Relaxation for certain category of senior citizen from filing return of income-tax

Section 139 of the Act provides for filing of return of income. Sub-section (1) of the
section provides that every person being an individual, if his total income or the total
income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act
during the previous year exceeded the maximum amount which is not chargeable to
income-tax, shall, on or before the due date, furnish a return of his income.

In order to provide relief to senior citizens who are of the age of 75 year or above
and to reduce compliance for them, it is proposed to insert a new section to provide
a relaxation from filing the return of income, if the following conditions are satisfied:-
(i) The senior citizen is resident in India and of the age of 75 or more during the
previous year;
(ii) He has pension income and no other income. However, in addition to such
pension income he may have also have interest income from the same bank in
which he is receiving his pension income;
(iii) This bank is a specified bank. The Government will be notifying a few
banks, which are banking company, to be the specified bank; and
(iv) He shall be required to furnish a declaration to the specified bank. The
declaration shall be containing such particulars, in such form and verified in
such manner, as may be prescribed.

Once the declaration is furnished, the specified bank would be required to compute
the income of such senior citizen after giving effect to the deduction allowable under
Chapter VI-A and rebate allowable under section 87A of the Act, for the relevant
assessment year and deduct income tax on the basis of rates in force. Once this is
done, there will not be any requirement of furnishing return of income by such senior
citizen for this assessment year.

This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2021.

Insertion of new section 194P.

Deduction of tax in case of  specified senior citizen.

47. After section 194-O of the Income-tax Act, the following
section shall be inserted, namely:––

‘194P. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the provisions of Chapter XVII-B, in case of a specified senior
citizen, the specified bank shall, after giving effect to the deduction allowable under Chapter VI-A and rebate
allowable under section 87A, compute the total income of such specified senior citizen for the relevant assessment year
and deduct income-tax on such total income on the basis of the rates in force.

(2) The provisions of section 139 shall not apply to a specified senior citizen for the assessment year relevant to the
previous year in which the tax has been deducted under subsection (1).

Explanation.–– For the purposes of this section,––

(a) “specified bank” means a banking company as the Central Government may, by notification in Official
Gazette, specify;
(b) “specified senior citizen” means an individual, being a resident in India––

(i) who is of the age of seventy-five years or more at any time during the previous year;
(ii) who is having income of the nature of pension and no other income except the income of the nature
of interest received or receivable from any account maintained by such individual in the same specified
bank in which he is receiving his pension income; and
(iii) has furnished a declaration to the specified bank containing such particulars, in such form and
verified in such manner, as may be prescribed.’.

[Clause 47]