The government had extended the last date for filing returns to August 5, from the earlier July 31 as last-minute filers faced difficulties accessing the department's online system. The deadline for linking Aadhaar number with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) was also extended to August 31.
"In view of the difficulties faced by taxpayers, the due date for filing of income tax returns for fiscal year 2016-2017, i.e. assessment year 2017-2018, was extended to August 5, 2017 (for certain categories of taxpayers)," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement."In order to facilitate manual filing of returns (of aforesaid categories) on August 5, 2017, being a Saturday, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has directed that necessary arrangements be made for receiving income tax returns up to midnight in all income tax offices throughout the country," the statement added