Due Date of filing Statement of Financial Transactions: Form No. 61A
The dates of various compliance for the FY 2019-20 have been extended for various compliance. The changes have been done by way of ordinance and amendment thereto at various occasions in the past. There are confusion as well as concern about the due date of filing Statement of Financial Transactions in Form 61A for the FY 2019-20. In our earlier issue, we have clarified about the due date of filing TDS quarterly return for the first quarter and second quarter for FY 2020-21 at
Now let us see the due date of filing SFT.
What is SFT?
SFT is a statement for reporting of specified financial transactions by few specified persons/reporting financial institution.
Such specified persons / institutions are under an obligation to submit SFT to the income tax authority or such other specified authority or agency.
Section 285BA enables the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to prescribe different values for different specified financial transactions. The same is prescribed by CBDT via Rule 114E & summarized as under:
| SI No | Nature of transaction to be reported | Monetary threshold of transaction | Specified person required to submit SFT |
| 1 | Cash payment purchase of bank drafts or pay orders or banker’s cheque
Cash payments for purchase of pre-paid instruments issued by Reserve Bank of India
Cash deposits in one or more current account of a person
Cash withdrawals from one or more current account of a person |
Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a FY
Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more during the FY
Aggregating to Rs 50 lakh or more in a FY
Aggregating to Rs 50 lakh or more in a FY |
A banking company or Co-operative bank to which Banking Regulation applies |
| 2 | Cash deposits in one or more accounts other than a current account and time deposit of a person | Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a FY | A banking company or Co-operative bank to which Banking Regulation applies Post-Master General of post office |
| 3 | One or more time deposits (other than renewed time deposit of another time deposit) of a person | Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a FY | A banking company or Co-operative bank to which Banking Regulation applies Post-Master General of post office Nidhi Company as per Section 406 of the Companies Act, 2013 NBFC – Non banking financial company holding certificate of registration under RBI Act to hold or accept deposit from public |
| 4 | Credit card payments made by any person either in cash or by any other mode in a FY. | Aggregating to Rs 1 lakh or more in cash or Rs 10 lakh or more by any other mode in a FY | A banking company or Co-operative bank to which Banking Regulation applies or
any other company or institution issuing credit card |
| 5 | Receipt from any person for acquiring bonds or debentures issued by the company or institution (other than renewal) | Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a FY | A company or institution issuing bonds or debentures |
| 6 | Receipt from any person for acquiring shares (including share application money) issued by the company | Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a FY | A company issuing shares |
| 7 | Buyback of shares from any person (other than the shares bought in the open market) | Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a FY | Listed company purchasing its own securities under section 68 of the Companies Act, 2013 |
| 8 | Receipt from any person for acquiring units of one or more schemes of a Mutual Fund (other than transfer from one scheme to another) | Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a FY | A trustee of a Mutual Fund or any such other person authorised to manage the affairs of the Mutual Fund |
| 9 | Receipt from any person for sale of foreign currency including any credit of such currency to foreign exchange card or expense in such currency through a debit or credit card or through issue of travellers cheque or draft or any other instrument | Aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more during a FY | Authorised person as referred to in Section 2(c) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 |
| 10 | Purchase or sale of immovable property | Transaction value or valuation of stamp duty authority referred in Section 50C for an amount of Rs 30 lakhs or more. | Inspector-General appointed under section 3 of the Registration Act, 1908 or Registrar or Sub-Registrar appointed under section 6 of that Act. |
| 11 | Cash receipt for sale, by any person, of goods or services of any nature (other than those specified at Sl. Nos. 1 to 10) | Exceeding Rs 2 lakh | Any person who is liable for audit under section 44AB of the Act |
| 12 | Cash deposits during the period 09th November, 2016 to 30th December, 2016 | Aggregating to Rs 12,50,000 or more in one or more current account of a person or Rs 2,50,000 or more in one or more account (other than current account) of a person | A banking company or Co-operative bank to which Banking Regulation applies Post Master General of post office |
| 13 | Cash deposits during the period 1st of April, 2016 to 9th November, 2016 in respect of accounts that are reportable under Sl.No.12. | A banking company or Co-operative bank to which Banking Regulation applies Post Master General of post office |
For reckoning the limit of for specified financial transaction (except for S No 10 and 11) aggregation is required to see if the prescribed threshold limit is being crossed or not. While aggregating the amount, all the accounts of the same nature as specified in column (2) of the above Table maintained in respect of that person during the FY shall be taken into account. In a case where the account is maintained or transaction is recorded in the name of more than one person like joint account, attribute the entire value of the transaction or the aggregated value of all the transactions to all the persons shall be considered.
SFT is required to be submitted either in Form 61A (other reporting entities) or Form 61B (prescribed reporting financial institution). It has to be submitted electronically, under digital signature certificate to the Director of Income-tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) or the Joint Director of Income-tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation). A Post Master General or a Registrar or an Inspector General may furnish SFT in a computer readable media being a Compact Disc or Digital Video Disc (DVD), along with the verification in Form-V on paper.
How to file SFT:
Here is a 8 step mode of filing the SFT:
- If already registered on e-filing portal, log in and go to My Account>Manage ITDREIN (Income Tax Department Reporting Entity Identification Number) & then Click on ‘Generate New ITDREIN’
- Select form type and Reporting entity category and click on ‘Generate ITDREIN’.
- Based on this selection, appropriate ITDREIN will be generated and confirmation email and SMS will be sent to registered email id and mobile number respectively.
- ITDREIN generated will now appear under My Account>Manage ITDREIN.
- Go to e-file>Upload Form ‘X’ (appropriate Form No appears based on the selection made during registration).
- Verify/enter PAN, Form Name, FY, Reporting entity category, Half year, upload type i.e., whether original/correction form /Nil statement. On successful validation of above details, upload the file along with digital signature certificate.
- Success message will be displayed on the screen on successful uploading and confirmation email and SMS will be sent to registered email id and mobile number respectively.
- Uploaded file may be either ‘accepted’ or ‘rejected’. In case of rejection, reason for rejection would be mentioned and correction form shall be submitted through above procedure
Due date of furnishing SFT
SFT in Form 61A shall be submitted on or before 31 May of the FY, immediately following the FY in which the transaction is recorded or registered.
It may be noted that the due date for FY 2019-20 originally was 31st May 2020 which was extended to 31st July by date extension ordinance issue in March 2020. By amendment therafter, it is now extended to 31.03.2021. Now the due date for filing SFT for the FY 2019-20 is 31st March 2021.
Penal Consequences for non filing of SFT
- Non-furnishing of SFT within due date, the prescribed income-tax authority may serve notice upon such person requiring him to furnish SFT within a period not exceeding 30 days from the date of service of such notice and he shall furnish the statement within the time specified in the notice.
- If reporting person does not furnish the SFT within original due date, penalty of Rs. 500 per day of default. If no report is furnished even within the extended due date specified in the notice served upon the person, penalty of Rs 1000 per day will be levied from the day immediately following the day on which the specified time in the notice expires.
In short, penalty @ Rs 500 per day from the expiry of original due date till due date mentioned in the notice and Rs 1,000 per day beyond the due date specified in the notice.
Erroneous or False submission of information in SFT
- If any person who has furnished SFT, comes to know or discovers any inaccuracy in the information provided in the statement, he shall inform the inaccuracy in such statement and furnish the correct information to the income-tax authority or specified authority or agency within 10 days.
- It may be noted that Penalty of Rs 50,000 will be levied on prescribed reporting financial institution if it provides inaccurate information in the statement where:
- inaccuracy is due to a failure to comply with the prescribed due diligence requirement or is deliberate on the part of that person; or
- the person knows of the inaccuracy at the time of furnishing the statement of financial transaction or reportable account, but does not inform the prescribed income-tax authority or such other authority or agency; or
- the person discovers the inaccuracy after the statement of financial transaction or reportable account is furnished and fails to inform and furnish correct information within 10 days as mentioned above
