Corporate Compliance Calendar March, 2021

ABOUT ARTICLE:

This article contains various Compliance requirements for the Month of March, 2021 under various Statutory Laws.

If you think compliance is expensive, try non‐ compliance”

Compliance Requirement Under

1. Income Tax Act, 1961
2. Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 (GST) and Important Updates / Circulars
3. Other Statutory Laws and Updates
4. Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and Important Notifications
5. SEBI (Listing Obligations & Disclosure Requirements) (LODR) Regulations, 2015
6. SEBI Takeover Regulations 2011
7. SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015
8. SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018
9. SEBI (Buyback of Securities) Regulations, 2018
10. SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations 2018) and Circulars / Notifications
11. SEBI Relaxations for Preferential Issues Matters
12. Companies Act, 2013 (MCA/ROC Compliance) and Notifications
13. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) Updates
14. MSME Key Updates
15. Competition Commission of India (CCI)

1. COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT UNDER INCOME TAX ACT, 1961

table

Notes:

1. The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 has extended due dates for compliance falling during the period from 20-03-2020 to 31-12-2020. Readers are requested to please check the relevant documents from below links:

IMPORTATNT UPDATES:

1. Govt may tweak 2% equalisation levy to provide relief to local traders

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) may tweak the equalisation levy imposed on the sale of goods or services carried out using a non-resident e-commerce operator.

Currently, a levy of 2 percent is paid by non-resident e-commerce operators on the gross amount of the transaction. However, experts believe the imposition of a levy results in double taxation in cases where the buyer and the seller are both resident Indians but carry out a transaction using a non-resident e-commerce platform like Amazon.

2. No TDS on buying property under liquidation: NCLAT

In the case between S Kumars Nationwide and Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, the NCLAT ruled the liquidator is not required to prepare a balance sheet and profit & loss account and get it audited during the liquidation process.

Liquidation of companies is set to get easier with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal throwing out taxman’s claims that the liquidator has to get tax deducted at source while liquidating a bankrupt company.

Any buyer of property from a liquidator under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 shall not be required to deduct and pay 1% TDS from the sale consideration under Section 194-IA of the Income-tax Act, 1961

3. Govt extends deadline for filing declarations under Vivaad Se Vishwas scheme till Mar 31

The government has extended the last date for availing of the direct tax Vivaad Se Vishwas dispute resolution scheme to March 31, 2021, from the earlier date of February 28. This is the fifth extension of the scheme.

Those willing to settle their tax disputes under the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act can file their declarations till March 31 and pay the settled tax amount by April 30, 2021, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a notification Friday.

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATIONS – For the month of February – 2021:

2. COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT UNDER GST, 2017

Filing of GSTR –3B

A. Taxpayers having aggregate turnover > Rs. 5 Cr. in preceding FY

B. Taxpayers having aggregate turnover upto Rs. 5 crores in preceding FY (Group A)

C. Taxpayers having aggregate turnover upto Rs. 5 crores in preceding FY (Group B)

D. Filing Form GSTR-1:

E. Non Resident Tax Payers, ISD, TDS & TCS Taxpayers

F. GST Annual Returns:

G. GST Refund:

H. Other Due Dates:

KEY UPDATE(s):

1. Advisory on Reconciliation Statement (GSTR-9C )

Reconciliation statement to be filed in Form GSTR-9C requires the tax rate wise declaration of transactions for the concerned financial year. In the said form, tax amount pertaining to tax rates 1%, 1.5% and 7.5% in section III (table 9 and 11) and section V may be made in row/ under label ‘Others’ of the said tables, wherever applicable.

2. Budget 2021: Govt scraps GST Audit, No Need to file GSTR-9C [Read Finance Bill].

The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Budget 2021 today before the Parliament, proposed to omit the requirement of furnishing the GSTR audit report in the form GSTR-9C. The GSTR-9C is a reconciliation statement required to be furnished by a taxpayer whose turnover exceeds Rs.2 crore in a financial year while filing his annual return in form GSTR-9. As per the Finance Bill 2021, “In section 35 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act,sub-section (5) shall be omitted.”

3. Sanitiser makers move court over ‘typo’ in GST regulations

Companies that were importing a key raw material used in manufacturing sanitisers and disinfectants have dragged the government to court following inability to avail benefits over an apparent typing error in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework.

Importers of ‘denatured ethyl alcohol’, a raw material used in hand sanitisers and disinfectants, have been paying a lower or concessional rate of customs duty, over the years as this was categorised as ‘excisable goods’.

GST UPDATES FROM 01.02.2021 TO 28.02.2021:

3. COMPLIANCE UNDER OTHER STATUTORY LAWS

Key Update:

1. Labour Ministry finalises new job rules under 4 codes, reform to be a reality soon

Parliament had passed four codes on four broad codes on wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety health & working conditions (OSH) which would ultimately rationalise 44 central labour laws. The Code on Wages was passed by Parliament in 2019 while the three other codes got clearance from both the Houses in 2020.

The four broad codes on wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety, health & working conditions (OSH) have already been notified after getting the President’s assent. But for implementing these four codes, the rules need to be notified.

2. Labour codes to herald new wave of reforms in 2021; job creation likely to be major challenge

This year has also been a challenging year for the workforce as well as for employers due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government imposed a nationwide lockdown from March 25, which had an adverse impact on economic activities and resulted in the exodus of migrant workers from large cities to their homes in the hinterland.

The implementation of four labour codes in one go from April 1 next year will usher in a new wave of reforms in industrial relations and also help in attracting more investments but employment generation will remain a key challenge in 2021.

UPDATES TRACKER UNDER LABOUR LAWS – FEB. 2021:

2. COMPLIANCES UNDER FEMA / RBI

Procedure for submission of previous year’s FLA return:

In case of submission of FLA returns for previous years, the reporting entity need to take approval from RBI. Visit https://flair.rbi.org.in/fla → Login to FLAIR → Go to “Menu” (upper left corner) → Go to “Multiple Year CIN Enable Screen” → select year 2019 (2018,2017,… 2012,2011). Click “→” then Click “Request”. After sending request to RBI through FLA portal, entities need to wait for at least one working day for approval. Entities can check the status of their request in “Multiple Year CIN Enable Screen” under menu on the left corner. Once approved by RBI, the entity can submit FLA return for the requested previous year”.It may be noted that for example if FLA return for 2020 is not submitted then submission of previous year FLA 2019 and prior years, will not be allowed.

IMPORTANT UPDATES, FEBRUARY-2020:

1. RBI favors retaining current inflation targeting regime

RBI on 26th February, 2021 has released its report on currency and finance (RCF) for the year 2020-21. The Reserve Bank in a report on currency and finance (RCF) for the year 2020-21 said “the current numerical framework for defining price stability, i.e., an inflation target of 4 per cent with a +/-2 per cent tolerance band, is appropriate for the next five years.”

The report said that the “period of study in this report is from October 2016 to March 2020 commencing with the formal operationalization of the flexible inflation targeting (FIT) framework in India but excluding the period of the COVID-19 pandemic in view of data distortions.”

The retail inflation stood at 4.59 per cent in December 2020 and 7.59 per cent in January 2020. The previous low for retail inflation was in September 2019 at 4 per cent. Read more at: Click here

2. Indian banks’ loans rose 6.6% y/y in 2 weeks to Feb 12: RBI

Outstanding loans fell ₹1,044 crore ($141.30 million) to ₹107.04 trillion in the two weeks to Feb. 12. Indian banks’ loans rose 6.6% in the two weeks to Feb. 12 from a year earlier, while deposits rose 11.8%, the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly statistical supplement showed on Friday.

RBI CIRCULARS / NOTIFICATIONS: FEBRUARY, 2021