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 31-03-2020 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 The Ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.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 24-06-2020 under the Ordinance which, inter alia, extended the due date for all Income Tax Returns for the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) to 30-11-2020. Hence, the returns of income which were required to be filed by 31-07-2020 and 31-10-2020 are required to be filed by 30-11-2020. 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 31-10-2020.
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 31-10- 2020] has been extended to 31-01-2021.
(B) The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the taxpayers who are required to furnish a 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 30-11-2020] has been extended to 31-01-2021.
(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 31-07-2020] has been extended to 31-12-2020.
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 31-12-2020.
Further, in order to provide relief to small and middle-class taxpayers, the said notification dated 24-06-2020 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 31-07-2020 to 30-11-2020 and for the auditable cases, this due date was extended from 31-10-2020 to 30-11-2020.
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 31-01-2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(A) and para 3(B) and to 31-12-2020 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(C).
The necessary notification in this regard shall be issued in due course.
Ministry of Finance
[Press Release dt. 24-10-2020]
