New Delhi, Jan 11 (Mayank Nigam) In a big relief for taxpayers required to get their accounts audited, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended due dates for filing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) and various reports of audit for the assessment year (AY) 2021-22. “On consideration of difficulties reported by the taxpayers and other stakeholders due to Covid and in electronic filing of various reports of audit under the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act), the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to further extend the due dates for filing of Income Tax Returns and various reports of audit for the assessment year 2021-22,” CBDT said on Tuesday in a press release.
Accordingly, the due date of furnishing of Report of Audit under any provision of the Act for previous year 2020-21 has been extended to 15th February, 2022 from January 15 decided earlier. “The due date of furnishing of Report of Audit under any provision of the Act for the previous year 2020-21, which was 31st October, 2021, in the case of assessees referred in clause (aa) of Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act, is extended to 15th February, 2022,” said CBDT. The due date of furnishing of Report from an Accountant by persons entering into international transaction or specified domestic transaction under section 92E of the Act for previous year 2020-21 has also been extended to February 15. The new due date of furnishing of Return of Income for the assessment year 2021-22 is now 15th March, 2022.
Naveen Wadhwa, DGM, Taxmann welcomed the government decision to extend the filing dates. “The Covid situation is again at its peak and people in tier-I and tier-II cities are struggling to cope with it. Offices are closed and people don’t have access to computers, papers etc. So you can’t prepare and file return of income. In that situation if you get an extension it’s far big relief,” he told UNI. Several chartered accountants’ bodies and accounting professionals had requested Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to extend the due dates for filing the returns. Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Poddar had also written to Sitharaman and requested to extend the due date citing surge in Covid cases across the country and various state government imposing restrictions. “It is noted that extending the date will purely be an administrative issue and would not result in any revenue loss,” Poddar had said.