January 1 not only marks the beginning of the new year 2020 but is also a reminder of several new rules in the financial world that came into force from today. The new rules affect anyone with a debit card, PAN card and even those who are trying to withdraw cash from ATMs or make online transfers.
Debit and ATM cards:
All old debit and ATM cards with a magstripe or magnetic stripe will cease to work from January 1. You can get it replaced with a new EMV chip debit card from your bank free of cost. According to guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all banks have been asked to convert old debit cards into the new EMV-based cards.
NEFT charges waived off:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made NEFT online transfers a 24×7 process with effect from December 16. And now from January 1, banks have been instructed to waive off online NEFT charges for savings bank account holders. Several banks had made NEFT free already earlier. NEFT transfers made at bank branches will continue to be chargeable as before.
RuPay, UPI charges:
Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges will not be applicable on transactions through homegrown RuPay and UPI platforms from 2020. All companies having turnover of Rs 50 crore or more will be mandated to provide the facility of payment through RuPay Debit card and UPI QR code to their customers.
SBI ATM withdrawals:
If you have a State Bank of India (SBI) ATM card you might require an OTP (one-time-password) to withdraw cash. With effect from January 1, SBI has introduced OTP-based ATM withdrawal for transactions above Rs 10,000 between 8 pm to 8 am. However, if you are withdrawing cash from a non-SBI ATM then OTP will not be required. If you had missed the August 31 deadline to file an income tax return (ITR) you can do so by the end of this financial year. However, for all belated ITRs filed from January 1, a penalty of Rs 10,000 will be imposed.
PAN card:
If your PAN card is not yet linked to Aadhaar, then it will not be declared inoperative or not in use from January 1 as the income tax department has extended the 31 December deadline to 31 March.
