NEW DELHI: The Central government is planning to extend the deadline for filling personal income tax returns from July 31 to September 30, keeping in view the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The last date for Advance Tax was March 31, which has already been extended till June 30. Now, the CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) is considering extending the date for filling of personal income tax from the conventional July 31 to September 30 this year,” a senior official from CBDT told TNIE.
The official added that this was because of the lockdown and the extension of the last date for depositing money in PPF and other tax saving instruments, helping people get enough time to file tax returns.
Earlier, the government had extended various stipulated deadlines under the Income-tax Act, 1961 vide Taxation and Other Laws, in an effort to provide relief to taxpayers affected by the pandemic and its consequences. The official also added that the CBDT will also come up with the revised Income Tax return forms for financial year 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21) which will be notified by the end of this month.
This will be done in order to enable income taxpayers to avail the full benefits of the various timeline extensions granted due to the coronavirus crisis. “The ITR forms which were notified was before the Covid-19 Outbreak. Now, the forms need to be revised. It will be done either by April last or by May first week, “ the official added.
In its big-bang relief package announced after the imposition of the lockdown, the Centre had allowed tax payers to carry out various transactions like depositing cash in their PPF accounts and other tax saving instruments like insurance till June 30, all of which will be calculated and considered as investments for the last financial year (2019-20) when assessing taxes.
Reliefs announced
The Centre had extended stipulated deadlines under the Income-tax Act in an effort to provide relief to taxpayers affected by the pandemic. Revised I-T tax return forms for FY20 will be notified soon.