NEW DELHI | The central government has announced to extend the deadline for filing income tax returns by one more month to December 31, 2020, giving a major relief to taxpayers. The last date for this was fixed on 30 November 2020.
According to the information received from the Ministry of Finance, now taxpayers whose returns do not have an audit report can file their returns by 31 December 2020. For those taxpayers, whose returns have to be audited, the last date for filing IT returns has been set as January 31, 2021.
The finance ministry said in a statement that the extension to fill tax returns has been given in view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting statutory and regulatory compliance due to the outbreak of Kovid-19.
Tax returns can also now be filed by 31 January 2021 by this category of taxpayers, giving relief to small and middle-class taxpayers for self-assessment tax payments.
This extension will be available to taxpayers whose self-assessed tax liability is up to Rs 1 lakh.
The government came up with the Taxation and Other Laws (Exemption of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 on March 31, 2020, which has extended various deadlines. This ordinance has been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Concession and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.
