New Delhi: In order to provide relief to the taxpayers who were eligible to file application as on January 31, 2021, but could not file the same due to cessation of the Income-tax Settlement Commission (ITSC) vide Finance Act, 2021, it has been decided that applications for settlement can be filed by the taxpayers by September 30, 2021 before the Interim Board.
However, for this,the following conditions are required to be satisfied-
- The assessee was eligible to file application for settlement on 31.01.2021 for the assessment years for which the application is sought to be filed (relevant assessment years); and
- all the relevant assessment proceedings of the assessee are pending as on the date of filing the application for settlement.
Such applications, subject to their validity, shall be deemed to be “pending applications” under clause (eb) of section 245A of the Act and shall be disposed of by the Interim Board as per the provisions of the Act.
The Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) clarified that taxpayers who had filed such applications shall not have the option to withdraw such applications as per the provisions of section 245M of the Act. Further, the taxpayers who had already filed application for settlement on or after 01.02.2021 as per the direction of the various High Courts and who are otherwise eligible to file such application, as per para 3 above, on the date of filing of the said application shall not be required to file such application again.
Legislative amendments in this regard shall be proposed in due course.
Meanwhile, for easing the process of authentication of electronic records in faceless assessment proceedings, the Government has amended Income-tax Rules, 1962 on September 6, 2021.
The amended Rules provides that electronic records submitted through registered account of the taxpayers in the Income-tax Department’s portal shall be deemed to have been authenticated by the taxpayer by electronic verification code (EVC). Therefore, where a person submits an electronic record by logging into his registered account in designated portal of the Income-tax Department, it shall be deemed that the electronic record has been authenticated by EVC for the purposes of section 144B(7)(i)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’).
However, under the existing provisions of section 144B(7)(i)(b) of the Act, this simplified process of authentication by EVC is not available to certain persons (such as companies, tax audit cases, etc.) and they are mandatorily required to authenticate the electronic records by digital signature.
In order to provide the benefit of the simplified process of authentication by EVC to these persons, it has been decided to extend the simplified process of authentication by EVC to these persons also. Hence, the persons who are mandatorily required to authenticate electronic records by digital signature shall be deemed to have authenticated the electronic records when they submit the record through their registered account in the Income-tax Department’s portal. Legislative amendments in this regard shall be proposed in due course, the Finance Ministry stated today.
-global bihari bureau
