IT Act

The Income Tax department on Monday invited public inputs for review of the six-decade old I-T Act with regard to simplification of language, litigation reduction, compliance reduction, and obsolete provisions. Pursuant to the Budget announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for a comprehensive review of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had set up an internal committee to oversee the review and make the Act concise, clear, and easy to understand, which will reduce disputes, litigation, and provide greater tax certainty to taxpayers. "The committee invites public inputs and suggestions in four categories: simplification of language, litigation reduction, compliance reduction, and redundant/obsolete provisions," the CBDT said. A webpage on the e-filing portal -- https://eportal.incometax.gov.in/iec/foservices/#/pre-login/ita-comprehensive-review -- has been launched and the public can access the page by entering their mobile number and ...

The court noted that the applicant/accused is charged with offenses punishable under Sections 420, 468, 471, 120B IPC, 66D of the IT Act, and Sections 89/91 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

India celebrates the National Income Tax Day, or Aaykar Divas, every year on July 24, marking the historical development of tax administration in the country

The Supreme Court on Friday transferred to the Delhi High Court a batch of pleas pending before different high courts across the country challenging the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Prashant Kumar Mishra noted that several petitions were pending on the issue before different high courts including Karnataka, Madras, Calcutta, Kerala and Bombay high courts. "In order to avoid contradictory judgments, the Union of India would wish to have all matters consolidated for analogous hearing. Since a large number of these cases are pending consideration before the Delhi High Court, we deem it appropriate to transfer the matters in various HCs to the Delhi HC," the bench said. The top court directed that all relevant paper books shall be transferred by the high courts to the Delhi High Court within four days. The apex court passed the order on a transfer petition moved by the Union of India f

Experts believe that this step would streamline the process of tackling cybercrimes at the national level but could create confusion between agencies over authority

Representatives of traders' body CAIT on Wednesday met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and demanded that implementation of a clause in Income Tax Act related to MSMEs payment rule be deferred by a year to April 2025. In a release, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said a delegation led by its Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal conveyed the traders' concerns to the finance minister and suggested a solution during the meeting. In its memorandum, CAIT welcomed the government's decision, highlighting the significance of ensuring timely payments to the MSME sector within 45 days to maintain uninterrupted cash flow for traders. However, given the "lack of clarity" surrounding the applicability of the law to traders and other related provisions, CAIT called for suspension of implementation of Section 43 (b)h of the Income Tax Act until sufficient clarification and information dissemination are achieved nationwide. "CAIT further appealed to the government to postpone the ...

Justice Patel ruled in favour of the petitioners, striking down the rule and Justice Gokhale dismissed the petitions, and upheld the rule

Zydus Lifesciences on Tuesday said its arm Zydus Healthcare Ltd has been served an income tax notice demand of Rs 284.58 crore for for the assessment year 2023-2024. Zydus Healthcare Ltd (ZHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary, has received an intimation under section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (IT Act), determining demand of Rs 284.58 crore, Zydus Lifesciences said in a regulatory filing. The intimation is for the assessment year 2023-2024 from the CPC, Income Tax Department, it added. The demand is determined due to "apparent mistakes while processing its return of income", it said. "The company strongly believes that once the rectification will be made, the entire demand will be deleted," Zydus Lifesciences said. ZHL has already disagreed with demand on the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department. It is also going to file Rectification Application under section 154 of the IT Act, before the CPC as well as before the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer against the said ...

The court noted that some content should not only be banned from the social media but from the internet

The central government issued directions for blocking 3,470 URLs in 2023 under provisions of the IT Act, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Section 69A of the IT Act provides power to the central government to issue directions to block any information if it is necessary to do so in the interest of sovereignty and integrity, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. "The Central Government has issued directions for blocking of 6,096, 6,775 and 3,470 URLs in the year 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively," the minister added. He was specifically replying to a question on orders served by the government to social media platforms to take down content, hampering the digital safety of citizens since 2021. The policies of the government are aimed at ensuring an open, safe and trusted and accountable internet for all digital nagriks, he said. The IT

The court has also refused Twitter's request to stay the Centre's orders to block some accounts on its platform with tweets related to coronavirus and farmers' protests

The amendments to the Information Technology Rules, prima facie, do not seem to offer protection to parody and satire, the Bombay High Court said on Monday while hearing a petition filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra. The HC bench also said Kamra's petition challenging the amendments was maintainable. On April 6, the Union government promulgated certain amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, including a provision of a fact check unit to identify fake or false or misleading online content related to the government. Kamra, in his petition, claimed the new rules could potentially lead to his content being arbitrarily blocked or his social media accounts being suspended or deactivated, thus harming him professionally. He has sought that the court declare the amended rules as unconstitutional and give a direction to the government to restrain from taking action against any individual under the rules. The Union .

False and misleading information has the potential to fan separatist movements and intensify social and political conflict, the Central government told Bombay High Court on Friday while responding to stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's petition challenging an amendment to the Information Technology Rules. Citing a study, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), further said false news travelled six times faster than the truth, necessitating the 2023 amendment to the IT Rules. It, however, said that the impending fact check unit may only direct removal of false or misleading information pertaining to government policies and programmes, and not any satire or artist impression. Kamra, in his petition, claimed that the new rules could potentially lead to his content being arbitrarily blocked or his social media accounts being suspended or deactivated, thus harming him professionally. The stand-up comedian has sought the court to declare the amended rules as ...

The Supreme Court Monday held that no penalty shall be leviable under section 271C of the Income Tax Act over mere belated remittance of the tax deducted at source (TDS) after its deduction by the assessee concerned. The top court noted that section 271C of the Act deals with penalty for failure to deduct TDS. It said as per settled position of law, the penal provisions are required to be construed strictly and literally and as per the cardinal principle of interpretation of statute and more particularly, the penal provision, "the penal provisions are required to be read as they are." "Nothing is to be added or nothing is to be taken out of the penal provision. Therefore, on plain reading of section 271C of the Act, 1961, there shall not be penalty leviable on belated remittance of the TDS after the same is deducted by the assessee," a bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar said. It said section 271C of the Income Tax Act is quite categoric and its scope and extent of applicat

Rajeev Chandrasekhar added that many of the burning issues around online user harm, safety and trust, safeguarding children from addictive intermediaries or platforms will be addressed

Decriminalisation will improve business environment

Requests from governments across the globe for user data were up 10.5% to 237,414

You can claim only if the payout is voluntary and you have documentary proof to this effect

The concerns from tax authorities have come at a time when there is an ongoing debate on how far 'moonlighting' by employees can be allowed.

The high court was hearing the plea challenging the blocking of 39 URLs by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in 2021