IT compliance deadlines extended, tax exempts on COVID treatment: All you need to know

New Delhi: The Indian government on Friday (June 25) announced a slew of measures aimed at providing a sigh of relief to taxpayers reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic. For starters, the government has extended the deadlines for several deadlines for Income Tax compliances, including the last date to link your PAN card with the 12-digit Aadhaar Card, said the Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Anurag Thakur. The government is also offering benefits to employers who took care of the hospitalisation bills of their employees for the treatment for COVID-19. 

"In order to ease the compliance burden of taxpayers during this difficult time, reliefs are being provided...," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. "In view of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, taxpayers are facing inconvenience in meeting certain tax compliances and also in filing a response to various notices.”

Here are the tax reliefs and deadlines extension announced by the government:

No Income Tax on COVID-19 treatments 

The government has announced that the amount spent by employer on employees treatment for COVID-19 will get tax exemption. Also, employees will not have to pay income tax on money received by them from their friends and family members for the treatment of COVID-19. 

No Income Tax on Ex-gratia payments 

The government has announced that the ex-gratia payments paid by an employer to family members of an employee who died due to COVID-19 would be exempted from income tax in FY20 and subsequent years. However, the upper limit on tax-free payments received by the family is Rs 10 lakh.  

"In order to ensure that no income tax liability arises on this account, it has been decided to provide an income-tax exemption to the amount received by a taxpayer for medical treatment from an employer or from any person for treatment of Covid-19 during FY 2019-20 and subsequent years," the department said.

Deadline extended for income tax benefits on capital gains

The government has extended the deadline to avail tax relief from capital gains till September 3, 2021. Under Section 54 of the Income Tax Act, an Indian can dodge paying the tax on property gains by buying another property within two years or for three years when buying a house in construction.  

Vivad Se Vishwas direct tax dispute resolution deadline extended by 2 months 

The last date for filing direct tax under the Vivad Se Vishwas scheme has been extended by the Finance Ministry by two months till August 31. Taxpayers also have the option to make payments till October 31 with additional interest on their payments. 

PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline extended 

The Indian government has extended the last date to link the PAN-Aadhaar card by three more months to September 30, 2021. 

TDS certificate submission deadline extended 

The last date for submitting Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) certificate in Form 16 to the employees by employers has been extended till July 31 from July 15, 2021. This extension for the TDS statement for the January-March quarter.  

Deadline for furnishing Equalisation Levy Statement extended 

The government has extended the deadline for furnishing the Equalisation Levy Statement in Form No. 1 for FY20 till July 31, 2021. Moreover, the deadlines for processing Equalisation Levy returns has been extended by 3 months till September 30, 2021. 

- With inputs from PTI