The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, has appealed to Union Finance Minister to permit more than ₹2 lakh a day digital payment as COVID-affected people need to make payments to hospitals.
Chamber president C. Balasubramanian said the Finance Act 2017 inserted Section 269ST prescribing that no person shall receive an amount of ₹2 lakh or more from a person in a day, in respect of a single transaction otherwise than by an account payee cheque or draft or other electronic mode. This came into effect on April 1, 2017. In this pandemic, hospitals insist on advance payments through electronic mode from the Covid patients. Several families of Covid-affected patients get financial support from friends and relatives and they transfer money through the digital mode. Hence, the Government should come out with a notification immediately to address this difficult situation and relax the compliance with Section 269ST.
Also, the opportunity for MSMEs and traders to earn is minimal and uncertain with the pandemic. Therefore, the due dates for advance tax should be re-scheduled to one instalment falling in March 2022 alone. This could make the cash flow available with the MSMEs and traders to recoup the loss in the second half of the financial year. The government can extend incentives such as one-time reduction in rates for those who pay in the existing normal instalments.
Mr. Balasubramanian said the rates of TDS be reduced by 25% of the prescribed rates and the GST rates should also be reduced by 25 % for all commodities across all rates for a limited period. A special one-time Covid deduction upto ₹ 50,000 may be given to individual/HUF tax payer only for the assessment year 2022-23 and senior citizens can be given additional deductions for dependants.
The government should look at special tax incentive scheme for MSMEs who do not avail any special benefits and comply with all tax and other obligations promptly. The banking sector and financial institutions should provide relief to MSMEs and small businesses, he said.
