What is Form 61A?
It is a record of specified financial transactions furnished by the tax payer under Income tax act, 1961. It is a new concept started by the income tax authorities in order to analyze and check the high value transactions done by Taxpayers.
Who are eligible to furnish Form 61A?
Following persons are eligible to furnish form 61A (Statement of specified financial transactions) –
- An individual
- Person who belongs to government office
- Local authority/other public body/association
- Any registrar or sub-registrar appointed under section 6 of the Registration Act, 1908
- Registration authority involved in authorizing of motor vehicles under chapter IV of the Motor Vehicles act, 1988.
- Reserve bank officer of India constituted under section 3 of the Reserve Bank of India act.
- The post master general specified in clause (I) of section 2 of the Indian Post Office act, 1898.
- The collector as specified in clause (g) of section 3 of the Right to Fair Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement act, 2013.
- The recognized stock exchange as specified in clause (f) of section 2 of the Securities Contracts (regulation) act, 1956
- A depository as specified in Clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Depositories act, 1996.
- A prescribed reporting financial institution.
Types of Specified Financial Transactions
Specified financial transactions are of following types –
- Any purchase, sale or exchange of goods, property or interest in property.
- Delivering of services
- Works contract
- Any investment or expenditure
- Any acceptance of deposit or obtaining loan.
Transactions to be reported in Form 61A
| Individuals responsible for furnishing form 61A | Transaction type & limit |
| Banking companies & co-operative banks | Deposits or withdrawals transactions of 50 Lakhs or more by a current account holder |
| Banking companies & co-operative banks | Cash payments made for purchase orders(PO)/Demand drafts(DD) for total amount of Rs.10 Lakhs or more in a financial year |
| Banking companies & co-operative banks | Cash payments made for purchase of any prepaid RBI instrument of more than Rs.10 Lakhs in a financial year such as RBI bonds |
| Banking companies, co-operative banks & post offices | Any deposit of Rs.1 Lakh or more in one or more accounts of any account holder |
| Banking company, co-operative banks, post master general of post office, Nidhi company | Aggregate cash payment of Rs.1 Lakh or more in a financial year or Rs.10 lakh or more against a credit card bill issued to a customer in a financial year |
| A company issuing shares | Money of Rs.10 Lakh received by an individual from acquired share application in a financial year. |
| A company or an institution issuing debentures or bonds | Money of Rs.10 Lakh received by an individual from acquired debentures/bonds in a financial year |
| Listed companies | Buying back of shares from an individual for the total amount of Rs.10 Lakhs or more |
| Manager/Trustee of a mutual fund | Money of Rs.10 Lakh or more received by an individual from acquired units of mutual funds in a financial year |
| Foreign exchange dealers | Money received from sale of foreign currency or expenses incurred in that particular foreign currency via debit card or credit card or via demand draft or travelers cheque or any other financial instrument for the amount totaling to Rs.10 Lakh or more in a financial year. |
| Inspector-General/Sub-registrar appointed under the registration act, 1908 | Sale/purchase of an immovable property done by an individual amounting to Rs.30 Lakh or more or valued by stamp valuation authority at Rs.30 Lakhs or more |
| Persons liable for audit u/s 44AB of the income tax act | Cash received by an individual on transaction of more than Rs.2 Lakh by selling goods or rendering services. |
Note – CBDT recommends different values in relation to different transactions for different persons by taking into consideration the nature of transactions. Make sure that the aggregate value of transactions must be more than Rs. 50000 in a particular financial year.
Income Tax Form 61A Format
You can download Form 61A by visiting below link –
Due date for filing Form 61A
It is mandatory to file form 61A to the tax authorities before 31st May every financial year. In case you fail to submit the same before the deadline, tax authority issues notice to such taxpayers to submit the form within 30 days from the notice issuance date. If the taxpayer fails to answer the notice sent by tax authorities, taxpayer needs to pay an amount of Rs. 500 per day as penalty to the tax authorities. The penalty amount will be calculated from the expiry of the last date of submission mentioned in the notice.
Filing inaccurate or defective Form 61A
The Form 61A furnished by the taxpayers to the tax authority should be correct. In case it is found incorrect by the tax authority, tax authority notifies the taxpayer and demands necessary rectifications in Form 61A within 30 days from the date of notice issuance. Failing to do rectification within 30 days will make your statement void.
