Income Tax return
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The Indian government has decided to provide more time to the taxpayers for furnishing of Income Tax Returns, tax audit reports and declaration under Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme.

The decision has been taken considering the problems being faced by the taxpayers due to Covid19 pandemic.

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Keeping in view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances due to the outbreak of Covid19, the government brought the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 on March 31, 2020 extending various time limits.

Further, in order to provide more time to taxpayers to comply under various ongoing proceedings, the dates of completion of proceedings under various Direct Taxes & Benami Acts have also been extended, the Union finance ministry said.

These extensions are as under:

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The due date for furnishing of IT Returns for the Assessment Year 2020-21 for the taxpayers (including their partners), who are required to get their accounts audited and companies [for whom the due date, as per the provisions of section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act,1961, was October 31, 2020 and which was extended to November 30, 2020 and then to January  31, 2021] has been further extended to February 15, 2021, the ministry said.

Also read: Due date for furnishing Income Tax Returns & Audit Reports extended to Jan 31, 2021

The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the Assessment Year 2020-21 for the taxpayers who are required to furnish report in respect of international/specified domestic transactions [for whom the due date, as per the provisions of section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act,1961, was November 30, 2020 and which was extended to January 31, 2021] has been further extended to February 15, 2021.

The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the Assessment Year 2020-21 for the other taxpayers [for whom the due date, as per the provisions of section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, was July 31, 2020 and which was extended to November 30, 2020 and then to December 31, 2020] has been further extended to January 10, 2021.

The date for furnishing of various audit reports under the Act including tax audit report and report in respect of international/specified domestic transaction for the Assessment Year 2020-21 has been further extended to January 15, 2021.

The last date for making a declaration under Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme has been extended to January 31, 2021 from December 31, 2020, the ministry said.

The date for passing of orders under Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, which are required to be passed by January 30, 2021 has been extended to January 31, 2021.

The date for passing of order or issuance of notice by the authorities under the Direct Taxes &Benami Acts which are required to be passed/ issued/ made by March 30, 2021 has also been extended to March 31, 2021.

Further, in order to provide relief for the third 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 February 15, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 4(a) and para 4(b) and to January 10, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 4(c).

The Indian government has also extended the due date of furnishing of annual return under section 44 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 for the financial year 2019-20 from December 31, 2020 to February 28, 2021.

“The necessary notifications in this regard shall be issued in due course,” the ministry further said.