Delayed Form 16

You will not be getting your Form 16 on time this season. “When employers deduct TDS they have to deposit it to the government and submit Form 24Q for the same. The format of Form 24Q and Form 16 recently changed," said Archit Gupta, founder, Cleartax. The government has hence revised the due date of submission of Form 24Q from May 31, 2019 to June 30, 2019 and the deadline for employers to issue Form 16 has also been extended by 25 days, from June 15 to July 10. “This would leave salaried taxpayers with a time-frame of just 20 days to file their returns," said Rajat Mohan, senior partner, AMRG and Associates.

New tab for Section 80GGA

This year in the online form of ITR-1, a new tab for section 80GGA has been added. If you wish to claim deduction for donations to scientific research or rural development, you will now have to furnish additional details. “You are required to enter the complete details in respect of name and address of the donee, and PAN of the donee, amount of donation and amount eligible for deduction thereof," said Mohan. Earlier, there was a general tendency among taxpayers to claim ineligible tax deductions, he added. This will aid the tax department to rule out false claims.

Tax refunds only in PAN linked A/Cs

The I-T department has decided to issue only e-refunds from March 1, 2019. So far, the I-T department used to refund in cheque as well. “E-refunds will be issued to only those bank accounts which have been verified on the e-filing portal and are also linked with the PAN of the taxpayer," said Mohan. “Digital refunds would reduce the time lag for you when you receive the money. This step would also bring transparency in the working of tax officers eliminating the interplay of kickbacks," he added. If you haven’t linked your PAN with your account, you need to do it. It can be savings, current, cash or overdraft.