Tax Dept to Announce New ITR Forms with Extended Due Dates

The IT department is working on a new format of ITR filing forms in order to make sure that the taxpayers are able to avail of the benefits of provisional changes made by the government due to the COVID-19 lockdown in India. ITR forms are amended by CBDT in-line with the provisional tax benefits the government has decided to give to the taxpayers due to the COVID-19 crises. CBDT is introducing changes in the return forms for FY 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21) that are expected to be revealed by the end of this month, said the Finance Ministry.

The amended ITR forms will let the taxpayers enjoy the benefits of the transaction done in-between 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020. Above that, there are possibilities that the Income Tax Department might extend the due dates for IT return filing Get all due dates of income tax return and payment of advance taxes for FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21). We update the last date as per the IT department’s notifications. Read More (currently it is 31 July 2020) for the ongoing financial year. Once the amended forms are introduced by CBDT, the tax department will further introduce subsequent changes in the return filing utility. After making the requisite changes, the utility will be made available to the taxpayers by 31 May 2020. The government is likely to implement the new ITR forms along with the complementing utilities by the end of May 2020. This will give enough time to the taxpayers to make tax-saving investments by 30 June 2020. This might leave taxpayers with lesser time to comply with ITR filing by the end of July (the deadline for return filing).

On such grounds, it is totally valid to ask for the extension in deadlines for income tax return filing Read the easy guide on e-filing of IT return online in India. Step by step guide to filing income tax returns through official income tax department portal. Read More which might get approved by the government. Several provisional changes have been introduced by the government in compliance norms related to tax, deadlines for tax filing and investment making (under 80C) have been increased, several reliefs have been given by the government for the taxpayers to cope with the adverse effects of lockdown called due to COVID-19 crises in India. The lockdown began from 25 March 2020 and is expected to halt by 3 May 2020.

The current due date for making tax saving investment and claiming deductions under section 80C (PPF, NSC, Mutual Funds, ELSS, etc.), 80D (Medical insurance claim), 80G (Donations) for FY 2019-20 is 30 June 2020. Adding on to that, the due dates for making investments in property and claiming benefits for capital gains has also been extended till 30 June 2020. Under normal circumstances, the ITR forms are introducedThe income tax department has declared that ITR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 for AY 2019-20 is now available for e-Filing and soon other ITRs will also be available. Read More just after the closure of the Financial Year (i.e. March) so that the taxpayers have enough time to file the returns (before the due date i.e. 31 July 2020). This year, after making the amendments related to the disclosures the tax department has already released ITR-1 (SAHAJ) and ITR-4 (SUGAM) in January itself.