Government of India has announced the extension of the deadline for filing income tax returns (ITR) for the Assessment Year 2020-21/Financial year 2019-20 to December 31, 2020.
In this Covid-19 pandemic period, the taxpayers were facing challenges in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances, so, the Government on March 31, 2020, brought the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (the Ordinance) which provided the extension of various compliances time limits. Now the earlier issued Ordinance got replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.
Earlier on June 24, 2020, the Government has issued a notification under the Ordinance which extended the due date for all Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) to November 30, 2020. So, the due dates of filing ITRs that was July 31, 2020, and October 31, 2020, got extended to November 30, 2020.
The Government has further extended the due date for filing of the ITRs for FY20 (AY 2020-21) to December 31, 2020, and January 31, 2021, to provide more time to taxpayers.
Firstly, for the taxpayers who need to get their accounts audited the deadline for furnishing of Income Tax Returns is now extended to January 31, 2021, from October 31, 2020, as per the Act.
Secondly, for the taxpayers who are required to furnish reports on specific domestic or international transactions, the due date for filing the Income Tax Returns is now extended from November 30, 2020, to January 31, 2021.
And lastly, for the rest of the taxpayers, the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns has been extended from July 31, 2020, to December 31, 2020.
The Government has said in its statement, “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 December 31, 2020.”
“Further, in order to provide relief to small and middle-class taxpayers…the due date for payment of self-assessment tax for the taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs.1 lakh had been extended to November 30, 2020,” the Government has said in a statement, adding that these deadlines got extended again “to provide relief for the second time to small and middle-class taxpayers.”
The due date for payment of self-assessment tax for these taxpayers has now been extended to January 31, 2021, for those who need to furnish audited accounts or report specified transactions. For the rest, the deadline has been extended to December 31, 2020.
With Warm Regards,
CL Bureau.
