National News

Income Tax Filing Returns Undergoes 5 Key Changes Starting from June 1

On June 7, the tax agency wants to launch a new website to make income tax return filing more user-friendly and simple.

Sentinel Digital Desk

Beginning Tuesday, the income tax return filing online will be unavailable to taxpayers for at least six days. Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has previously requested that subscribers link their provident fund accounts to their Aadhaar cards beginning June 1.

Here's is a list of changes that will take effect this month. 

New income tax filing portal

On June 7, the tax agency wants to launch a new website to make income tax return filing more user-friendly and simple. From June 1 to June 6, the income tax e-filing portal www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in will be unavailable to taxpayers while all activities are transferred from the previous site to the new one. 

"We are excited to be moving to the new e-Filing portal from 7th June, 2021 onwards. The new portal, designed to be more user friendly, will have several new features and enhancements. Stay Tuned!" the Income Tax department said earlier. 

Change in PF rules

The state lender Bank of Baroda will adopt new cheque payment restrictions for its clients on June 1. Customers of Bank of Baroda would be required to furnish 'positive pay confirmation' to the bank for check payments over Rs 2 lakh. The new regulation is intended to reduce the number of occurrences of check fraud. 

Customers can also transmit the information of a high-value cheque online ahead of time to ensure a smooth transaction. According to Bank of Baroda, the information include the cheque number, payee name, transaction amount, account number, cheque date, and transaction code.

Price hike in flight tickets

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) previously increased the lowest limit on domestic airfares from 13% to 16%. As a result, domestic flights will become more expensive beginning June 1.  Flights lasting 60-90 minutes would cost Rs. 4,000, 90-120 minutes will cost Rs. 4,700, 150-180 minutes will cost Rs. 6,100, and 180-210 minutes will cost Rs. 7,400. 

"Fare for domestic travel less than 40 minutes of duration will be hiked by ₹ 2,300 to ₹ 2,600, which is 13 percent of the current fare," the ministry said.

Hallmarking of gold jewelry not compulsory from June 1

In light of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Centre already extended the deadline for required hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts until June 15. Gold hallmarking is a form of precious metal purity verification that is currently voluntary in nature. 

To ensure proper coordination and resolution of implementation issues, a committee led by Pramod Tewari, director general of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), has been formed.