Income tax audit deadline extended for these taxpayers to November 10, 2024

The deadline for submitting income tax audit reports using Form 10B/10BB has been extended for certain taxpayers. The new deadline for this category of taxpayers to submit their tax audit reports is November 10, 2024. This extension was announced by the Ministry of Finance through the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in an order dated October 7, 2024.

Which taxpayers will enjoy the extended deadline to submit tax audit report

According to the order by the Ministry of Finance, these taxpayers will benefit from this extended deadline:

• Trusts, institutions, funds, and

• Others who are liable to file a tax audit report using Form 10B/10BB.

Individuals with business or professional income who are subject to a tax audit under section 44AB need to submit their audit report using Form 3CD, 3CA, and 3CB. The extended deadline for these taxpayers was October 7, 2024.

"....It has been brought to the notice of the CBDT that in some cases, such trusts/institutions/funds, could not file the audit report in the correct prescribed form….., the CBDT in exercise of the powers conferred under section 119 of the Act, hereby further allows such trusts / institutions/ funds to furnish such audit report in the applicable Form No. 1OB / 10BB on or before 10 November, 2024," said CBDT in the said order under section 119.

"Central Board of Direct Taxes ('CBDT), by Circular No. 02/2024 dated 05.03.2024 had allowed those trusts/institutions/funds, which have furnished audit report on or before 31st October, 2023 in Form no. 10B and where Form No. 10BB was applicable and vice-versa, to furnish the audit report under clause (b) of the tenth proviso to clause (23C) of section 10 and sub-clause (ii) of clause (b) of sub-section ( I) of section 12A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, in the applicable Form No. 10B/10BB for the assessment year 2023-24, on or before 31st March, 2024.

"It appears that certain representations were received by CBDT to allow the correction of the forms and hence CBDT has extended the deadline to November 10, 2024. This extension is with respect to the report relating to assessment year 2023-24 and applicable only to charitable organisations who have already filed their initial report before the due date of October 31, 2023," says Nabin Ballodia, Partner, Tax & Regulatory Services, BDO India.

What may have prompted the tax audit report submission deadline to be extended

According to Ballodia, certain charitable organisations could claim an exemption under section 10(23C) or under 12AB. Now these organisations were required to give an audit report in Form 10BB or 10B respectively (in other words – form 10BB report was to be filed by organisations claiming an exemption u/s 10(23C) and Form 10B report was to be filed by organisations claiming a deduction u/s 12AB).

Says Ballodia from BDO India: "For the financial year 22-23 (assessment year 2023-24), the rules were modified and charitable organisations having an income over 5 crores or receiving foreign funds were required to submit the report in Form 10B, irrespective of the section under which the exemption was claimed. For all other cases, the report was to be furnished in form 10BB. The deadline for submission of the report pertaining to assessment year 2023-24 was 31 October, 2023. The new Forms were notified in february 2023. Since the form numbers were similar but the criteria for selecting a form changed from assessment 2023-24, there was a confusion amongst the charitable organisations and hence a number of charitable organisations ended up filing incorrect forms. Vide Circular no. 2/2024 dated 5th March, 2024, the government allowed the organisations who had already filed the report in either Form 10B or 10BB to correct the same by March 31, 2024 in case an incorrect form was submitted by the due date i.e October 31, 2023. In other words, the window was available only in cases, where the organisation had already filed a report within the due date but which turned out to be in an incorrect form. Subsequently, it was represented to the government that some charitable organisations were unable to correct the relevant form and hence the new circular allows them to correct the form by November 10, 2024. Hence, the extension is applicable only to limited organisations who had already filed their audited form for assessment year 2023-24, by October 31, 2023 but which turned out to be an incorrect form due to confusion and changes."

What is the process to file Form 10B on e-Filing portal?

According to a frequently asked question (FAQ) available on the income tax department website as of October 9, 2024, here's the process to file Form 10B (applicable for FY 2022-23 (AY 2023-24) onwards):

• Step-1: Taxpayers can assign Form 10B (AY 2023-24 onwards) to CA, from E-file form mode ---->.

• Step-2: CA can check the assignment in "For your action tab" under worklist--->

• Step 3: CA can either accept or reject the assignment----->

• Step 4: In case CA accepts the assignments, he/she needs to upload the JSON along with PDF attachments under offline mode of filing----->

• Step 5 : Once CA submits the JSON with valid attachments, taxpayer either has to accept/reject the form uploaded by CA through the Worklist's "For Your Action" tab

Do you need to verify the tax audit report filed using Form 10B?

According to an FAQ available on the tax department's website, you need to verify the tax audit report filed using Form 10B using the below-mentioned verification modes:

• Modes of verification for Form 10B (A.Y. 2023-24 onwards):

• For CAs, only the DSC option is available for uploading of Form.

• For taxpayers (auditees) other than companies, both DSC and EVC options are available to accept the form uploaded by CA.

• For Companies, only the DSC option is available to accept the form uploaded by CA.