Dismissing social media rumours that the amendment to Section 43B (h) of income tax has been deferred by one more year, Income Tax department and Central Government’s Press Information Bureau on Tuesday have informed the general public that a whatsapp message in this context is fake.

Notably a message has become viral on social media which is titled as “Relief to Traders, 43B (h) of income tax act for MSME payment within 45 days extended for one year. Thanks FM for her support” . This message also carries picture of Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman with a business delegation and also claims “Meeting done successfully, on year extended for MSME”

According to official statement released by Press Information Bureau on twitter regarding this social media forward says “A viral message on social media claims that changes have been made in the provisions of Section 43B(h) regarding payments made to MSME by @FinMinIndia. This claim is fake, the provision as brought in by the Finance Act 2023 has not been changed in any manner”Income tax India too has reposted this tweet of Press Information Bureau on its official handle and cautioned the stakeholders against this fake message.

Meanwhile several prominent businessmen from MSME sector have already raised their doubts on the authenticity of this message which is doing rounds on social media since Monday. Businessmen however are demanding that the section 43B (h) should also cover payments due from large scale companies.

President of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) Upkar SIngh Ahuja had already raised suspicion on the authenticity of this message and he had already supervised a meeting on the issue of section 43B (h) in which representatives of all prominent business associations participated.

Meanwhile speaking on the issue, Amarjit Singh Dimple, president of Ludhiana Sewing Machine Industries Association said, “Section 43B (h) is a welcome step as it safeguards payments of and from the MSME industry but we are concerned about large enterprises, corporates not being covered under its purview. There is huge percentage of small scale factories which supply their products to OEMs or large enterprises and they are paid back their own hard earned money after 60 days or sometimes even beyond. So it is need of the hour that this law should be binding on all type of enterprises regardless of their classification. Besides this we also request the government to allow sometime to comply to this”

Section 43B h Amendment MSME Ministry Of Finance Press Information Bureau Deferred Payments