The government has decided to extend the term of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman PC Mody by one year. He was expected to superannuate tomorrow.
However, one of the members of the board and convenor of the committee which drafted the Direct Tax Bill, Akhilesh Ranjan, put in his papers even though he has 10 more months of service left. Although, there is no official word on his move, it is widely believed that he unhappy that he was overlooked for the post of Chairman,.
A 1982-batch Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre) officer, Mody, took over as the CBDT chief in February.
The government has also appointed 1983-batch IRS officer Prabhash Shankar as a new member in the CBDT. There are still two vacancies in the Board.
TDS on cash withdrawals
Meanwhile, the CBDT, the apex policy making body for income tax, made two announcements related with a Budget proposal. It said that tax deducted at source (TDS) on cash withdrawal in excess of ₹1 crore from the banks in a financial year will come into effect from September 1, 2019.
“Any cash withdrawal prior to September 1 will not be subjected to the TDS. However, since the threshold of ₹1 crore is with respect to the previous year, calculation of amount of cash withdrawal for triggering deduction will be counted from April 1, 2019 Hence, if a person has already withdrawn ₹1 crore or more in cash up to August 31, 2019 from one or more accounts maintained with a banking company or a cooperative bank or a post office, the two per cent TDS shall apply on all subsequent cash withdrawals,” the department said.
Start-up cell
The CBDT also announced setting of a dedicated cell for start-ups. This follows the Budget announcement. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced withdrawing ‘Angel Tax’ provisions for start-ups and their investors.
As part of the measures for mitigating the genuine difficulties of start-ups, it was decided that a dedicated cell would be set up under a Member of CBDT for addressing the specific problems of start-ups. Now, that cell has been made operational.
The cell will work for redressal of grievances and mitigate tax-related issues in case of start-up entities with respect to administration of the Income-tax Act, 1961.