Centre extends deadline date for filing Income Tax Returns till December 31 due to COVID

In view of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Finance Ministry has announced an extension of the due date for all the Income Tax Returns for the fiscal year 2019-20. The deadline to file returns has now been extended to November 30, 2020. Consequently, the last date to furnish audit reports including tax audit reports has also been extended till December 31, 2020. 

ITR deadline extended till December 31

To provide citizens with more time for furnishing of Income Tax Returns, here are the extended deadlines set by the Finance Ministry: 

• The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the taxpayers, who are required to get their accounts audited, has been extended to 31st January, 2021.
• The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the taxpayers who are required to furnish report in respect of international/specified domestic transactions has been extended to 31st January, 2021. 
• The due date for furnishing of Income Tax Returns for the other taxpayers has been extended to 31st December, 2020.

"In order to provide relief for the second time to small and middle-class taxpayers in the matter of payment of self-assessment tax, the due date for payment of self-assessment tax date is hereby again being extended. Accordingly, the due date for payment of self-assessment tax for taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs. 1 lakh has been extended to 31st January, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(A) and para 3(B) and to 31st December, 2020 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(C)," the Finance Ministry said in a release on Saturday. 

COVID-19 crisis in India

Currently, there are 77,61,312 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 69,48,497 patients have recovered while 1,17,306 deaths have been reported. There are 6,95,509 active cases in the country. This marks the first time after two months that the active caseload has fallen below the 7 lakh mark. With 73,979 patients being cured in the last 24 hours, the country's recovery rate has surged to 89.53%.