Income Tax alert! IMPORTANT update from CBDT for taxpayers facing difficulties - RELAXATION in electronic filing of these forms

In a major development for taxpayers, CBDT has granted relaxation in electronic filing of forms 15CA & 15CB in view of difficulties reported by taxpayers in filing of forms online on the new e-filing portal http://incometax.gov.in. 

"The forms can be submitted in manual format to the authorised dealers till 30th June, 2021," CBDT said in a statement.

CBDT grants relaxation in electronic filing of forms 15CA & 15CB in view of difficulties reported by taxpayers in filing of forms online on the new e-filing portal https://t.co/GYvO3n9wMf. The forms can be submitted in manual format to the authorised dealers till 30th June, 2021. pic.twitter.com/tQPn10HG03

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) June 14, 2021

Relaxation in electronic filing of Income Tax Forms 15CA/15CB 

- Central Board of Direct Taxes in a release said, "As per the Income-tax Act, 1961, there is a requirement to furnish Form 15CA/15CB electronically. Presently, taxpayers upload the Form 15CA, along with the Chartered Accountant Certificate in Form 15CB, wherever applicable, on the e-filing portal, before submitting the copy to the authorized dealer for any foreign remittance."

- In view of the difficulties reported by taxpayers in electronic filing of Income Tax Forms 15CA/15CB on the portal www.incometax.gov.in, it has been decided that taxpayers can submit the aforesaid Forms in manual format to the authorized dealers till June 30th, 2021. 

-Authorized dealers are advised to accept such Forms till June 30th, 2021 for the purpose of foreign remittances. 

-A facility will be provided on the new e-filing portal to upload these forms at a later date for the purpose of generation of the Document Identification Number.

Commenting on the Relaxation in electronic filing of Income Tax Forms 15CA/15CB development, Shailesh Kumar, Partner, Nangia & Co LLP, said, "Any person, who needs to make a foreign outward remittance, needs to file an online form/ declaration in Form 15CA specifying nature of transaction and amount of income tax deducted on such foreign remittance. In certain cases, this Form 15CA is also backed by a Chartered Accountant's certificate in Form 15CB, who certifies that appropriate income tax has been deducted on such remittance. Such Forms 15CA and 15CB were required to be filled online using income tax e-filing portal. Due to shutdown of old e-filing portal post 31st May 2021 and technical snags being faced with the new portal even after launch of the new portal on 07th June, filing of online Forms 15CA and 15CB have not been possible till now. This had created a significant hardship for businesses, which required payment to be made outside India, for placing the orders or for obtaining licenses or meeting their commercial obligations. However, banks were not permitting foreign remittance, for want of Form 15CA/15CB.  This practical problem had brought many business transactions on a standstill. Realising the hardships of businesses, the Government has issued this circular allowing manual filing of Form 15CA/15CB with banks till 30th June, so that business transactions may go on, despite the technical snags in new e-filing portal. There transactions / forms will be digitalized later by online form, as the circular provides."