The Income Tax Department has announced a due date extension for ITR filing.
However, the extension is applicable only to specific categories of taxpayers.
The due date for income tax return (ITR) filing for specific categories was extended by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday.
The due date for filing ITR for AY2021-22 has been extended to March 15, 2022 for corporates.
This comes as a relief to corporates or for entities whose accounts need to be audited, but the announcement does not change the equation for salaried taxpayers.
The ITR filing due date of December 31, 2021 for salaried taxpayers or those who do not need auditing remains unchanged.
“On consideration of difficulties reported by taxpayers/stakeholders due to Covid and in e-filing of Audit reports for AY 2021-22 under the IT Act, 1961, CBDT further extends due dates for filing of Audit reports and ITRs for AY 21-22. Circular No. 01/2022 dated 11.01.2022 issued,” tweeted Income Tax India.
The statement released by the CBDT clearly stated that the due date for filing ITR and various reports of audit for AY2021-2022 has been extended to March 15, 2021.
CBDT has clarified that the due date has been extended for specific categories. The extension is only applicable to accounts that need auditing. Along with that, the date of furnishing of audit reports has been extended.
It may be noted that this is the third ITR filing extension given to corporates and entities for FY21, with the original deadline being October 31, 2021.
For those with transfer pricing transactions, the due date was November 30, 2021.
Experts said taxpayers who will benefit from the extension are corporates and non-corporate assessees whose accounts require auditing. Therefore, the due date for salaried taxpayers has not been changed and a late filing penalty will be applicable for them.
Simply put, an individual taxpayer under the general category will not receive any benefit from the extension.
If any salaried individual has missed the tax filing due date of December 31, 2021, the person will be required to pay a late fee of Rs 5,000 or Rs 1,000, based on taxable income.
Furthermore, no relief has been granted from the interest chargeable under Section 234A if the tax liability exceeds Rs 1 lakh.
Therefore, if the self-assessment tax liability of the taxpayers exceeds Rs 1 lakh, the person will be liable to pay interest under Section 234A from the expiry of the original due dates.
The fresh extension comes after the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the largest accounting body representing chartered accountants across the country, wrote to CBDT last week. It sought a reconsideration of the proposed penalties due to late submission.
Some of the issues highlighted in the letter included non-availability of Form no. 3CEB and difficulties in filing forms like 10C and 10B.
