Govt extends deadlines for filing IT, GST returns in view of COVID-19 pandemic

New Delhi, December 30, 2020

The Union Government today extended the deadlines for filing Income Tax (IT) and Goods and Service Tax (GST) for assessment year 2020-21 for various categories of taxpayers in view of the difficulties faced by them due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Following the outbreak of the pandemic, the government had, in view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances, promulgated the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 on March 31, 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The ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.

Since then, the Government has extended the various IT and GST deadlines from time to time.

"Considering the problems being faced by the taxpayers, it has been decided to provide further time to the taxpayers for furnishing of Income Tax Returns, tax audit reports and declaration under Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme. 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," a press release from the Ministry of Finance said.

These extensions are as under:

a. The due date for furnishing of Income Tax 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 31st October, 2020 and which was extended to 30th November, 2020 and then to 31st January, 2021] has been further extended to 15th February, 2021.

b. 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 30th November, 2020 and which was extended to 31st January, 2021] has been further extended to 15th February, 2021.

c. 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 31st July, 2020 and which was extended to 30th November, 2020 and then to 31st December, 2020] has been further extended to 10th January, 2021.

d. 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 15th January, 2021.

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

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

g. 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 30th March, 2021 has also been extended to 31st March, 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 15th February, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 4(a) and para 4(b) and to 10th January, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 4(c).

The 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 31st December, 2020 to 28th February, 2021.

The necessary notifications in this regard shall be issued in due course, the release added.

NNN