Now, income tax authorities can share taxpayers' details with banks

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday allowed income tax authorities to share taxpayers' information with scheduled commercial banks. The move by the apex tax body on personal income tax and corporate tax is aimed at easing the difficulties faced by the banks in deciding tax deducted at source (TDS) deductibility on various payments to their customers.

In a notification dated August 31, CBDT included "scheduled commercial banks", listed in the second schedule of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934, under Section 138 of Income Tax Act for sharing of information.

Section 138 of the Income Tax Act empowers income tax authorities to share information or details of its taxpayers with other agencies.

Recently, similar notifications were issued permitting the income tax authorities to share information with the Securities & Exchange Board of India, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Narcotics Control Bureau, Intelligence Bureau, among others.

Meanwhile, the government recently extended the time limit for filing individual income tax returns for the Financial Year (FY) 2019-20 (Assessment Year (AY)  2020-21) from July 31, 2020, to November 30, 2020. Further, the date of furnishing of audit report under any provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 has been extended to October 31, 2020.

Even the date for payment of self-assessment tax in the case of a taxpayer whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs 1 lakh has been extended to November 30, 2020.

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