TaxBeat

Employees Provident Fund withdrawal during COVID -19 COVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic by WHO (the World Health Organisation) owing to its spread across the continents. Due to the imposition of lockdown in major economies of the world, people have been sacked, received pay cuts and have been put on furloughs without pay till the situation normalises. For the emerging economies like India, the scenario is getting worse and calls for an immediate relief package and stimulus from the government. For people who are not left with much cash every month end due to their financial commitments and fragile nature of their jobs, the central government organisation EPFO has permitted partial withdrawal of their PF deductions in the form of an ‘advance’ to save their coffers. A non-refundable withdrawal to the extent of the basic wages and dearness allowance for three months or up to 75% of the amount standing to member's credit in the EPF account, whichever is less, is al...

Recent tax and administrative reliefs owing to the pandemic of COVID-19 Since the beginning of 2020, the world has come across an unprecedented pandemic aka COVID-19 abbreviated for “Corona Virus Disease 2019” since it all started towards the end of 2019 in a Chinese city of Wuhan. The disease had spread across several countries by the end of January 2020 owing to its efficient P2P transmission capabilities. India also registered its first COVID-19 case by the end of January 2020 in the state of Kerala. The Indian government took some time to assess the situation and declared a nationwide lockdown beginning from 25 th March 2020 which has now been continued until 3 rd May 2020. Due to this lockdown, economic activity has taken a backseat except the essentials which includes food, medicines, PPEs and some emergency services. Consequently our Honorable Finance Minister came up with certain reliefs for the industry and a liquidity stimulus by the RBI. Both direct and ind...