New Delhi, December 26: A slew of changes will come into effect in banking services across the country from January 1, 2019. Besides, a hefty fine will be imposed on those who fail to file their income tax returns (ITR) before December 31, 2018. As the new year approaches, older magnetic stripe-only debit (ATM) and credit cards and cheque books are needed to be replaced with upgraded ones. Scroll down to know the mandated changes for ATM and credit cards, chequebooks and ITR filings.

Get upgraded debit and credit card: Bank customers who have older magnetic stripe-only debit and credit cards will have to replace them with the new EMV chip-based ones. The older debit and credit cards will become useless after December 31. In order to prevent cloning of magnetic stripe-only debit and credit cards, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mandated banks to replace them with the new EMV chip-based ones. The chip-based cards are also called PIN (Personal Identification Number) cards. New Rules for SBI Customers: These Banking Services Make Take a Hit From December 2018.

Banks are responsible for the replacement of magnetic stripe-only debit and credit cards with the new EMV chip-based ones. Customers will not have to spend a penny on this.

Get CTS Compliant Cheques Books: Bank customers will have to get their non-CTS compliant cheques replaced as these instruments will not be accepted for clearance in the banking system from January 1, 2019. Non-CTS compliant cheques shall not be processed for clearing after December 31.

The Cheque Truncation System (CTS) is a process of stopping flow of physical cheque in which an electronic image of the instrument is presented when it comes for clearing. This system eliminates the cost of movement of physical cheques and reduces the time for clearance for better delivery of services to customers. As per RBI, banks are advised to issue only CTS-2010 standard cheques to their customers.

File ITR Before December 31: A section of taxpayers will have to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 if they fail to file their income tax returns before December 31, 2018. As per the new law, a penalty of Rs 5,000 will be levied if the return is filed after the due date, which was August 31. If a taxpayer files the ITR after December 31, 2018, a fine of Rs 10,000 will be imposed on him/her.

Therefore, you will have to pay a penalty of Rs 5,000 if you file the return before December 31, 2018. Delaying it further would cost you around Rs 10,000. However, if your income is not more than Rs 5 lakh, the maximum penalty levied will be Rs 1,000.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 26, 2018 01:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).