No Kashmir issue, no political space for Abdullah family
Farooq Abdullah says no power on earth can touch Article 370 until #Kashmir issue is resolved.
What is this Kashmir issue? Muslim politicians still living in the medieval age have made Kashmir an “issue” only because they cannot accept a Muslim majority region being part of a Hindu majority country.
Such arrow-minded politicians– they are not leaders, they are ‘misleaders’ – have ruined Kashmir. It is because of such politicians that #separatists have become so rich and powerful and internal and external terrorists get support and encouragement to kill people.
People like Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti have a vested interest in Keeping the so called ‘Kashmir issue’ alive. They have made the so called issue the basis of your existence in politics.
Kashmir is an ‘issue’ for Pakistan because it wants to grab the Muslim dominated region and has to keep ISI, Pakistan Army, and terrorist organisations operating from Pakistan happy. Without their support, no Pakistan government can survive for a day. Kashmiri politicians talking of ‘Kashmir issue’ are dancing to the tune of all the anti-Indian forces in Pakistan.
American Presidents have vested interest in troubled spots in the world; they get an opportunity to remind the whole world that they alone are custodians of world peace.
The American Presidents have also vested interest in ‘Kashmir issue’. In fact, American Presidents have vested interest in tensions all over the world. Every American President thinks that it is his birth right to intervene in other’s affairs and tell the whole world that America is the most powerful country in the world.
By claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested him to mediate between India and Pakistan over ‘Kashmir issue’, President Donald Trump has not covered himself with glory. He has only added to the long list of his lies and immature statements. By now, the whole world knows that Trump is a habitual liar. According to the American media, during the last 2 years, he has 8158 lies to his credit.
By speaking on an average 17 lies a day, Trump has made himself the subject of ridicule not only in his own country but all over the world. Well, that is Trump’s way of ensuring that he is not re-elected as American President.
The US foreign office has already issued a statement that Kashmir being an ‘issue’ between India and Pakistan, there is no question of any mediation by another country. On the floor of the Lok Sabha, the Indian Foreign Minister has also put on record that Prime Minister Modi never requested President Trump to mediate.
Anyone who knows Modi, knows that he is the last person to request anyone to mediate between India and Pakistan. However, most of the opposition politicians have lapped upTrump’s white lie to attack Modi. They want Modi to personally deny Trump’s claim even after it has been denied by Trump’s own foreign office. What is the guarantee that even if Modi personally denies Trump’s lie, the opposition leaders will not ask for proof of what Modi is claiming? The opposition leaders are interested only in condemning Modi, even if that amounts to speaking the language of Pakistan Pakistan and the country. Pakistan has already expressed its happiness over Trump’s lie.
The official stand of the Government of India (GOI) should be that the so-called ‘Kashmir issue’ is India’s internal matter, that no country, whether it is Pakistan or America, has anything to do with it. The GOI need to tell the whole world that Pakistan should not be under the illusion that only because Kashmir is a Muslim majority region adjacent to Pakistan, it has a right to speak about Kashmir, that Pakistan is not the guardian of Muslims outside its country. The GOI should also warn Kashmiri politicians like Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti that the so-called ‘Kashmir issue’ is nothing but there conspiracy to remain relevant in the valley because they do not know any better method of doing politics.
Those who understand Kashmir’s economy know that Kashmir as an independent country will not be viable. As part of Pakistan it will be ruined.
Please let Kashmiri Muslims live in peace. Majority of them would gladly join the main-stream if you people stop misleading them.
Troika of dynasty: Queen Mother, Crown Prince and Princess
At the ripe age of 49, Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, once portrayed as the future Prime Minister, is neither a happy common family man nor a successful politician. He has been reduced to the level of one of the many unsuccessful politicians. The developments during the last few months and his plight today compel one to analyse why it is so and what are the likely consequences.
Has he suffered because of an Italian mother’s ambition to make him a leader without any quality in him?
Has he suffered because of his own stupidity i.e. believing that being the scion of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty he is born to rule, even if he has no capacity to do be a leader?
Has he suffered because of another stupidity i.e. following a German propagandist Goebbels?
Has he suffered and will continue to suffer because the ‘loyal’ Congressman will not let him be a common Indian (or Italian)?
Or, has he suffered because of all these factors working simultaneously?
Perhaps, the last hypothesis is more correct.
No doubt, Sonia Gandhi is a ruthlessly ambitious lady. She had the opportunity to become Prime Minister in 2004 but (for reasons best known to her) which she did not use and now wants her son to be Prime Minister. But why blame her for ambitions? The Indians in general and the Congressmen, in particular, made her believe that she was married to the prince of a dynasty that had birth-right to rule over India.
Before accepting the Indian citizenship in 1983 (15 years after marriage to Rajiv Gandhi in 1968), Sonia had seen rise and fall and again rise of Indira Gandhi, daughter of India’s first Prime Minister. She had seen how Indira Gandhi was grooming her second son, Sanjay Gandhi, to succeed her because her first son Rajiv Gandhi did not show any interest in politics. She saw how after Sanjay’s untimely death, Indira Gandhi inducted Rajiv in politics and started grooming him.
After Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Sonia saw how the Congressmen made Rajiv his mother’s successor even without following the constitutional propriety of first electing him leader of the Congress Parliamentary party. She knew that soon after the President of India came to know of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, he decided that he would appoint her son as her successor. (https://www.devendranarain.com/rajiv-gandhis-ap…unconstitutional/) Rajiv Gandhi not only became Prime Minister of India, but he also became president of the Congress party, a post he held until his death.
It is a reflection on the people of this country in general and the Congress fellows in particular that a semi-educated girl came from Italy and became the supreme leader of India’s oldest political party. Her only qualification was her marriage to Rajeev Gandhi whose only qualification was that he was son of Indira Gandhi who entered politics only because she was daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru who became first Prime Minister of India because Mahatma Gandhi whom people called Bapu preferred him over Sardar Patel who was the choice of 15 out of 18 Provincial Congress Committees in 1946. For over 19 years she ruled over the party and for 10 years she ruled over the country (through her nominee though) like an empress. Anyone who differed with her had to go out of Congress. (https://www.devendranarain.com/who-will-make-india-congress-mukt/)
Born and brought up in this atmosphere, it is quite natural for Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to believe that they are born to rule and the Indians are their subjects. They believed and perhaps still believe that the Indians commit a blunder if they do not vote for the dynasty. Unfortunately, the leadership qualities cannot be thrust upon anybody. Despite all the grooming, Rahul Gandhi could not prove himself. He continued to commit mistakes after mistakes.
Since Rahul has no understanding of how to do politics and how to connect with the masses, since he has no vision of his own (in fact, he is incapable of having any vision) but is expected to deliver, he goes by the advice of his courtiers. I can not say whether on his own or on the advice of his courtiers, during the 2019 election campaign, he decided to follow Nazi Germany’s Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels has given several mantras to people like Sonia and Rahul Gandhi:
“A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”
“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”
“If you tell the same lie enough times, people will believe it; and the bigger the lie, the better.” “
“Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.” “This is the secret of propaganda. Those who are to be persuaded by it should be completely immersed in the ideas of propaganda, without ever noticing that they are being immersed in it.”
As Rahul himself told a TV journalist during an interview, when his advisers told him that Prime Minister Modi’s greatest strength was his image of an incorruptible person, he decided to destroy that image. He invented “corruption” in Rafale fighter deal and almost on a daily basis chanted in the election rallies that ‘Modi is a chor (thief) who put ₹ 30,000 crore – money that belonged to the Indian Air Force – in the pocket of his friend Anil Ambani’. When Modi claimed that being the country’s chowkidar (security guard) he could not do anything to harm the country, Rahul coined the slogan “chowkidar chor hai”. The loud support of the assembled Congressmen convinced him that he had hit the ‘bull’s eye’.
However, Modi being Modi. he gave a stronger counter and made millions of Indians say that they were also chowkidar. More the attack on Modi’s integrity, greater the support Modi got. Even Modi’s detractors know that he is not corrupt. Even if Rahul Gandhi knows that, he believed that Goebbels’ mantras were working.
There is a long list of Rahul’s mistakes but concentrating on personal attack on Modi was his biggest mistake.
All propaganda against BJP and NDA failed before Brand Modi.
Under Rahul Gandhi, Congress has suffered a number of humiliating defeats. The consolation – victory in 3 Hindi heartland states – has lost its impact. In 2019 general election Rahul Gandhi failed to revive Congress to the extent expected and needed.
The nation saw a dramma being played in two parts. In part one Rahul Gandhi took the responsibility of defeat and ‘offered to resign’ and in part two he yielded to the pressure of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to continue as Congress President. Those who know the Congress, know that the final decision-maker is not the CWC but the triumvirate of Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka.
According to the media reports, during the meeting of the CWC, members made emotional appeals to Rahul Gandhi to continue. Former finance minister P Chidambaram claimed if he resigned ‘the party’s cadres in the southern states will commit suicide’
Obviously, Rahul Gandhi would not like to live with the guilt feeling that ‘the party’s cadres in the southern states’ committed suicide due to him.
Incidentally, in the CWC meeting he expressed his displeasure that Congress leaders like Chidambaram, Ashok Gehlot and Kamalnath were putting the interest of their sons above that of the party on account of which also the Congress suffered. I feel like asking Raul Gandhi, ‘my dear Rahulji, what moral right you have to express displeasure over what these Congress leaders did? Have you forgotten that like your grandmother and father you are holding the post of Congress President only because of your birth in the dynasty and harming the party?’
The ‘family dramma’ is not yet over. Rahul Gandhi has announced that he has resigned from the post of Congress and has asked the CWC to select another person to preside over the party. (To preside over the liquidation of the party, I would say.)
Rahul Gandhi has left the dynasty in lurch. Neither mother-daughter nor their courtiers know what to do.
The obvious conclusion is that the Indian National Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty cannot exist without each other. Nor can the two promote each other. But they can certainly destroy each other.
When you visit https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home, you see more than 15 handsome compliments paid by tax-payers and tax consultants to the Income Tax Department (ITD) between November 22, 2017, and July 11, 2019, for providing a user-friendly portal, computerisation of filing and processing of IT returns, prompt redressal of grievances and year-by-year improvement. Whatever I saw is reproduced below for the benefit of the readers.
Changes in legal provisions, deficiencies experienced in the utilities and the felt need to simplify filing and processing of IT returns are major factors due to which columns of IT Returns and utilities are modified/improved. For the asstt year 2019-20, the ITD twice released revised ITR2.
Against the background of handsome compliments, a write-up drawing attention to mistakes and deficiencies may not be appreciated. Even then, as a tax-payer who has faced problems in filling ITR2, I feel it is my duty to share my experience with fellow tax-payers, tax consultants and IT department. Here I am mentioning three areas of concern.
Transfer of data from pre-filled XML to the ITR2 to be filed
The purpose of the facility to download prefilled XML and transfer data to the ITR to be filled is to make the task of preparation of ITR easier. More the amount of data transferred, easier the task of preparation of ITR. I find that the prefilled XML for ITR2 released on June 14, 2019 was much better. It facilitated transfer of General data (page 1 of the ITR), name and address of employer, complete address of the house property, prepaid taxes (if I remember correctly) and verification. However, after the release of new ITR2 on July 11, 2019, XML is limited in scope. One can transfer only General data, pre-paid taxes and verification. Obviously, instead of making an improvement, it is a retrograde step.
Deductions under Sections 80TTA and 80TTB
According to section 80TTA of Income Tax Act, interest income on savings accounts (not fixed or recurring deposits) up to ₹ 10,000/-earned by an individual (who is not a senior citizen) or HUF is deductible from total taxable income. According to section 80TTB, interest income up to ₹ 50,000/- earned by a senior citizen from banks (savings, fixed and/oe recurring deposits) is deductible from total income. In other words, while section 80TTA is about deduction up to ₹ 10,000/– available to non-seniors citizens or HUF, Section 80TTB is about deduction up to ₹ 50,000/- available to only senior citizens.
To help the assessees claim deductions, ITD has issued instructions and provided specific columns in the ITRs. However, an assessee not very much familiar with the provisions in the IT act but relying solely on instructions and wordings used in specific columns in the ITRs may get confused, partly because of the wordings and partly because of deficiency in the utility.
The instructions (downloaded on July 14, 2019) issued by the CBDT for filling ITRs 1, 2 and 3 are as follows:
Deduction under section
80TTA
80TTA
Instructions for ITR1
The amount eligible for deduction u/s 80TTA is subject to a maximum limit of ₹ 10,000/- (does not specifically distinguish between senior and non-senior citizens)
A senior citizen’ is eligible for a deduction of deposits with a bank or post office subject to a maximum limit of ₹ 50,000.
Instructions for ITR2
An individual, not being a ‘senior citizen‘, or HUF, is eligible for a deduction of interest on deposits in savings accounts
subject to a maximum limit of ₹ 10,000.
A senior citizen’ is eligible for a deduction of deposits with a bank or post office subject to a maximum limit of ₹ 50,000.
Instructions for ITR3
Same as above
Same as above
The returns provide specific columns for filling the amounts
Deduction under section
80TTA
80TTA
ITR1 dated 26/06/2019
Col. No. 5 p: for filling interest on deposits in the savings account. (Again, no distinction between senior and non-senior citizens.)
Col 5q: for filling interest on deposits in case of senior citizens
ITR2 dated 11/07/2019
Schedule VI-A r: for filling interest on savings bank accounts in case of other than resident senior citizens.
Schedule VI-A s: for filling interest on deposits in case of resident senior citizens
ITR3 dated 12/07/2019
Schedule VI-A x: for filling on savings bank accounts in case of other than resident senior citizens
Schedule VI-A y: for filling interest on deposits in case of resident senior citizens. However, space, where the amount has to be filled, is blocked.
Blocking the space is a deficiency in the utility. A senior citizen who is required to fill ITR3 and is eligible for a deduction of interest income up to ₹ 50,000/- under the IT Act, is unable to claim the same in return.
Long-term capital gains/losses on the sale of equity shares and units of mutual fund
Filling B4 Schedule CG (Capital Gains) is problematic. Most of the columns are unnecessary and cannot be filled correctly. Look at the columns:
From sale of equity share in a company or equity oriented fund
a
Full value of consideration
b
Deductions under section 48
bi
Cost of acquisition without indexation (higher of iA and iB)
iA
Cost of acquisition
iB
If the long-term capital asset was acquired before 01.0 2.2018, lower of B1 and B2
B1) Fair Market Value of capital asset as per section 55 (2) (ac)
B2) full value of consideration
bii
Cost of improvement without indexation
biii
Expenditure only and exclusively in connection with transfer
biv
Total deductions (bi + bii + biii)
There is no need for iB. Perhaps those who designed ITR believed that every taxpayer would have acquired shares/mutual fund before 01.02.2018. It is quite possible that several assesses purchased shares/mutual funds on or after February 1, 2018, and sold between February 1 and March 31, 2019.
It would have been sufficient to mention in B4 that if the long-term capital asset was acquired before 01.0 2.2018, refer to instructions for computation of capital gains/losses. The method of computation should have been mentioned in the instructions.
iB creates a problem because the columns cannot be filled correctly.
The circular dated 14/06/2019 rightly requires separate computation of capital gains for each scrip or units of mutual fund sold during the year. The problem is that bi is designed as if an assessee has sold only one share acquired before 02.01.2018.
According to the IT Act as amended by the Finance act of 2018, long-term capital gain/loss on the sale of equity shares/mutual fund acquired before 01.02.2018 has to be calculated as follows:
Stage I: Compare fair market value (FMV) as on 31/01/2018 with full consideration (i.e. sales price) to find out which one is lower. The lower one becomes the benchmark for the next stage.
Stage II: Compare the cost of acquisition with the lower of Stage I. Whichever is higher is the cost of acquisition (call it “deemed” cost of acquisition).
The table set out below summarises the result (deemed cost of acquisition) under different situations.
Situation
Deemed cost of acquisition
Gain or loss
Stage I
Stage II
1A
FMV lower than sale price
FMV greater than actual cost
FMV
Gain
1B
FMV lower than sale price
Actual cost greater than FMV but
Actual cost
(i) Lower than sale price
Gain
(ii) greater than sale price
Loss
2A
Sale price lower than FMV
Sale price greater than actual cost
Sale price
No Gain, No loss
2B
Sale price lower than FMV
Actual cost greater than sale price
Actual cost
Loss
Obviously, if an assessee has sold a number of shares, “deemed” cost of acquisition may be anything, actual cost or FMV or sale price. Cumulative “deemed” cost cannot be arrived at by comparing the cumulative actual cost with cumulative FMV and cumulative sale price. Filling cumulative value in different columns of B4 will give wrong result (gain or loss). This is a serious flaw in Schedule CG. When the CBDT realised that taxpayers were finding it difficult to fill B4, it should have deleted iA and iB.
Trying to fill B4 even after circular of June 14, I faced problems several times. I sold a number of shares and mutual fund units, all acquired before 01.02.2018. Several times I failed to get the sheet validated. I would get a message that I must fill these columns. After several attempts, I could get the sheet validated even after omitting to fill iA and iB.
Item F of Schedule CG
An assessee is required to furnish quarterly breakup of short-term and long-term capital gains. Perhaps, information is required to ascertain whether instalments of advance tax have been paid for capital gains.
Since those above 60 years of age and not having income from business or profession are not required to pay advance tax, Item F puts unnecessary strain on them to compute quarterly capital gains.
Suggestions
The scope of pre-filled XML should be expanded to provide transfer of not only general information but also name and address of employer, details of house property/properties, carried-forward losses, prepaid taxes and verification.
The utility should be improved to remove shortcomings in claiming deductions under sections 80TTA and 80TTB, as mentioned earlier.
The format of schedule CG should be changed to exclude unnecessary and confusing requirements to fill iA and iB for all assesses and Item F for senior citizens.
The Department should provide taxpayers facility to ‘chat’ with technical experts to resolve technical problems faced by those filling returns. In this era of information technology, major service providers this facility for which software is easily available.
Some of these suggestions I had made in an earlier article, “Faulty utility for ITR2 for AY 2019-20” ( https://www.devendranarain.com/faulty-utility-f…2-for-ay-2019-20/). On July 1, 2019, I had written personal letters to the Chairman and members of the CBDT to as well as the Pr. Director-General of Income Tax (Systems) with a hope that at least someone will look into the issues I have raised. Only one member of the CBDT acknowledged my letter and stated that he was getting the matter examined. Others simply ignored. I have not heard anything from the Member who had told me that he was getting the matter examined. The changes made in the month of July show that my suggestions were just ignored. Going by the past experience, I do not expect any action by the CBDT or Director-General of Income Tax (Systems). Nevertheless, as a taxpayer and a former member of the IRS, I think it is my duty to highlight the problems and give suggestions.
I retired from IRS on December 31, 2000 and as Member, Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property, on December 31, 2002. I am writing this letter to draw your attention to problems I faced while filling ITR2 for Assessment Year 2019-20.
I am very much aware of necessity of computerisation . IT (Income Tax department) cannot function 00without IT (information technology). It is just impossible to receive, keep a record of and process millions of income tax returns manually. Computerisation has not only helped the department to manage its affairs but has also spared taxpayers from standing in queues to file IT returns and visiting IT offices for assessment orders and collection of refunds.
3. As all of us know, the system would work successfully only when there is no problem with hardware or software and the persons managing the system are able to quickly identify and rectify problems. The department as well as taxpayers face problems when any shortcoming anywhere in the system is not rectified timely. I have learnt this at my cost. The utility developed by the department for filling ITR2 has certain serious shortcomings, making it “disutility”. (I am not aware of problems faced in filling other ITRs.)
4. During the Financial Year 2018-19, besides pension from the Government of India (disbursed by Indian Overseas Bank, Golf links branch, New Delhi), I earned long-term as well as short-term capital gains/losses, interest from savings bank accounts, interest on arrears of pension from Department of Revenue and exempted income (dividend from equity shares and mutual funds). I have a house property which is self-occupied. (Salary as Member, ATFP, was revised on the order of Delhi High Court after a long legal battle)
5. I have always prepared my income tax return without anyone’s help. Having been in the IRS for over 35 years (though most of the time outside the income tax department) and being familiar with computer, I believed I had enough knowledge to do this work without external help.
6. This year, I faced several problems which I will describe below. Every time validation of a sheet, filled properly, was rejected, I used a new ITR2. Quite often, a problem faced earlier would not occur again but new problems would crop up. Even after more than a dozen attempts, I have not succeeded in filling a return that is technically correct.
7. After facing problems several times, I consulted a team of chartered accountants (CAs). I paid an online fee of ₹ 250/- to “Taxfull”, a group of CAs who claim to provide solutions to tax problems. I received about half a dozen replies. Two CAs assured me that I should download a new form and fill it to solve the problem. This I had already done several times. Three CAs agreed that there was a problem with the utility. One categorically stated that he was also facing the same problem. They all expected that utility would be modified. However, that has not been done so far.
8. Let me share with you the specific problems I faced.
Import of personal/tax data from pre-filled XML for AY 2018-19
To start with, I tried to be smart. To save time and labour, I downloaded pre-filled ITR2 XML for AY 2018-19 and imported data to partially fill ITR2 for AY 2019-20. When the import was complete, I checked every sheet. To my shock, in Schedule VI-A, space meant for entering interest on savings account u/s 80TTA was blocked, though Schedule OS was blank. There is no way I can change that. So, pre-filled XML became useless.
Schedule S (details of income from salary)
Several times I filled all the columns but when I clicked on “Validate”, it was rejected with instruction to declare income u/s 17(1), 17(2) &17(3)! Every salaried person does not get allowances and perks mentioned in section 17(2) &17(3). As a pensioner, I am not getting any allowance or perk. I am not aware of the Government of India giving allowances and perks to any retired civil servants. If it does, I am not one of those lucky fellows.
At long last,‘utility’ was kind enough to permit validation without any declaration u/s 17(1), 17(2) & 17(3).
Schedule CG (Capital Gains)
Filling B4 was a nightmare. Most of the columns are unnecessary and cannot be filled correctly. Look at the columns:
From sale of equity share in a company or equity oriented fund
a
Full value of consideration
b
Deductions under section 48
bi
Cost of acquisition without indexation (higher of iA and iB)
iA
Cost of acquisition
iB
If the long-term capital asset was acquired before 01.0 2.2018, lower of B1 and B2
B1) Fair Market Value of capital asset as per section 55 (2) (ac)
B2) full value of consideration
bii
Cost of improvement without indexation
biii
Expenditure only and exclusively in connection with transfer
biv
Total deductions (bi + bii + biii)
There is no need of iB. Perhaps those who designed ITR believed that every taxpayer would have acquired shares/mutual fund before 01.02.2018. It is quite possible that several assesses purchased shares/mutual funds on or after February 1, 2018, and sold between February 1 and March 31, 2019
It would have been sufficient to mention in B4 that if the long-term capital asset was acquired before 01.0 2.2018, refer to instructions for computation of capital gains/losses. The method of computation should have been mentioned in the instructions
iB creates a problem because the columns cannot be filled correctly.
Circular dated 14/06/2019 rightly requires separate computation of capital gains for each scrip or units of mutual fund sold during the year. The problem arises due to the requirement of filling bi along with iA and iB.
According to the IT Act as amended by the Finance act of 2018, long-term capital gain/loss on the sale of equity shares/mutual fund acquired before 01.02.2018 has to be calculated as follows:
Stage I: Compare fair market value (FMV) as on 31/01/2018 with full consideration (i.e. sales price) to find out which one is lower. The lower one becomes the benchmark for the next stage.
Stage II: Compare the cost of acquisition with the lower of Stage I. Whichever is higher is the cost of acquisition (call it “deemed” cost of acquisition).
The table set out below summarises the result under different situations.
Situation
Deemed cost of acquisition
Gain or loss
Stage I
Stage II
1A
FMV lower than sale price
FMV greater than actual cost
FMV
Gain
1B
FMV lower than sale price
Actual cost greater than FMV but
Actual cost
(i) Lower than sale price
Gain
(ii) greater than sale price
Loss
2A
Sale price lower than FMV
Sale price greater than actual cost
Sale price
No Gain, No loss
2B
Sale price lower than FMV
Actual cost greater than sale price
Actual cost
Loss
Obviously, if an assessee has sold a number of shares, “deemed” cost of acquisition may be anything: actual cost or FMV or sale price. Cumulative “deemed” cost cannot be arrived at by comparing the cumulative actual cost with cumulative FMV and cumulative sale price. Filling cumulative value in different columns of B4 will give wrong result. This is a serious flaw in Schedule CG. When the CBDT realised that taxpayers were finding it difficult to fill B4, it should have removed iA and iB.
Trying to fill B4 even after circular of June 14, I faced problems several times. I sold a number of shares and mutual fund units, all acquired before 01.02.2018. Aware of the consequences of giving cumulative FMV and cumulative sales price of all these shares and units of mutual funds, I did not fill columns iA and iB. Several times I failed to get the sheet validated. I will get a message that I must fill these columns. After several attempts, I could get the sheet validated even after omitting to fill iA and iB.
Item F of Schedule CG
An assessee is required to furnish quarterly breakup of short-term and long-term capital gains. Perhaps, information is required to ascertain whether instalments of advance tax have been paid for capital gains.
Since those above 60 years of age and not having income from business or profession are not required to pay advance tax. Item F puts unnecessary strain on senior citizens to compute quarterly capital gains. While filling Schedule CG, I discovered that I had to provide a quarterly breakup of Long-Term Capital Gains.
Item F of Schedule CG should be disabled for senior citizens.
Schedule OS and Schedule VI-A
During FY 2018-19, I had earned savings bank interest of ₹ 8516/-. Several times I entered this in Schedule OS (income from other sources) and in Schedule VI-A (deductions under section Chapter VI-A) and got the sheet validated. Unfortunately, each time utility removed this amount from Schedules VI-A and blocked the space where I had filled the amount.
While filling the return for the last time, I started with filling Schedule OS and Schedule VI-A. I was very happy when the sheet was validated.
I saved duly filled ITR2 and proceeded to calculate income tax liability. To my utter shock and surprise, the liability as calculated by the utility was more than what I had manually calculated. When I checked Schedule OS and Schedule VI-A, I discovered that while the amount was very much in Schedule OS, it had been deleted from Schedule VI-A and the space meant to enter the amount had been blocked!
By now I was completely fed up. The only option left to me was to remove ₹ 8516/-from Schedule OS. I did that and got correct calculation of tax liability. There is no loss of revenue to the government because savings bank interest is exempt up to ₹ 10,000/-. The ITR 2 as I have completed is not technically correct but the faulty utility has left me with no option.
I will not file the return for about three weeks, hoping that shortcomings of the utility would be removed and I would be able to prepare another ITR2 which is correct technically also.
e-payment of tax
After the utility had calculated tax liability, I proceeded to make e-payment. I had to pay huge amount of tax under self-assessment because the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) that disburses my pension had not deducted a single rupee as tax during FY 2018-19! I do not know whether the bank treated my pension as tax-free!
Every year I have been sending to the bank– I did in 2018-19 also – details of savings eligible for deductions under section 80 and computation of income tax to make the task of bank easier. Usually, the bank deducted tax for full year on the last day of March. When it was not deducted this time, I lodged a complaint with the bank branch in the first week of April. The branch replied that it had taken up the matter with the head office at Chandni. I have not received any further information. I wonder, if the bank has treated my pension as tax-free!
Anyway, that was between the bank and me. To make e-payment of tax, I had to fill the requisite form four times. Three times, at the stage of confirmation of the form I discovered that utility had changed the name of the bank. Perhaps, utility did not like my having account with the IOB. In the fourth attempt, utility relented and I could make e-payment.
Thus ended my struggle with the utility provided by the Department. Due to faulty utility I wasted several hours to fill ITR2, a work which I used to complete in an hour maximum earlier.
35. I take this opportunity to draw attention of the tax authorities to three more issues and give suggestions:
Organisations like IOB which do not bother to deduct tax at source need to be punished. Centralised Processing Unit can easily compile list of such defaulters.
As mentioned in Paragraph 5, during FY 2018-19, I had received interest on arrears of pension. The ATFP paid the amount after deducting 10% (₹ 31,330) as income tax. Necessary entries appear in 26AS. However, despite repeated requests, the deductor, ATFP, did not send Form 16A. Instead, Pay & Accounts Office sent a certificate on its letter head that “It is certified that this office has deducted ₹ 31,330/-on area of pension in r/o Shi Devendra Narain, vide bill No. CP00000 368 passed on 12/11/2018 through PMFS ID – S 101801944446.” Not sending Form 16A is violation of income tax rules for which ATFP should be penalised.
Major service providers offer chatting facilities to the clients. Through this facility, clients can requisite information and assistance. The IT Department should also introduce this facility. Software for this is easily available. Had there been this facility, perhaps I would not have faced so much problem in filling ITR2. Of course, this facility should not be available for getting advance rulings on controversial legal issues but computer experts can solve technical problems faced by assesses while filling ITR, applying for rectification of assessment order, etc.
I hope, you will look into all the issues I have raised and take necessary action .