Government has extended the deadline for filing income tax returns to March 15, according to a notification issued by the department of revenue of the finance ministry.
The last date for filing returns was December 31, 2021.
The income tax department also tweeted about the extension of return filing deadline.
On consideration of difficulties reported by taxpayers/stakeholders due to Covid & 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 & ITRs for AY 21-22. Circular No. 01/2022 dated 11.01.2022 issued. pic.twitter.com/2Ggata8Bq3
The deadline has been extended due to difficulties being faced by the taxpayers because of the prevailing Coronavirus situation, the notification said, adding that it has also been done due to problems being faced while e-filing of various audit reports under the provisions of the Income Tax Act 1961.
"The due date for furnishing of Return of Income for the Assessment Year 2021-22, which was 30th November 2021 under sub-section (1) of section 139 of the Act, as extended to 31st December 2021 and 28th February 2022... is further extended to 15th March, 2022," the notification issued by the finance ministry said.
Apart from Income Tax Returns, the due date for filing of various audit reports has also been extended by the Ministry of Finance's Central Board of Direct Taxes. The new deadline is February 15, 2022.
In addition to this, the government has also extended the deadline for filing various audit reports. These can now be filed till February 15, 2022.
Interestingly the extension of deadline has come after Revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj had said on December 31, 2021 that there was no proposal to extend the income tax return filing deadline any further.
Government earlier had already extended the return filing deadline from the original July 31, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
Though crores of returns have been filed, taxpayers have faced technical problems due to the new e-filing portal of the income tax department, which also forced finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to intervene in the matter and take it up with the site's vendor Infosys.
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