May 2021
Newsletter - May 2021
Our war with the virus wages on but it is definitely a quieter time right now. We are extraordinarily lucky to be living at a time when advances in Science and Medicine are rapid. It is remarkable what we have been able to achieve. From understanding the nature of the virus early on in 2020 to preparing a testing system that can quickly identify whether someone has the infection, to working on a vaccine at Global scale, we really have to be grateful for what we have achieved. India has also recently announced the discovery of a Covid specific drug that would work on the disease.
The scale of the pain was made very real with the images that came from the Ganga river – showing the difficulty people have had with dealing with the death of their loved ones. There is a lot of angst among people for the way the crisis was handled – the government and administrators need to acknowledge their lapses and what they would do to fix them. It seems increasingly likely that we would have a third wave of the pandemic in India and the Government and administrators will have a chance to prove to people that they are in control of the situation and that they can help organize things to prevent agony among the population.
While the world is dealing with Covid – Israel and Palestine relationship has deteriorated and they have fired rockets, killing many innocent people. The world needs more healing and not more destruction. We sincerely hope that the two sides can resolve their differences and achieve their goals without further loss of lives.
Padmashri Dr. KK Aggarwal, a former president of the Indian Medical Association, did hundreds of videos over the last year to educated the people in simple language about how to deal with Covid. We are unfortunate to have lost him to Covid after a long battle. Even while fighting the disease and being on Oxygen, he continued his public awareness and education videos and said that the “Show must go on”. He had several co-morbidities and had to take medicines to suppress his immunity for some other issues, due to which his response to the Vaccine may have been less than adequate. This in no way reduces the efficacy of the vaccine and we must continue to take it. We salute Dr. KK Aggarwal and are inspired by his commitment to public welfare.
DIRECT TAX
SCOPE OF STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL TRANSACTION (SFT) WIDENED TO INCLUDE DIVIDEND INCOME AND INTEREST INCOME
The scope of reporting under statement of financial transaction has been broadened to include information relating to dividend income and interest income from F.Y. 2020-21 and onwards.
To know more about the reporting requirements under the statement of financial transactions click here.
EXTENSION OF VARIOUS DUE DATES UNDER INCOME TAX ACT, 1961
In view of the pandemic, in order to provide relief to taxpayers, CBDT vide circular no. 09 of 2021 dated 20-05-2021 has extended the due dates for various compliances including filing the TDS returns and statement of financial transaction.
To know more about the extended due dates please click here.
INDIRECT TAX (GST)
RECENT GST NOTIFICATIONS DATED 1ST MAY 2021
The Government has announced various reliefs due to COVID-19 under GST Laws such as extension of due date of GSTR-1, GSTR-4 & ITC-04, waiver of late fees for GSTR-3B, relaxation in interest rate on delay in filing GSTR-3B, extension in time limit of various actions under GST etc. through the notifications issued on 01st May 2021. Let's go through all the notifications in depth.
GST IMPLICATION ON E-COMMERCE SECTOR
The Indian e-commerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory. The Indian Industry is expected to be around 86 Billion Dollars in 2021. The online retail market in India is estimated to be 25% of the total organized retail market. By 2034, it is predicted to surpass the United States to become the second largest e-commerce market globally. The young demography, increasing internet and smartphone penetration, and relatively better economic performance, 100% FDI allowed under this sector are some key drivers of the e-commerce Sector. Further due to such huge growth in the e-commerce industry there is a huge amount of revenue from the e-commerce sector. With respect to e-commerce operators, compliance has increased. GST implications like registration, time of supply, place of supply, value of supply, levy and collection, etc. on the E- commerce transactions are discussed in this article.
