Background
With the country still reeling under the second wave of COVID-19; many States are under lockdown and with the vaccination drive yet to pick up pace, it might take a while before normalcy returns. Taking cognisance of the current situation, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had extended the deadlines of certain compliances[1] in the month of April 2021. In furtherance of the steps undertaken, the CBDT has recently issued a circular[2] to extend few more timelines (relating to fiscal year 2020-21) which are falling between May 2021 and December 2021.
We, at BDO in India, have analysed and summarised the said circular hereunder:
Deadline with respect to various Forms
| Particulars | Period | Original Deadline | Extended Deadline |
| Statement of Financial Transactions (i.e. Form 61A) | FY 2020-21 | 31 May 2021 | 30 June 2021 |
| Statement of Reportable Account (i.e., Form 61B) | Calendar year 2020 | 31 May 2021 | 30 June 2021 |
| e-TDS Return (i.e., Form 24Q, Form 26Q and Form 27Q) | Quarter 4 of FY 2020-21 | 31 May 2021 | 30 June 2021 |
| Statement of Tax Deduction from contributions paid by the trustees of an approved superannuation fund under Rule 33 of the IT Rules | FY 2020-21 | 31 May 2021 | 30 June 2021 |
| TDS / TCS Book Adjustment Statement (i.e., Form 24G) | May 2021 | 15 June 2021 | 30 June 2021 |
| Statement of Income paid or credited by an investment fund to its unit holder (i.e., Form 64D) | FY 2020-21 | 15 June 2021 | 30 June 2021 |
| TDS Certificate issued to employee (i.e., Form 16) | FY 2020-21 | 15 June 2021 | 15 July 2021 |
| Statement of Income paid or credited by an investment fund to its unit holder (i.e., Form 64C) | FY 2020-21 | 30 June 2021 | 15 July 2021 |
Deadline with respect to Tax Return, Tax Audit and TP Audit for FY 2020-21
| Particulars | Original Deadline | Extended Deadline |
| Tax return of non-corporate and non-tax audit taxpayers | 31 July 2021 | 30 September 2021 |
| Tax return of corporate (other than entities to whom Transfer Pricing (TP) Audit is applicable) | 31 October 2021 | 30 November 2021 |
| Tax Return of taxpayers to whom TP Audit is applicable | 30 November 2021 | 31 December 2021 |
| Filing of belated/revised tax return | 31 December 2021 | 31 January 2022 |
| Furnishing of Tax Audit Report (i.e., Form 3CD) or any other audit report (i.e., CA certificate) | 30 September 2021 | 31 October 2021 |
| Furnishing of TP Audit Report (i.e., Form 3CEB) | 31 October 2021 | 30 November 2021 |
Applicability of section 234A of the IT Act
- The Circular also grants relief from interest under section 234A of the IT Act if the net tax liability (after considering pre-paid taxes) is less than INR 0.1mn.
- Further, it is also clarified that in case of individual taxpayer, taxes paid between 1 April 2021 and 31 July 2021 to be treated as advance tax for the purpose of computing interest under section 234A of the IT Act. For this, the taxpayer should satisfy following conditions:
- The taxpayer should be resident of India.
- Taxpayer’s age is 60 years or more at any time during FY 2020-21.
- He does not have any income chargeable under the head "Profits and gains of business or profession".
BDO Comments:
With the country reeling under severe second wave of COVID-19, this circular is a welcome move from the CBDT. It is imperative to note that as per Explanation (ii) of section 44AB of the IT Act, the deadline for filing Form 3CD is one month prior to the deadline for furnishing the tax return. The Circular has extended the deadline for furnishing the Form 3CD from 30 September 2021 to 31 October 2021. However, it is silent with respect to the deadline which originally falls on 31 October 2021 and thus it appears that with this circular, all the Form 3CD filing is to be done on or before 31 October 2021. Having said this, one could contend that as Explanation (ii) of section 44AB of the IT Act refers to “one month prior to deadline”, since the deadline for filing tax return (where TP is applicable) is 31 December 2021, the deadline should be 30 November 2021.
Further, while the deadline for filing various forms and returns for FY 2020-21 have been extended, the deadline for filing Equalisation Levy statement for FY 2020-21 has not been extended.
[1]Notification No. 38/2020/F. No. 370142/35/2020-TPL, dated 27 April 2021 and Notification No. 39/2020/F. No. IT(A)/01/2020-TPL, dated 27 April 2021. Refer our tax alert - https://www.bdo.in/en-gb/insights/alerts-updates/direct-tax-alert-cbdt-further-extends-few-statutory-deadlines-and-payment-under-vivad-se-vishwas-s
Circular No.8/2021, dated 30 April 2021. Refer our tax alert- https://www.bdo.in/en-gb/insights/alerts-updates/direct-tax-alert-cbdt-extends-few-compliance-related-deadlines
[2] Circular No.9/2021, dated 20 May 2021
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