The taxpayers have heaved a sigh of relief after the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extended the due date of furnishing Income Tax Returns and Audit Reports to January 31, 2021.
The central government brought the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 on March 31, 2020 extending various time limits in view of the challenges faced by taxpayers due to COVID19 pandemic.
The Ordinance has now been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.
The central government on June 24, 2020 issued a notification under the Ordinance extending the due date for all Income Tax Returns for the financial year 2019-20 to November 30, 2020.
As per that notification, the Income Tax returns, which were required to be filed by July 31, 2020 and October 31, 2020, were required to be filed by November 30, 2020.
Also read: COVID-19 impact: Income tax returns submission date extended till Nov 30
The date for furnishing various audit reports including tax audit reports under the Income Tax Act, 1961 was also extended to October 31, 2020.
According to a media report, to provide more time to the taxpayers, the Centre has decided to further extend the due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns as under:
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 October 31, 2020] has been extended to January 31, 2021.
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 November 30, 2020] has been extended to January 31, 2021.
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 July 31, 2020] has been extended to December 31, 2020.
The date for furnishing 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.
Besides, to give relief to the small and middle class taxpayers, the due date as per the notification issued on June 24, 2020 has also been extended for payment of self-assessment tax for the taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs. 1 lakh.
The due date for the payment of self-assessment tax for the taxpayers, who are not required to get their accounts audited, which was extended from July 31, 2020 to November 30, 2020 and for the auditable cases, the due date was extended from October 31, 2020 to November 30, 2020.
To give 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 has again been extended.
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 January 31, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(A) and para 3(B) and to December 31, 2020 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(C).