INCOME TAX


No plan to extend July 31 I-T returns deadline: Govt



NEW DELHI: The government is not planning to extend the deadline for filing income tax returns beyond July 31, revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj said on Monday, when the number of filing was close to 2. 5 crore.

While several people are hoping the deadline would be extended, Bajaj pointed to last year when the government refused to extend the deadline for filing returns for individuals beyond the December 31 deadline. The government had eased the date last year in the wake of the second wave of Covid, which had affected individuals and businesses during the April-July quarter. Typically, there are several individuals and companies that file beyond the deadline, for which they have to pay a penalty.

Tax department officials said that the pace of filing has already picked up in recent days. Some 17 lakh returns were filed on Thursday, and the department expects the number to climb to 25-30 lakhs a day over the next few days. Typically, there is bunching of returns during the last week with a large number of filings taking place on the last day.

While the tax portal had faced glitches, which was another reason for an extension in the deadline last year, officials said that most of the problems have been sorted out now.

With the annual information statement now available, tax authorities have advised individuals to match the data to ensure that they do not miss any investments or purchases.

Team Edu-Visor