Relief amid COVID-19! Govt extends deadline for filing Income Tax Returns till September 30

New Delhi, July 30: In a bid to provide relaxation to the tax payers amid Coronavirus, the Central Board of Direct Taxes on Thursday decided to extend due date for filing income tax returns till September 30. This is the second consecutive time that the dates for filing IT returns have been extended. Earlier, the due date was July 31.

 

In an official notice issued today, the CBDT stated that in view of the constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to further ease compliances for taxpayers, CBDT extends the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns for FY 2018-19 (AY 2019-20) from 31st July, 2020 to 30th September, 2020.

 

In the previous order, the government also extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar with PAN till March 31, 2021 in order to provide relief to common man. Along with this, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had also extended the due date for the filing of the income tax return for 2019-20 to November 30, 2020.

 

All the above extensions have been given to offer some relief to taxpayers since the Coronavirus pandemic has affected the economy and the common man badly. Many taxpayers may have missed the earlier deadlines to invest in the tax-saving schemes due to the Coronavirus induced lockdown which was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the month of March in order to contain the spread of novel COVID-19 infection.

 

Though the strict measures and restrictions were necessary to curb the sped of the deadly disease, the lockdown resulted in major fall in the economy as many commercial activities were forced to pause for months.