The scheme was to have come into force from the new year. However, the finance ministry has not ruled out the possibility of introducing a new identity number like UTN from the next fiscal, in addition to the permanent account number to ensure prompt verification and granting of tax credits to tax payers.
The government's initiative to migrate SEZ data from NSDL software to ICEGATE system for streamlined reporting of import data caused double counting of gold imports, resulting in inflated figures and the issue has now been largely rectified, government sources said. The downward revision has provided the actual picture of trade deficit (difference between imports and exports), which was earlier looking very high. The deficit for November will now be revised downwards from $37.84 billion to about $32.8 billion. Similarly, there will be a revision in overall import numbers as well.
Assessees whose tax is deducted at source now can file their returns in the current assessment year without quoting a proposed tax number, UTN, as the government deferred its introduction."Taxpayers filing their income tax returns for assessment year 2009-10 or any other earlier AY, may continue to file their returns without mentioning the Unique Transaction Number (UTN)," the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
Individuals now need to mention a unique transaction number against every tax deducted at source entry.
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