Review: Indian Air Force A Cut Above lets you become a virtual IAF fighter

Overall, the Indian Air Force: A Cut Above seems to be a joyful game to experience the different roles of an IAF personnel.

Indian Air Force on July 31 launched the ‘Indian Air Force: A Cut Above’ mobile game commemorating platinum jubilee of its dedicated service to the nation. Available for both iOS and Android mobile phone platforms, the game allows the user to experience roles of an IAF warrior through a game play that looks realistic. Let’s take a look at the game’s first impressions:

The Indian Air Force: A Cut Above is not graphic intensive. It has a moderate size of around 300MB (Android), which makes it compatible with most smartphones, entry-level or flagships.

Currently, the game supports single player missions, and its full version with multiplayer support is expected to be released sometime in October.

Abhinandan written on it. Therefore, it seems the game is a tribute to Abhinandan Varthaman, a wing commander with Indian Air Force, who had shot to fame when footage of his captivity in Pakistan had emerged, showing him displaying a brave front, after his MiG-21 was shot down in a dogfight post the Balakot airstrike by the IAF.

Speaking of the in-game action, the Indian Air Force: A Cut Above starts with a training session in which you are trained to fly the fighter jet, manoeuvre it, identify target areas, fire ballistics on static and moving targets, and land the aircraft safely. Once the training is complete, you get to play the missions. The game has ten missions and each mission has different objectives. Interestingly, not all mission involves fighting the enemy; some missions are based on IAF’s humanitarian and disaster relief tasks to aid civil authorities.

Overall, the Indian Air Force: A Cut Above seems to be a fun game to experience the different roles of an IAF personnel. While the game’s missions have different objectives, the narrative of each mission provides enough adrenaline to keep you engaged. The game will get more engaging when it starts supporting multi players.

Business Standard

New direct tax code panel report to overhaul I-T Act delayed by 15 days

This is the second extension for the taskforce under the CBDT member Akhilesh Ranjan.

The much-anticipated report on the new direct tax code (DTC) to overhaul and simplify the 58-year-old Income Tax Act has been pushed back by a fortnight. The taskforce, set to submit the report on July 31, was handed a 15-day extension at the last minute to incorporate views of the new members, said the official statement.

“The government has allowed the task force to submit its report by August 16, in light of the fact that the new members… requested for more time to provide further inputs,” the government said in a release.

The government had last month expanded the scope of the taskforce to look into five more areas and nominated two new members — Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian and Joint Secretary (Revenue) Ritvik Pandey.

“The report was all set to be submitted today (Wednesday), but CEA Subramanian wanted to give additional inputs, hence the deadline was extended,” said a government official.

The new terms of reference included faceless and anonymised scrutiny, mechanism for system-based cross verification of the financial transactions, reduction in litigation and expeditious disposal of appeals.

This is the second extension for the taskforce under the Central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT) member Akhilesh Ranjan. Earlier, the committee was supposed to submit its report by May 31, but then finance minister Arun Jaitley gave a two-month extension to complete the exercise.

In fact, the earlier report led by former CBDT member Arbind Modi with same terms of reference was not accepted by then finance minister in September last year, on the grounds that all members could not arrive at a consensus.

The proposed DTC is aimed at reforming complex income tax laws into simpler tax codes with reduced rates, fewer exemptions and tax slabs. Once the draft report is ready, it will be put up for public suggestions to address the concerns of all stakeholders.

Business Standard

Here's how the new Form 16 will change income tax return filing this year

Under the new format, Part B has been amended to provide more details about the allowances exempt under section 10 and deductions allowed under Chapter VI-A of the Act i.e. section 80C to 80U.

Business Standard : Form 16 is issued annually, by an employer to an employee as a proof of salary paid and taxes deducted on it. It has two parts i.e., Part A and Part B as discussed below.

Tax returns of the salaried taxpayers for FY 2018-19 (AY 2019-20) can be filed in form ITR-1 or ITR-2. The details of income from salary, allowances exempt, deductions claimed, are in Part B of Form 16, while Part A contains the employer, employee and employment details such as PAN, address etc.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified certain changes in Form 16. The new Form 16 is made effective from 12 May, 2019. Employers issuing Form 16 for the financial year 2018-19 will have to issue them in the new format.

1) Details under the new Form 16:

Under the new format of Form 16, Part B has been amended to provide more details about the allowances exempt under section 10 such as house rent allowance, leave travel allowance etc., and deductions allowed under Chapter VI-A of the Act i.e. section 80C to 80U.

2) Impact on ITR filing

2a) ITR-1

ITR-1 form can be filed by a resident individual taxpayer having total income up to Rs 50 lakh. Such individuals can report income from salary, one house property, income from other sources and agricultural income up to Rs 5,000 in the ITR-1 form.

The ITR-1 form requires broad details of the components of income from salary i.e., salary, perquisites and profits in lieu of salary. However, the form requires complete details of allowances exempt under section 10. Therefore breakup of exemption under each allowance such as HRA, LTA, gratuity etc must be separately reported. Each of the deductions under chapter VI-A must also be separately reported. After the notification of the new Form 16, these details would be available from the new Form 16 issued to an employee and thus facilitate the filing of the ITR. If you use an online platform to file your ITR, these details can be automatically populated to your ITR, minimising your effort and helping you e-file accurately.

2b) ITR-2

The form ITR-2 applies to taxpayers who are individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) who do not have income from business or profession. Also, taxpayers who have total income exceeding Rs 50 lakh and are not eligible to file ITR-1 can file ITR-2.

Over 210.8 million PAN cards linked with Aadhaar till now, reveals data

That judgement came on Wednesday and the court has upheld the linking of the two databases.

Over 210.8 million permanent account numbers (PANs) have been linked with Aadhaar till now, the latest data revealed as the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the linkage between the two databases Wednesday.

According to official figures accessed by PTI, a total of 21,08,16,676 PANs issued by the Income Tax Department have been linked with Aadhaar till Monday.

The total operational or issued PANs are over 410.2 million (41,02,66,969) according to the same timeline, the data said.

"The deadline for the PAN-Aadhaar linking has already been extended by the CBDT to March 31 next year, according to an order issued on June 30 this year," a senior official said.

According to the latest data, out of the over 410.2 million PANs issued, an overwhelming number of more than 400 million PANs are held by individuals.

ALSO READ: SC declares Aadhaar constitutionally valid, strikes down some provisions

The rest are in the name of companies and other categories of taxpayers, the official said, adding the figure reflects that about 50 per cent of the PANs have been linked with Aadhaar till now.

The deadline to link the two databases has been extended five times in the past in view of the apex court order to keep it open till a five-judge constitution bench delivers its judgment on petitions challenging the validity of the biometric scheme and the enabling law.

That judgement came on Wednesday and the court has upheld the linking of the two databases.

The government, sometime back, had made quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns (ITRs) as well as obtaining a new PAN.

Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.

While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the IT Department to a person, firm or entity.

Business Standard