee. when you receive demand notification you start digging into old data.
The fate of ST3 in CBEC is unique by ALL means..why they should be so adament in e-filing, ifthey can not proper software support..
I have been trying to register as a tax payer, to view FORM 26 AS, for over 6 (SIX)weeks but have failed. I keep getting ‘invalid details’ against entry of PAN
number.
How am I to verify Form 26 A and get same rectified before filing returns?I have sent several E.Mails and screen shots.Earlier I used to get acknowledgment of E.mails,but now there is no reply.The customer feedback system does not work.Phone calls to help lines are met with a recorded message which says that the concerned official is not available to take calls.
What do I do? Time is running out to file returns.
There is no genuine reason to cause such delay in releasing the ITR forms.
CAs can plan their work appropriately if all the Forms are made available by 1st April 2013.
We do not see any major changes in content of Forms year to year requiring months to modify and release!!
Govt is neither accountable for due dates nor answerable for any delay. It is only assessees accountable and answerable.
Sorry to say but it seems under the present government, everything seems to be in a state of drift. The country is just running ram-bharose. No accountability, no apologies, no explanations. We saw how the Govt made a mess of the TDS-TRACES last year when no TDS returns could be filed or certificates generated last year for almost 2 months. But no explanation. This year we saw MCA was in a mess for so much time because of transition and no explanation.
I wrote so many e mails to department last year….but now understood u have to live like that. Its true institute must take care of such things
Dear sudhir jee,
thanks for raising the issue.
we all should press hard to CBDT that in case of such delay , the due date should be extended by same no of days as that of delay.
kamal
9810492569
The Govt should impose a self discipline in this regard. One option is to amend section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 to add in Explanation 2 that “due date” defined therein shall apply where the relevant forms (both physical and excel utility) are notified on or before April 1 of the assessment year, and in case there is any delay in notifying the forms, the due date shall be deemed to be extended by the period of delay in notifying the forms.
Thanks,
Ravi Prakash