The Finance Ministry on Saturday gave a major relief to taxpayers by extending due dates for Assessment Year (AY) 2020-21 that is, Fiscal Year 2019-20. The earlier extension allowed such filing by general taxpayers by November 30.
Along with general category of taxpayers, the government also extended the date of filing returns by taxpayers (including their partners) who are required to get their accounts audited and those who are required to furnish a report in respect of international/specified domestic transactions by two months to January 31, 2020.
Finance Ministry said in a statement that the further extension for filing tax returns has been given in view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
In order to extend relief of delayed tax filing to small and middle-class taxpayers who are liable for payment of self-assessment tax, tax returns by such category of taxpayers can also now be filed up to January 31, 202
This extension will be available to taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs 1 lakh.
The government had 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 The Ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.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. Fresh notification will now be issued by Income In AC department for further extensions.
Source: IANS
