As per press release dated 24th of October 2020 the government has been receiving several representations from stakeholders about considering the need to extend the due date for all Income Tax Returns for the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) including Tax Audit cases on the ground that on account of the COVID19 pandemic related lockdown and restrictions, the usual, ordinary operation of businesses still has not possible in many parts of the country, it had been requested that the due dates for the same be extended further to enable the stakeholders and auditors to comply in this regards.
In view of the above 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.
On 24 June 2020, the Government released a notification under the Ordinance, which extended the due date for all income tax returns for the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) to 30 November 2020, ibid.
The income returns required to be filed by 31 July 2020 and 31 October 2020 is therefore required to be filed by 30 November 2020. Consequently, under the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act), the date for the provision of various audit reports, including the tax audit report, has also been extended to 31 October 2020.
In order to give taxpayers more time to furnish ITR, it was decided that the due date for furnishing income tax returns should be extended further, as follows:
The due date for furnishing of ITR has been extended to 31 January 2021 for taxpayers (including their partners) who are required to have their accounts audited [for whom the due date (i.e. prior to the extension of that notification) under the Act is 31 October 2020].
The due date for furnishing ITR has been extended to 31 January 2021 for taxpayers who are expected to furnish a report on international/specified domestic transactions [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension of that notification) under the Act is 30 November 2020].
The due date for the furnishing of ITR to other taxpayers [for whom the due date (i.e. before the extension of that notification) was 31 July 2020 pursuant to the Act] has been extended to 31 December 2020.
As a consequence, the date for the furnishing of different audit reports under the Act, including the tax audit report and the international/specified domestic transaction report, has also been extended to 31 December 2020.
In addition, with a view to providing relief to small and middle-class taxpayers, the notification of 24 June 2020 also extended the due date for payment of self-assessment tax to taxpayers whose tax liability for self-assessment is up to INR 1,00,000. Accordingly, for taxpayers who are not expected to have their accounts audited, the due date for payment of the self-assessment tax was extended from 31 July 2020 to 30 November 2020 and, for auditable situations, the due date was extended from 31 October 2020 to 30 November 2020. In order to facilitate small and middle-class taxpayers to pay the self-assessment tax for the second time, the due date for payment of the self-assessment tax is hereby extended again. The due date for payment of self-assessment tax has therefore been extended to 31 January 2021 for taxpayers referred to in paragraph 3(A) and paragraph 3(B) and to 31 December 2020 for taxpayers referred to in paragraph 3(C) for taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to INR 1,00,000. The necessary notification in this regard shall be issued in due course
Source - (Twitter, GST INSIGHTS)
Comments