There are going to be some changes in the economic sector from the new year i.e. January 1, 2024. To avoid such losses, complete some tasks by the end of this month, including nomination of demat and mutual funds and fill ITR before 31st December. At the same time, it will be mandatory for the companies to restart the closed UPID and sign a new agreement for the bank locker.
1. Penalty for non-filing of ITR: The last date for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) with penalty for the financial year 2022-23 is December 31, 2023. Under Section 234F of the Income Tax Act, action will be taken against a person who does not file his return before the due date. Those who file ITR late will be fined Rs 5,000. However, taxpayers whose total income is less than Rs 5 lakh will have to pay a penalty of only Rs 1,000.
2. Mandatory to sign the bank locker contract: According to RBI, the deadline for signing the revised bank locker agreement has been extended to December 31, 2023. If a bank customer fails to do so, their locker will be frozen. RBI has mandated phased renewal process for bank locker contracts with the last date being December 31, 2023. Account holders who had submitted the bank locker contract on or before December 31, 2022, will have to sign a revised contract and submit it to their respective bank branch.
3. KYC is necessary when purchasing a new SIM: There is going to be a change in the rules for purchasing a new SIM card from January 1, 2024. According to the Department of Telecommunications, customers will now have to submit KYC when purchasing new SIM cards. That means the paper based Know-Your-Customer (KYC) process will start. At the same time, only telecom companies will do e-KYC. However, the rest of the rules for taking new mobile connections will remain the same. No changes of any kind have been made in it. Till 31st December, SIM cards will be available only through documents.
4. Mandatory to add nominee: SEBI has made it mandatory for all demat account holders to add nominee by January 1, 2024. If account holders fail to do so, they will not be able to transact in shares. The deadline to do so was earlier September 30, which was extended by three months. Further, SEBI has given time till December 31 to submit specimen signatures for PAN, nomination, contact details, bank account details and their respective folio numbers by being physically present.
5. Inactive UPI IDs will be deactivated: National Payments Corporation of India has asked payment apps (Google-Pay, Paytm, Phone Pay) etc. to deactivate those UPI IDs and numbers which are more than a year. Not active from time to time. According to the new guidelines, Third Party App Providers (TPAPs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) will have to comply by December 31.
