Amid the coronavirus outbreak, our Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman in the Press Meet, held on the 24th March 2020 has announced extension for undertaking various filing and other compliances. A brief summary of the announcements made in various regulations are as follows:
1. INCOME TAX
| SL. No. | Change in | Before Press Release | After Press Release | Effect |
| 1. | Last date for filing Belated Return of Income for the Financial Year 2018-19 | 31/03/2020 | 30/06/2020 | 3 months extension in the last date for filing the Return of Income. |
| 2. | Last date for Aadhaar PAN Linking | 31/03/2020 | 30/06/2020 | One more Extension for linking PAN with Aadhaar to save PAN from getting deactivated |
| 3. | Vivaad Se Vishwas Scheme
(to provide a one time opportunity to resolve tax disputes with the income tax authorities ) |
31/03/2020 | 30/06/2020 | The scheme earlier gave an opportunity till 31/03/2020 to just pay 100% of the tax amount & settle the dispute. Further, as per earlier provisions, 10% additional tax amount was payable if the dispute is settled till 30/06/2020. After the Press Release, the dispute can be settled by paying 100% of the tax amount till 30/06/2020. Therefore, no additional tax amount is required to be paid even if dispute is settled till 30/06/2020. |
| 4. | Due dates for
a. Issue of notice, b. Intimation, c. Notification, d. Approval order, e. Sanction order, f. Filing of appeal, g. Furnishing of return, h. Statements, I. Applications, j. Reports, k. Any other documents l. Time limit for completion of proceedings by the authority m. Any compliance by the taxpayer including investment in saving instruments or investments for roll over benefit of capital gains under Income Tax Act, Wealth Tax Act, Prohibition of Benami Property Transaction Act, Black Money Act, Securities Transaction Tax law, Commodities Transaction Tax Law, Equalization Levy law, Vivad Se Vishwas law |
Time limit if expiring between 20th March to 29th June 2020 | Shall be extended to 30th June 2020 | A relief has been provided to everyone to claim tax exemptions & even for the income tax authorities to issue notices |
| 5. | For delayed payments of
a. advance tax, b. self-assessment tax, c. regular tax, d. Tax Deducted at Source, e. Tax Collected at Source, f. equalization levy, g. Securities Transaction Tax, h. Commodities Transaction Tax to be made between 20th March 2020 and 30th June 2020 |
– 1% / 1.5% per month or part of the month
– Late Fees – Penalty |
– 0.75% per month or part of the month
– No Late Fees – No Penalty |
Interest rate has been reduced and waiver of Late Fees and Penalties, if any. |
2. GST / CUSTOMS
| Sl.No. | Change in | Before Press Release | After Press Release | Effect | ||
| 1. | Last date for filing GSTR-3B due in
a. March 2020, b. April 2020 and c. May 2020 for those having aggregate annual turnover of less than Rs. 5 Crores. |
-20th of the subsequent month
– Interest – Late Fees – Penalty |
–30/06/2020 for all the 3 months
– No interest, Late Fees & Penalties |
The due date for filing all the returns would be 30th June 2020. Further, no interest, late fees and penalties would be charged. | ||
| 2. | Last date for filing GSTR-3B due in
d. March 2020, e. April 2020 and f. May 2020 for those having aggregate annual turnover of Rs. 5 Crores or more. |
-interest on delayed payment from the due date @ 18% per annum
– Late Fees & Penalty |
– interest on delayed payment from 15 days after due date @ 9% per annum
– No late Fees and Penalty, if complied before 30th June 2020 |
The due date for filing the GSTR-3B would be the same (i.e., 20th of the subsequent month). However, no interest if delay in filing the return is less than 15 days. No late fees and penalties if return is filed on or before 30th June 2020. | ||
| 3. | Date for Opting for Composition Scheme
Due Date of filing of return (CMP-08) & Payment |
31/03/2020
18/04/2020 |
Last week of June, 2020 | Relaxation to composition tax payers | ||
| 4. | GST Annual Return (for Financial Year 2018-19) | 31/03/2020 | Last Week of June 2020 | Relaxation in GST Annual return filing and Audit for the Financial Year 2018-19. | ||
| 5. | Due date for
a. issue of notice, b. notification, c. approval order, d. sanction order, e. filing of appeal, f. furnishing of return, g. statements, h. applications, i. reports, j. any other documents, Under GST, Customs |
Time limit if expiring between 20th March to 29th June 2020 | Shall be extended to 30th June 2020 | A relief to everyone | ||
| 6. | Payment under Sabka Vishwas Scheme | 30/06/2020
without interest |
– | |||
- 24×7 Customs clearance till end of 30th June, 2020.
- Due date for issue of notice, notification, approval order, sanction order, filing of appeal, furnishing applications, reports, any other documents etc., time limit for any compliance under the Customs Act and other allied Laws where the time limit is expiring between 20th March 2020 to 29th June 2020 shall be extended to 30th June 2020.
3. FINANCIAL SERVICES
Relaxations for 3 months
- Debit cardholders to withdraw cash for free from any other banks’ ATM for 3 months.
- Waiver of minimum balance fee.
- Reduced bank charges for digital trade transactions for all trade finance consumers.
4. CORPORATE AFFAIRS
- No additional fees shall be charged for late filing during a moratorium period from 1st April 2020 to 30th September 2020, in respect of any document, return, statement etc., required to be filed in the MCA-21 Registry, irrespective of its due date.
- The mandatory requirement of holding meetings of the Board of the companies within prescribed interval provided in the Companies Act, 2013 (120 days), shall be extended by a period of 60 days till next two quarterse., till 30th September 2020.
- Applicability of Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-21 instead of from financial year 2019-20 as notified earlier.
- As per Schedule 4 to the Companies Act, 2013, Independent Directors are required to hold at least one meeting without the attendance of Non-independent directors and members of management. For the year 2019-20, if the Independent Directors of a company have not been able to hold even one meeting, the same shall not be viewed as a violation.
- Requirement to create a Deposit reserve of 20% of deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 before 30th April 2020 shall be allowed to be complied with till 30th June 2020.
- Requirement to invest 15% of debentures maturing during a particular year in specified instruments before 30th April 2020, may be done so before 30th June 2020.
- Newly incorporated companies are required to file a declaration for Commencement of Business within 6 months of incorporation. An additional time of 6 more months shall be allowed.
- Non-compliance of minimum residency in India for a period of at least 182 days by at least one director of every company, under section 149 of the Companies Act, shall not be treated as a violation.
- It has been decided to raise the threshold of default under section 4 of the IBC 2016 to Rs 1 crore (from the existing threshold of Rs 1 lakh). This will by and large prevent triggering of insolvency proceedings against MSMEs. If the current situation continues beyond 30th of April 2020, Government may consider suspending section 7, section 9 and section 10 of the IBC 2016 for a period of 6 months so as to stop companies at large from being forced into insolvency proceedings in such force majeure causes of default.
5. SEBI CIRCULAR – SEBI/HO / CFD / CMD1 / CIR / P / 2020 / 38
Relaxation from compliance with certain provisions of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.
- Extension of timelines for various filings:
| SL No | Regulation and associated filing | Filing | Relaxation w.r.t the quarter / financial year ending March 31, 2020 | |||
| Frequency | Due With In | Due Date | Extended Date | Period of Relexation | ||
| 1 | Regulation 7(3) relating to compliance certificate on share transfer facility | Half yearly | One month of the end of each half of the financial year | April 30, 2020 | May 31, 2020 | 1 month |
| 2 | Regulation 13(3) relating to Statement of Investor complaints | Quarterly | 21 days from the end of each quarter | April 21, 2020 | May 15, 2020 | 3 weeks (appx.) |
| 3 | Regulation 24A read with circular No CIR/CFD/CMD1/27/201 9 dated February 8, 2019 relating to Secretarial Compliance report | Yearly | 60 days from the end of the financial year | May 30, 2020 | June 30, 2020 | 1 month |
| 4 | Regulation 27(2) relating to Corporate Governance report | Quarterly | 15 days from the end of the quarter | April 15, 2020 | May 15, 2020 | 1 month |
| 5 | Regulation 31 relating to Shareholding Pattern | Quarterly | 21 days from the end of the quarter | April 21, 2020 | May 15, 2020 | 3 weeks (appx.) |
| 6 | Regulation 33 relating to Financial Results | Quarterly / Annual | 45 days from the end of the quarter for quarterly results 60 days from the end of Financial Year for Annual Financial Results | May 15, 2020 May 30, 2020 |
June 30, 2020 June 30, 2020 |
45 days 1 month |
- Relaxation of time gap between two board / Audit Committee meetings:
| Regulatory Provision | Relaxation |
| Regulation 17(2): The board of directors shall meet at least four times a year, with a maximum time gap of one hundred and twenty days between any two meetings. | The board of directors and Audit Committee of the listed entity are exempted from observing the maximum stipulated time gap between two meetings for the meetings held or proposed to be held between the period December 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. However the board of directors / Audit Committee shall ensure that they meet at least four times a year, as stipulated under regulations 17(2) and 18(2)(a) of the LODR |
| Regulation 18(2)(a): The audit committee shall meet at least four times in a year and not more than one hundred and twenty days shall elapse between two meetings |
- SEBI CIRCULAR -SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD1/CIR/P/2020/48
Further relaxations from compliance with certain provisions of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (LODR) and the SEBI circular dated January 22, 2020 relating to Standard Operating Procedure due to the CoVID -19 virus pandemic.
- Filings
| SL No | Regulation and associated filing | Filing | Relaxation w.r.t the quarter / financial year ending March 31, 2020 | |||
| Frequency | Due With In | Due Date | Extended Date | Period of Relexation | ||
| a | Regulation 40(9) relating to Certificate from Practicing Company Secretary on timely issue of share certificates | Half Yearly | 1 month of the end of each half of the financial year | April 30, 2020 | May 31, 2020 | 1 month |
| b | Regulation 44(5) relating to holding of AGM by top 100 listed entities by market capitalization for FY 19-20 | Annual | Within a period of 5 months from the date of closing of the financial year | August 31, 2020 | September 30, 2020 | 1 month |
- Due date for holding annual meeting of NRC (Nomination and Remuneration Committee), Stakeholders Relation Committee & Risk Management Committee extended till 30th June 2020.
| SL | Regulation | Requirement | Frequency | Due
Date |
Extended Date | Period Of Relaxation |
| A | Regulation 19(3A) | The nomination and remuneration committee shall meet at least once in a year | Yearly | March 31,2020 | June
30, 2020 |
3 Months |
| B | Regulation 20(3A) | The Stakeholders Relationship committee shall meet at least once in a year | ||||
| c | Regulation 21(3A) | The Risk Management Committee shall meet at least once in a year |
- Circular dated January 22, 2020 on SOP on imposition of fines and non compliance with LODR to come into force for compliance period ending or after 30th June 2020.
- Publication of Advertisement in Newspaper for events schedules till May 15, 2020 under regulation 47 exempted.
- GENERAL CIRCULAR NO – 12/2020:
COMPANIES FRESH START SCHEME, 2020 (CFSS-2020) & REVISED LLP SETTLEMENT SCHEME
In order to give an opportunity to the defaulting companies and LLP and to enable them to file the belated documents in the MCA-21 registry, the Central Government in exercise of powers has decided to introduce a Scheme namely “Companies Fresh Start Scheme, 2020 (CFSS-2020) and revised the “LLP Settlement Scheme, 2020” which is already in vogue to provide a first of its kind opportunity to both companies and LLPs to make good any filing related defaults, irrespective of duration of default, and make a fresh start as a fully compliant entity.
The USP of both the schemes is a one-time waiver of additional filing fees for delayed filings by the companies or LLPs with the Registrar of Companies during the currency of the Schemes, i.e. during the period starting from 1st April, 2020 and ending on 30th September, 2020.
However, the immunity is only against delayed filings in MCA21 and not against any substantive violation of law.
| Particular | Companies First Start Scheme -2020 | LLP Settlement Scheme – 2020 |
| Applicability | Any ‘defaulting company’ which has made a default in filing of any documents, statements, returns etc. including annual statutory documents (‘documents’) on the MCA-21 registry is permitted to file belated documents which were due for filing on any given date in accordance with the provisions of CFSS-2020 Scheme. | Any ‘defaulting LLP’ registered under LLP Act which has made a default in filing of documents on the specified due date(s) is permitted to file belated documents which were due for filing till 31 August, 2020 in accordance with the provisions of LLS-2020 Scheme |
| Period | The CFSS-2020 shall remain in force during the period commencing from 1 April 2020 till 30 September 2020 | The LSS-2020 shall remain in force during the period commencing from 1 April 2020 till 30 September 2020. |
| Key Features | Condone of Delay: To condone the delay in filing of E-forms with Registrar of Companies (‘ROC’) insofar as it relates to charging of additional fees and thus, under the Scheme, only normal filing fees of documents will be payable and no additional fees shall be levied.Grant of Immunity: Grants an immunity from launch of prosecution or proceedings for imposing penalty on account of delay associated with certain filings on MCA-21 registry and not against any fundamental violation of law. Appeal Already Filed:
Under the Scheme, the defaulting inactive companies can also declare themselves as ‘dormant companies’ by filing a simple application at normal fee. This will enable the inactive companies to remain on ROC with minimal compliance requirements. Further, such companies can also apply for striking off the name of the company at normal fee. |
Condone of Delay: To condone the delay in filing of documents with ROC insofar as it relates to charging of additional fees and thus, under the Scheme, only normal filing fees of documents will be payable and no additional fees shall be levied.No Prosecution by ROC The defaulting LLPs, which shall file their belated documents till 30 September 2020, shall not be subjected to any prosecution by ROC for such defaults. |
| Exemptions | The CFSS-2020 shall not apply to the Companies which: a) are under the process of strike-off; (u/s 248 of the Act) b) are amalgamated; (under the scheme of arrangement or compromise) c) are vanishing; d) have applied for obtaining dormant status and e) The CFS-2020 shall also not apply to E-forms viz. SH-7 (form for increase in authorised share capital) and E-Form CHG-1, CHG-4, CHG-8 and CHG-9 (forms related to charge) |
The LSS-2020 shall not apply to all those LLPs which have already made applications for striking off their name from the register |
