Income Tax Returns and Audit Reports Due date extended n view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory
Extension of due date of furnishing of Income Tax Returns and Audit Reports
In view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and
regulatory compliances due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Government brought
the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020
(‘the Ordinance’) on 31st March, 2020 which, inter alia, extended various time
limits. The Ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws
(Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.
The Government issued a Notification on 24thJune, 2020 under the Ordinance
which, inter alia, extended the due date for all Income Tax Returns for
the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) to 30th November, 2020. Hence, the returns of
income which were required to be filed by 31st July, 2020 and 31st October,
2020 are required to be filed by 30th November, 2020. Consequently, the date
for furnishing various audit reports including tax audit report under the
Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) has also been extended to 31st October, 2020.
In order to provide more time to taxpayers for furnishing of Income Tax
Returns, it has been decided to further extend the due date for furnishing of
Income-Tax Returns as under:
(A) The due date for furnishing of Income Tax
Returns for the taxpayers (including their partners) who are required to get
their accounts audited [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by
the said notification) as per the Act is 31st October, 2020] has been extended
to 31st January, 2021.
(B) The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the
taxpayers who are required to furnish report in respect of
international/specified domestic transactions [for whom the due date (i.e.
before the extension by the said notification) as per the Act is 30th
November, 2020] has been extended to 31st January, 2021.
(C) The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for
the other taxpayers [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension by the
said notification) as per the Act was 31st July, 2020] has been extended to
31st December, 2020.
Consequently, the date for furnishing of various audit reports under the Act
including tax audit report and report in respect of international/specified
domestic transaction has also been extended to 31st December, 2020.
Further, in order to provide relief to small and middle class taxpayers, the
said notification dated 24th June, 2020 had also extended the due date for
payment of self-assessment tax for the taxpayers whose self-assessment tax
liability is up to Rs. 1 lakh. Accordingly, the due date for payment of
self-assessment tax for the taxpayers who are not required to get their
accounts audited was extended from 31st July, 2020 to 30th November, 2020 and
for the auditable cases, this due date was extended from 31st October, 2020 to
30th November, 2020.
In order to provide relief for the second time to small and middle class
taxpayers in the matter of payment of self-assessment tax, the due date for
payment of self-assessment tax date is hereby again being extended.
Accordingly, the due date for payment of self-assessment tax for taxpayers
whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs. 1 lakh has been extended to
31st January, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(A) and para 3(B) and
to 31st December, 2020 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(C).
The necessary notification in this regard shall be issued in due course.
COMMENTS