New Delhi, March 24: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced a slew of measures taken by the Finance Ministry to combat the economic loss due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country. Among the major announcements, Sitharaman eased the interests and penalty charges for debit card holders, stating that they can withdraw from any bank ATM can do it free of charge for three months.

Apart from this, the Finance Minister extended the last date of filing income tax return for financial year 2018-19 to June 30, 2020. Also, she reduced the interest rate on delayed payment has been cut to 9 percent from 12 percent. Nirmala Sitharaman Makes Important Announcements on Income Tax Return Filing Deadlines, GST And More Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Here are the top 10 announcement by FM Sitharaman:

1) Last date for filing income tax return for financial year 2018-19extended to June 30, 2020. Also, interest rate on delayed payment decreased to 9 percent from 12 percent.

2) Deadline for linkng Aadhaar with PAN extended from March 31 to June 30, 2020.

3) Vivad Se Vishwas scheme -- Tax dispute resolution scheme -- extended by three months to June 30, 2020. Availers of the scheme will not have to pay 10% interest on principal.

4) Deadline for filing GST Returns for March, April, May extended to June 30, 2020. The government would not levy any interest or penalty or interest on late fee for filing delayed returns for companies with turnover up to Rs 5 crore.

5) The moratorium being issued for Ministry of Corporate Affairs has been extended till September 30, 2020 and no additional fees for late filing will be charged.

6) The government has relaxed mandatory requirement for companies to hold board meetings for next two quarters (for 2019-20) and said it will not be considered a violation.

7) The Ministry raised threshold for default under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to Rs 1 crore, which was earlier Rs 1 lakh.

8) The Government announced that debit card holders withdrawing cash from any bank ATM can do it free of charge for three months and no charges would be levied on zero balance for next three months.

9) Regarding stock market instability, the Finance Minister said the government is working closely with Reserve Bank and SEBI. Sitharaman also said that the government is monitoring the situation very closely.

10) Meanwhile, Sitharaman claimed that the government would soon announce the economic package and Sebi has come up with few guidelines to address volatility in stock market due to COVID-19 spread.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 24, 2020 04:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).