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 The Ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.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 24th June, 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.
Source : PIB
