Direct Tax Alert - Due dates for filing of Income Tax Returns and audit reports for FY 2020-21 further extended by CBDT

Background

In light of COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had extended deadlines for certain Income-tax compliances¹ under the Income-tax Act, 1961 (ÍT Act) by issuing circulars/notifications in the months of April 2021, May 2021², June 2021³. In the meantime, the income-tax portal was also completely revamped in June 2021. However, since the new income tax portal had some operational & technical glitches, taxpayers and other stakeholders were facing difficulties in electronic filing of certain Forms (including income-tax returns), accordingly, CBDT extended the due dates in September 2021⁴. Given that the due date of tax compliances was approaching and the taxpayers/ other stakeholders are still facing difficulties due to COVID and electronic filing of various reports of audit under the provisions of IT Act, the CBDT has provided relaxation in respect of certain tax compliances by issuing a circular⁵ on 11 January 2022.

We, at BDO in India, have analysed and summarized the said circular hereunder:  

Particulars	Original due date	Extended due date as per Circular 17/2021	Revised due date after further extension
Tax return of taxpayers other than those who are required to furnish TP report (including the partners of such firm)	31 October 2021	15 February 2022	15 March 2022
Tax Return of taxpayers who are required to furnish TP report (including partners of such firm)	30 November 2021	28 February 2022	15 March 2022
Furnishing of Tax Audit Report (Form 3CD) or any other audit report (CA certificate)	30 September 2021	15 January 2022	15 February 2022
Furnishing of TP Report (Form 3CEB)	31 October 2021	31 January 2022	15 February 2022

 

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 an 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; and
  • He does not have any income chargeable under the head "Profits and gains of business or profession".

BDO Comments

The timely extension of various deadlines has brought much needed relief to the taxpayers. However, it is pertinent to note that while the due dates for filing tax audit reports & tax returns have been extended, it is not clarified that similar extensions shall be provided to Forms filed along with tax audit reports for claiming exemptions/deductions under various sections such as 80IA, 80JJA, 10A etc of the IT Act. The taxpayers may continue to take a position to file such forms within extended due dates of filing tax returns.

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