The Income Tax Department has clarified that existing PAN cards of taxpayers and individuals are valid even without the QR code under the PAN 2.0 project. Allotment, updation or correction of PAN will be done free of cost and e-PAN will be sent to the registered mail id. For a physical PAN card, the applicant has to make a request along with the prescribed fee of Rs 50 (domestic). For delivery of PAN card outside India, Rs. 15 + India post charges at actuals will be charged for the applicant, according to the income tax FAQs. Though the PAN 2.0 project is yet to commence, taxpayers and individuals currently can get their PAN on their email ID. If there is no email ID registered in the income tax database, then taxpayers can update the email address in the income tax database under the PAN 2.0 project for free.

Step-by-step guide to apply and get a new PAN on your email
Before applying to get the PAN on your email, a taxpayer must check whether their PAN is issued by NSDL or UTI Infrastructure and Technology and Services Ltd. (UTIITSL). This is mentioned on the back of your PAN card. Depending on the issuer, a taxpayer must follow the steps to get PAN on email or in digital form.

Section 192A of the Income Tax Act mandates the deduction of TDS on withdrawals from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). According to this provision, TDS must be deducted at the time of EPF withdrawal. This means that when you withdraw money from your EPF account, a certain percentage of the total amount is deducted as TDS, and the remaining balance is credited to you. The purpose of this provision is to ensure that, similar to other sources of income, tax is appropriately paid on EPF withdrawals.

Apart from TDS applicability, the EPFO has laid down several specific guidelines for withdrawing funds from EPF accounts. In this article, we will gain insights from Sandeep Agrawal, Director and Founder of Teamlease Regtech, about EPF withdrawal rules, taxation, and TDS applicability.

EPF withdrawal rules:
EPF allows employees to withdraw their accumulated corpus under various circumstances:

Retirement: Employees can make a full EPF withdrawal upon retirement after reaching 58 years of age.

Partial Withdrawals: Partial withdrawals are allowed under certain conditions, including:

The income-tax department has found more than 500 "actionable" cases related to undisclosed immovable properties held by Indians in Dubai and raids conducted in Delhi alone have discovered evidence of unaccounted transactions worth more than Rs 700 crore, people in the know told ET.

The Delhi investigation wing of the department has carried out more than a dozen searches and found evidence about 43 undisclosed immovable properties in Dubai, said a tax official. "The figure of the suspected evasion just in Delhi is over Rs 700 crore. Since the investigation is pan India, this amount is only going to go up. We suspect this to run into a few thousand crores," added the official.

Recently, Germany shared with India information about properties owned by Indians in the Middle East under the 'Spontaneous Exchange of Information' mechanism of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between the two countries. The information included details of properties owned by more than a thousand Indians.

It is not immediately clear how such information landed up in the hands of German authorities.

PAN 2.0 Project: The Centre has given its approval to a Rs 1,435-crore PAN 2.0 Project in line with the Modi government’s Digital India mission. PAN 2.0 Project is an e-governance project for re-engineering the business processes of taxpayer registration services through technology driven transformation of PAN/TAN services for enhanced digital experience of the taxpayers.

Under the PAN 2.0 Project, the updated card will have added features, including QR code for enhanced functionality. The PAN upgrade will be free of cost and the new PAN card will be delivered directly to you, ensuring a seamless transition to the improved system, the government said.

This will be an upgrade of the current PAN/TAN 1.0 ecosystem consolidating the core and non-core PAN/TAN activities as well as PAN validation service, the finance ministry said in a release.

The PAN 2.0 Project resonates with the vision of the Government enshrined in Digital India by enabling the use of PAN as Common Identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies.

The income tax department has issued the FAQs on the PAN 2.0 project clarifying that taxpayers who already have a PAN need not apply for a new PAN. The PAN 2.0 project allows existing PAN card holders to make any correction and updation in PAN card details for free of cost after the project starts its operations.

The FAQs are released by the income tax department on November 26, 2024

Here are the FAQs issued by the income tax department to help the taxpayers.

1. Whether existing PAN card holders will be required to apply for a new PAN under the upgraded system? Do you need to change your PAN number?
No. The existing PAN card holders are not required to apply for a new PAN under the upgraded system (PAN 2.0).

2. Do I need to change my PAN card under PAN 2.0?
No. The PAN card will not be changed unless the PAN holders want any updation and correction. The existing valid PAN cards will continue to be valid under PAN 2.0.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the PAN 2.0 Project for the Income Tax Department on Monday, with a financial outlay of Rs 1,435 crore.

The new project will provide a free-of-cost upgrade to the PAN Card with a QR Code, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced.

PAN 2.0 Project is an e-Governance project for re-engineering the business processes of taxpayer registration services through technology driven transformation of PAN/TAN services for enhanced digital experience of the taxpayers. This will be an upgrade of the current PAN/TAN 1.0 eco-system consolidating the core and non-core PAN/TAN activities as well as PAN validation service.

The entire PAN issuance and verification system will be overhauled, said Vaishnaw.

As per the central government, the PAN 2.0 Project enables technology driven transformation of Taxpayer registration services and has significant benefits including:

Ease of access and speedy service delivery with improved quality;
Single Source of Truth and data consistency
Eco-friendly processes and cost optimization; and

The Income Tax Department is actively urging taxpayers to voluntarily declare any missed reporting of foreign assets or income by December 31, 2024, otherwise the consequences can be very serious like Rs 10 lakh fine or even jail in some cases. The income tax department has also revealed that India receives detailed information about financial accounts held by its residents in several foreign jurisdictions so there is no point in hiding wealth abroad. Experts warn that in specified cases like this the tax department may also use the full extent of the law, and this includes imposing the Black Money Act also.

What type of information India receives from abroad
According to the Income Tax Department, here are the information received by India:

• Account holder's name, address, and tax identification number (TIN)

• Account number and balance
• Income details such as interest, dividends, and other financial proceeds.

“This information helps the Income Tax Department to know the global income of its resident taxpayers and to identify taxpayers who may not have disclosed their foreign assets and income,” said the Income Tax Department.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) recently issued a circular on the application for condonation of delay in filing ITR. Income taxpayers often file this application requesting the tax department to condone delay in filing/revising ITR in order to claim income tax refund and carry forward of losses and set off. This condonation of delay application allows them to file an income tax return (ITR) to claim past tax refund and/or claim carry-forward of loss and set-off in cases where the due date for filing tax return is long past.

The latest circular has reduced the time limit to apply for condonation of delay to five years from the end of the financial year in which the ITR was actually required to be filed. The earlier 2015 circular allowed taxpayers to file the condonation delay application within six years from the end of the financial year in which the ITR was required to be filed.

Hence, taxpayers will get one year less to file delay condonation requests to apply for old income tax refunds. CBDT issued the circular on October 1, 2024.

The government will exceed the Rs 22.07 trillion direct tax collection target set for the current fiscal, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Ravi Agarwal said on Monday.

Agarwal also said that taxpayers who have not disclosed their foreign income or assets in their ITRs have time till December 31 to file their revised return for the 2023-24 fiscal. The tax department is in the process of sending SMS and emails to those assessees who have not disclosed high-value assets.

Inaugurating the Taxpayers Lounge at the India International Trade Fair (IITF), Agarwal also said that more than 6,000 suggestions have come in for a review of the income tax law to make the language simple and easy to understand.

"We are hopeful and we believe that we will exceed the budget target for tax collection. Collections from corporate and non-corporate taxes have risen," Agarwal told reporters here.

In an explicit nudge to taxpayers citing compliance with global disclosure norms, the Income Tax Department has urged them to disclose details of foreign assets and income correctly in their income tax returns and file revised returns by December 31, if there is a requirement to update the information.

The Department, it is learnt, will also begin an e-campaign in the next few days to facilitate filing of details of foreign assets and income by taxpayers, a government official said.

The campaign is being launched with the aim to reach out to those taxpayers who have not disclosed details of their foreign income and assets correctly in their income tax returns but the tax department has received information about them through various information-gathering and sharing agreements of India with other countries, an official said. “There is substantial information being received from other countries about ownership of foreign income and assets. This campaign will provide a window to taxpayers to disclose their information of foreign income and assets correctly in their income tax returns,” the official said.

All landowners who had cut 'joint development' deals with builders are under the lens for skirting tax on capital gains.

The investigation wings of the Income Tax (I-T) department across the country have been told by the central direct tax body to collect information on agreements where individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) had struck a deal with developers but may not have paid tax even after the buildings received 'completion or occupation certificates' (CC/OCs).

CC/OCs are typically issued by municipal authorities of states once the construction is complete and the projects are in a ready-to-move-in state.
In a communique towards end-October, all director generals of I-T investigation wings in several cities were asked by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to fish out data on properties that were given CCs or OCs during the financial years 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23, a source told ET.

Over 75 lakh updated income tax returns have been filed by July 31 this fiscal helping tax authorities mobilise as much as Rs 8,000 crore in additional revenue.

According to official sources, taxpayers have used the facility of updated returns to both update returns based on additional information and pay taxes, as well as to file returns in cases where no returns had been filed previously. The returns pertain to the Assessment Year 2021-22 and 2022-23.

“Nearly 90% of the updated returns filed by July 31 this year were by non-filers,” official sources said, adding that this reflects improved compliance by taxpayers.

Under the facility of filing updated returns, which was introduced in the Union Budget 2022-23, taxpayers can resubmit income tax returns in case of any error or additional information and pay the necessary taxes. This updated return can be filed within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year. A penalty is also imposed on the additional tax amount.

The Income Tax Department has issued notices to several taxpayers who have claimed disproportionate refunds, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The department has raised concerns over the rising number of suspicious tax returns and refund claims, particularly from unscrupulous individuals, the people said.

The Department has targeted chartered accountants and agencies that promise large refunds, often using fraudulent means, the people quoted above told NDTV Profit, adding that many of the refund claims involve bogus expenses, disability, and medical claims.

The notices have been issued for the assessment years 2021-22 and 2022-23, covering taxpayers across the country, said the people.

Major cases have been reported in cities like Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, said the people, adding that the Income Tax Department is closely monitoring large tax refund claims, particularly those coming from a single CA or agency and strict action against CAs and agencies that misguide taxpayers into claiming incorrect refunds.

The deadline for filing the income tax return (ITR) for FY 2023-24 is November 15, 2024, for those taxpayers subject to an income tax audit and other designated taxpayers. If you're hoping for an extension of this deadline, it's important to note that this is already an extended deadline, as the original deadline was October 31, 2024. To date, there has been no announcement regarding any further extensions to this revised deadline, making it unlikely that the government will decide to push it back again under the current circumstances.

What do you need to do before filing ITR by November 15, 2024
The process of filing your ITR is closely tied to the submission of a tax audit report. Experts emphasize that the details provided in the tax audit report must be referenced in the ITR, highlighting the interconnected nature of the two. Therefore, it's essential to submit your tax audit report prior to filing your ITR.

According to Chartered Accountant Prakash Hegde, "The taxpayer liable for income tax audit has to give the details of the tax audit in his ITR (including the date of furnishing audit report, acknowledgement number of audit report etc.). Unless the tax audit report is submitted, these details cannot be filled in the ITR. Therefore, filing a tax audit should precede filing the ITR of the taxpayer."

The Indian government's net direct tax collection grew 15.4 per cent year on year to Rs 12.1 trillion ($143 billion) during the period April 1-Nov. 10, according to a statement.

Direct taxes, which include corporate and personal tax, grew over 21 per cent to Rs 15 trillion on a gross basis during the period, the statement issued by the income tax department said.

The government said it had issued tax refunds of Rs 2.9 trillion.

Many high-net-worth individuals who allegedly own undeclared properties in Dubai have received notices from the tax office. Buyers must comply with the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the Income-Tax Act when buying property abroad.

“As the United Arab Emirates is a tax-free zone, black money is often routed through hawala to Dubai, then banked and invested in property. Cash deposits in Dubai bank accounts are not scrutinised for tax implications as they are in India. However, if the sender is a resident Indian, the source of funds could be questioned in India,” says Vivek Jalan, partner, Tax Connect Advisory Services.

Remittance and purchase

A resident Indian can acquire property abroad by remitting funds through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) route. “Under LRS, all resident individuals, including minors, may remit up to $250,000 per financial year for permissible transactions, including buying property abroad. In the case of minors, the LRS declaration should be signed by the natural guardian,” says Shefali Mudra, tax expert, ClearTax.

The Karnataka High Court has allowed an appeal by the Income Tax Department against tax exemption allowed in certain land acquisition cases. The order, passed on October 29 by a division bench of the Dharwad Bench consisting of Justices Krishna S Dixit and Vijaykumar Patil, nevertheless noted a certain imbalance in the different laws regarding the benefits that the land losers were eligible for.

In this case, a previous high court judgment from April 2023 had granted relief from paying income tax for compensation of land acquisition, based on Section 96 of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Appealing this judgment before the division bench, the I-T Department argued that this could only be applied if the acquisition was made under the 2013 act itself and not through some other law, such as the Karnataka Highways Act.

On the other hand, the opposing side argued that when the 2013 Act was enacted, all the other competing laws were implied to have been repealed, among other arguments. The high court accepted the I-T Department’s appeal, striking down the earlier order.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is weighing a revamp of official designations within the Income Tax Department to make the roles clearer to people and foster a more transparent image of the department.

The proposed restructuring focuses on updating the nomenclature of positions like the commissioner of income tax (CIT) and principal commissioner of income tax. The goal is to align the titles more accurately with the responsibilities of the officials, enhancing both internal clarity and relatability with external stakeholders.

According to a senior government official, a committee was set up to review CBDT’s organisational structure, especially the allocation of roles across divisions. The committee recently submitted its report, suggesting several modifications to how the designations are structured to better reflect actual responsibilities of the officials concerned.

Changes in CIT Titles

Officials holding titles such as commissioner of income tax (CIT) are involved in more specialised tasks under the CBDT’s oversight. Since many of these officials handle policy and technical aspects, rather than direct tax-related work, the committee proposed that they be titled simply as commissioners. For instance, a CIT involved in technical and policy work may be renamed commissioner (tech and policy).

In a development that could allay the rising concerns regarding the increase in tax notices from the department, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is considering a structural reform which will separate the role of investigation and assessment in income-tax (I-T) evasion cases.

The CBDT is responsible for the tax administration in the country. In financial year 2024 , the depatment had sent 1 lakh notice.

Sources told Monyecontrol that this measure is being thought about after concerns rose about harsher assessments and potential bias.

This shift is expected to improve the fairness and efficiency of assessments. Currently, after investigation, the same officials carry out the assessment work. The proposal is to delegate assessment to what is called a central charge, rather than the investigation wing itself, which handles both the inquiry and assessment processes

The central charge refers to a specialised division within the I-T department that is responsible for handling assessments in specific types of cases, particularly those involving high-stakes tax evasion, search and seizure cases, and other complex tax matters.

The central board of direct taxes (CBDT) has set monetary limitations for waiver or Reduction of Interest on Tax Payments with riders.

According to the circular issued late night Monday, principal chief commissioners of Income Tax can waive up to Rs. 50 lakhs, chief commissioners or director generals of Income Tax can waive between Rs. 50 lakhs and Rs. 1.5 crores, and principal chief commissioners of Income Tax can waive interest above Rs. 1.5 crores.

The notification will be effective Tuesday.

The interest waiver or reduction will be considered if payment of the amount would cause genuine hardship to the taxpayer, or if default was due to circumstances beyond their control, the circular said.

Taxpayers must also co-operate in assessment or recovery proceedings, the circular added.