CBDT extends deadline for Income Tax Returns till December 31
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the deadline for filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the assessment year 2021-22 till December 31. The extension was announced as taxpayers have been complaining of glitches in the new Income Tax portal. This is the second time that the government has extended the deadline for filing ITRs. Here are more details.
CBDT extended deadline earlier in view of pandemic
This is not the first time CBDT has extended the deadline for filing ITRs. Earlier, the same was extended till September 30 from July 31 due to the deadly second wave of COVID-19 infections in India. However, this extension comes amid continued glitches in the new I-T portal developed by Infosys. Infosys has also faced flak for its failure to address the issues.
What did CBDT say?
"On consideration of difficulties reported by the taxpayers and other stakeholders in filing of Income Tax Returns...Central Board of Direct Taxes has decided to further extend the due dates for filing of Income Tax Returns and various reports of audit," CBDT said in a circular.
Finance Ministry conveyed concerns to Infosys
Notably, the new Income Tax portal was launched on June 7 to enhance taxpayers' experience by reducing the processing time for returns from 63 days to one day. However, since its launch, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Twitter timeline has been flooded with complaints of glitches in the portal. The Finance Ministry recently summoned Infosys MD and CEO, Salil Parekh, to convey the government's concerns.
Finance Ministry claims issues are being 'positively addressed'
The Finance Ministry on Wednesday said the issues were being "positively addressed" as the statistics of the various filings on the portal showed a positive trend. The Ministry said that over 8.83 crore unique taxpayers logged in until Tuesday with a daily average of more than 15.55 lakh in September. It further claimed that ITR filing has risen to 3.2 lakh daily in September.
