Income Tax Return (ITR): The last date for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) is December 31, 2021. This deadline has already been extended twice.
First the normal deadline of July 31 was extended to September 30, 2021 and then it was extended to December 31, 2021. According to a report in Economic Times, chartered accountants and tax experts feel that the deadline for ITR filing for individuals (whose accounts do not require audit) may be extended again. Here we are giving the reason for this.
Less taxpayers have filed ITR than last year
A lesser number of taxpayers have filed ITR for the financial year 2020-21 as compared to the previous year i.e. FY 2019-20. According to a tweet by the official Twitter handle of the Income Tax Department, till January 11, 2021, 5.95 crore ITRs were filed for the financial year 2019-20 (Last date to file ITR for the financial year 2019-20). January 10, 2021). However, as per the data till December 15, 2021, only a little over 3.59 crore people have filed ITI. Thus, 15 days are left in the deadline of December 31, 2021 and 2.36 crore people are yet to file ITR. Looking at the flaws still coming in the newly launched income tax portal, it is not possible for so many people to file ITR in just 15 days. Last year also, the government had extended the date of ITR filing thrice.
For the above reasons, the government may consider extending the deadline for ITR filing around the current deadline of December 31, 2021.
There is a problem in many calculations including eligible donation
Taapti Ghosh, Partner, Deloitte India says, “The extended date of return filing of individual taxpayers who are not subject to tax audit is December 31, 2021. There are many challenges associated with the new JSON utility, making it challenging to file tax returns by the specified date. For example, there is a need to remove the hassles of the utility related to eligible donations, calculation of loss on house property in the Saral Tax Regime. There are also some operational challenges. For example, the e-filing portal is very sluggish.”
Only 50% people filed returns
Abhishek Soni, CEO, Tax2Win.in, an ITR filing website, says, “Currently, only 50 per cent people have filed tax returns as compared to last year. So, 35 crore people have to file ITR in the next 15 days, which is a huge number. Also the Income Tax website is still new. Due to all these things, we feel that the government will decide to extend the deadline in the next 5 to 10 days.
Now more review is needed
Dr. Suresh Surana, Founder, RSM India says, “From the financial year 2020-21 (ending in March, 2021), the Income Tax Department has implemented the Annual Information Statement (AIS), which demands a lot of data related to the taxpayer. Hence, it becomes imperative for the taxpayer to not only match his income and reporting requirements with Form 26AS, but also ensure review of his transactions/income reflected in the AIS. The recent availability of the AIS database for the financial year 2020-21 necessitates an additional level of review. It is clear that taxpayers need sufficient time for filing returns.
