In the view of rising number of coronavirus cases in the country and various reports of glitches while filing income tax return for AY 2021-22, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended various deadlines of filing income tax return on Tuesday. “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," ministry of finance said in a statement

Those taxpayers who need to audit their income tax return will be benefitted from this decision. The due date for furnishing audit report for taxpayers where audit was required has been extended from January 15 to February 15. The due date for filing income tax return for AY 2021-22 for taxpayers, where audit was required, has been extended from February 15 to March 15.

Here is a list of various ITR deadlines for AY 2021-22 that have been extended
1) The due date of furnishing of report of audit under any provision of the Act for the previous year 2020-21, in the case of assessees referred in clause (a) of Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act has been further extended to February 15, 2022.

2) The due date of furnishing of Report of Audit under any provision of the Act for the previous year 2020-21, in the case of assessees referred in clause (aa) of Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act, has been extended to February 15, 2022.

3) 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 the previous year 2020-21, has been further extended to February 15, 2022

4) The due date of furnishing of Return of Income for the Assessment Year 2021-22, under sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act, has been further extended to March 15, 2022

5) The due date of furnishing of Return of Income for the Assessment Year 2021-22 under sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act has been further extended to March 15, 2022.

For individual taxpayers, where audit was not needed, the due date of filing income tax return was December 31.

“After the tough stance taken by the ministry of finance in not further extending the ITR Due dates for individuals from December 31 2021, the ministry has somewhat tried to move a step this time by extending the time limit for Income Tax audit and transfer Pricing Audit by 15-30 days to February 15 2022 and the corresponding ITR Dates of such assessees by 15-30 days to 15th March 2022. Such extention would benefit primarily the Corporate and larger assesses. However still the demand for waiving off atleast the penalties for late filing of individual returns have not been accepted by the finance ministry," Vivek Jalan, partner, Tax Connect Advisory Services.

Who will Get the Benefits of ITR Filing Deadline Extension?

The finance ministry has extended the due date only for those taxpayers who were originally liable to file the return of income by October 31, 2021, or November 31, 2021. “The following taxpayers fall under this category: corporate-assessee; non-corporate assessee (whose books of account are required to be audited); Partner of a firm whose accounts are required to be audited and spouse of such partner if the provisions of section 5A apply; and assessee who is required to submit a report under section 92E pertaining to the international or specified domestic transaction(s)," explained Rahul Singh, DGM, Taxmann. An individual taxpayer not falling under any of the above categories has not received any extension benefit.

“It should be noted that no relief has been granted from the interest chargeable under section 234A if the tax liability exceeds Rs 1 lakh. Thus, if the self-assessment tax liability of the taxpayer exceeds Rs 1 lakh, he would be liable to pay interest under section 234A from the expiry of the original due dates." he further mentioned.