Rules changing from January 1: Everything you need to know in detail

As some rules are changing from January 1, 2021, it is necessary to know about them in detail.

any rules from cheque payment, LPG Cylinder prices, GST to UPI transaction payment are changing from January 1, 2021. As these rules are linked to everyone’s day to day life, therefore you need to know about these rules.

1. CHEQUE PAYMENTS

To keep a check on banking frauds, the Reserve Bank of India decided to introduce the ”positive pay system” for cheque payments. In this system, there may be a requirement of re-confirmation of the key details for the payments above Rs 50,000. This rule of a positive pay system will come into effect from January 1, 2021. The positive pay system facility can be availed by the account holders of their choice. Banks may think about making it necessary for cheques with amounts of Rs 5 lakh and higher.

2. CONTACTLESS CARD TRANSACTIONS LIMIT

From January 1, the RBI has said to increase the limits from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 for contactless card transactions and e-mandates for regularly occurring transactions through cards and UPI. The move by RBI is to enhance digital payment. This will ensure a safe and secure manner, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that this will depend on the mandate and discretion of customers.

3. CAR PRICES

‘Maruti Suzuki’ India and ‘Mahindra and Mahindra’ will increase vehicle prices from January 1 to cope up with the impact of increasing input costs.

4. WHATSAPP TO STOP WORKING ON SELECT PHONES

Famous messaging service WhatsApp is going to withdraw support from some platforms from January 1. WhatsApp page has mentioned the operating systems that it provides support for and recommends using these devices: Android running OS 4.0.3 and newer; iPhone running iOS 9 and newer; and select phones running KaiOS 2.5.1 newer, including JioPhone and JioPhone 2.

5. LANDLINE TO MOBILE PHONE CALLS

You will be required to prefix ‘0’ for making calls from landlines to mobile phones in the country. The telecom department has asked telcos to work on the required infrastructure by January 1 in order to implement the new system effectively. This move will create enough numbering space for telecom services.

6. FASTAG FOR ALL FOUR-WHEELERS

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has made FASTag mandatory for all four-wheel vehicles from January 1, 2021, through a notification. FASTag will be mandatory for M and N class four-wheelers sold before December 1, 2017. The Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 were also amended for the same. The notification regarding this was issued on November 6, 2020.

7. UPI PAYMENT

From January 1, 2021, the users may need to pay additional charges while making transactions from Amazon Pay, Google Pay, and Phone Pay. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will impose an additional charge on UPI Payment Service (UPI Payment) run by a third-party app beginning from January 1. NPCI has applied a 30 percent cap on third-party apps starting the new year. Paytm will also need to pay this charge.

8. GOOGLE PAY WEB APP

Google Pay is all set to kill the user to user payments facility on its web app and add a fee for instant money transfers in January. Till now, the customers were able to manage payments and send money over the mobile app or from pay.google.com. According to the recent notification of Google, the web app site will no longer work from January 2021.

9. LPG PRICES

On the first day of every month, the oil marketing companies revise the prices of LPG on the basis of crude rates in the global markets.

10. GST-REGISTERED SMALL BUSINESS

The businesses with a turnover of up to Rs 5 crores will require to file only 4 GST sales returns, or GSTR-3B, instead of 12 ( now) from January, as per PTI. This change would impact about 94 lakh taxpayers, i.e. about 92 percent of the entire GST tax base. Now, small taxpayers would be filing only eight returns (four GSTR-3B and four GSTR-1 returns) yearly.