New Delhi, May 9: The Finance Ministry on Friday announced relief to those who have been facing difficulty with their residency status in India under section 6 of the Income-tax Act due to lockdown and suspension of international flights owing to COIVD-19 outbreak, as they have had to prolong their stay in India.
According to a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) release, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today allowed discounting of prolonged stay period in India for the purpose of determining residency status after considering various representations received from people who had to prolong their stay in India due to lockdown and suspension of international flights.
They expressed concern that they will be required to file tax returns as Indian residents and not as NRIs after 120 days of stay.
The Finance Ministry stated that the lockdown continues during the financial year 2020-21 and it is not yet clear when international flight operations would resume, a circular excluding the period of stay of these individuals up to the date of resumption of international flight operations shall be issued for determination of the residential status for the financial year 2020-21.
A circular also said that in order to avoid genuine hardship in such cases, the CBDT has decided that for the purposes of determining the residential status under section 6 of the Act during the previous year 2019-20 in respect of an individual who has come to India on a visit before March 22, 2020 and:
(a) has been unable to leave India on or before March 31, 2020, his period of stay in India from March 22, 2020 to March 31, 2020 shall not be taken into account; or
(b) has been quarantined in India on account of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on or after March 1, 2020 and has departed on an evacuation flight on or before March 31, 2020 or has been unable to leave India on or before March 31, 2020, his period of stay from the beginning of his quarantine to his date of departure or March 31, 2020, as the case may be, shall not be taken into account; or
(c) has departed on an evacuation flight on or before March 31, 2020, his period of stay in India from March 22, 2020 to his date of departure shall not be taken into account."
The release said there are number of individuals who had come on a visit to India during the previous year 2019-20 for a particular duration and intended to leave India before the end of the previous year for maintaining their status as non-resident or not ordinary resident in India.
"However, due to declaration of the lockdown and suspension of international flights owing to outbreak of COVID-19, they are required to prolong their stay in India. The status of an individual whether he is resident in India or a non-resident or not ordinarily resident, is dependent, inter-alia, on the period for which the person is in India during a year," it said.
Bengaluru, Apr 30: The Karnataka government on Thursday decided to allow migrant workers, tourists, students and others stranded in different parts of the state due to the ongoing lockdown to return to their native places, a day after the Centre issued guidelines for the process.
This will be a one-time movement and the government would arrange buses for those in need but they should bear the expenses, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said. He also said people willing to return to the state would have to undergo tests for COVID-19. The decision was taken at the state cabinet meet and it might come into effect from Friday as the Chief Secretary will have to issue an official order, he said.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken decision on movement of people and the Centre had issued a circular in this regard. Following this we have decided to permit interstate and inter-district movement," he told reporters here.
Travel expenses should be borne by those willing to return and if they want the government can provide buses from the state transport corporations. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday issued orders allowing migrant workers, tourists, students and other people stranded in different parts of the country to move to their respective destinations with certain conditions, giving a big relief to the distressed people. Decision on opening of salons and liquor shops will be taken after May 3, he said.
Madhuswamy said permission would be given for one-time movement of labourers and others who want to go from one district to other for work or any other purpose. Those operating industry or establishment and want to move from place to place for management purpose will be given passes with strict scrutiny and through checks.
Responding to a question, the minister said, "we don't know yet how many are willing to go, where they will go, if some one asks for permission, we will permit." "One family or two or three people want to go, they can use taxi. If too many people want to go, we will provide facility through transport corporation buses," he said.
Bengaluru, May 16: At least 23 new COVID-19 positive cases have emerged in the past 19 hours, raising Karnataka''s tally to 1,079, a health official said on Saturday.
"New cases reported from Friday 5 p.m. to Saturday noon are 23," said the official.
Among the 1,079 cases, 548 are active and isolated in designated hospitals across the state, 494 patients got discharged and 36 died of the virus.
In the past 19 hours, cases spiked in Benglaluru Urban, the place hosting the highest number of coronavirus cases in the state.
Of the new cases, Bengaluru Urban reported 14 cases, followed by 3 in Hassan and Mandya, Ballari, Bagalkote, Davangere, Dharwad and Udupi, 1 each.
All the 14 cases, men, from Bengaluru Urban were secondary contacts of positive case 653.
All Hassan, Dharwad and Bagalkote cases had a history of inter-state travel to Mumbai, Maharashtra, India''s largest sufferer of Covid.
A 46-year-old man from Ballari had a travel history to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, another major COVID-19 hotspot state in India.
A 40-year-old man from Mandya had inter-district travel history to Kolar and Bengaluru.
A 1-year-old infant girl from Udupi had international travel history to Dubai.
Among the new cases, 15 are contacts of earlier cases.
Of the all cases, 20 are men and three women.
Only four of the 23 cases are above 50 and 18 below 40.
Of the 1,079 cases, 12 per cent patients were senior citizens, 66 per cent men and 34 per cent women with a discharge rate of 44 per cent.
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