The coronavirus pandemic has impacted a lot of businesses and even people working in service sector have been facing the heat. A lot of people had to deal with salary cuts and most have got no appraisal this year. Add to it, people have not gone to office since March as they continue to work from home. In such a scenario, people are finding it difficult to adhere to the deadline set for income tax returns.
On Saturday, the government announced that the last date to file income tax returns for the assessment 2020-21 has been extended to December 31st. Earlier the same was 30 November 2020. Earlier in May, the government extended the deadline for filing tax returns for the financial year 2019-20 from July 31 to November 30, 2020. Now it has been extended further to 31 December.
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. They are now required to file the same by January 31, 2020.
While this may come as a big relief to a lot of taxpayers. The government has also decided to levy a heavy penalty for the defaulters. People who miss out on filling their returns by December 31 will have to shell out INR 10,000 penalty.There is another condition to make note of. From FY 2017-18, INR 5,000 will be applicable as a penalty for filing ITR after the due date but before December 31 of the assessment. Furthermore, after December 31, this late fee will amount to INR 10,000. In case of small taxpayers, a major relief has been offered which is if their annual income is less than Rs 5 lakh then the penalty for missing the due date for filing ITR will be INR 1,000
