New Deadline For Filing Income Tax Return

Here is good news for taxpayers. In a much-needed relief, the Finance Ministry has extended the deadline for filing income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2018-19 by individuals to August 31, 2019, from July 31, 2019.

July 31 was the deadline to file income tax returns for most individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUFs). The extension comes in the wake of appeals to the government by chartered accountants/tax practitioner societies to provide sufficient time in view of the problems being faced by taxpayers.

This year, employees were left with only 21 days between getting their Form 16 and filing their ITRs by the earlier deadline of July 31. Chairman Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had extended the deadline for employers to file their TDS returns, i.e., Form 24Q, from May 31, 2019, to June 30, 2019. As a consequence, the deadline for issuing Form 16 by the employer was also extended from June 15, 2019, to July 31, 2019.

Now, individuals will have more time to file their ITRs and not worry about late filing fees, which is Rs 5,000 till December 31 and Rs 10,000 beyond that.

What was troubling taxpayers?

• The tax department has started providing pre-filled XML for ITR forms 1 to 4. But the pre-filled XML file for ITR-2 does not contain salary details. Individuals have to fill these on their own.
• Calculating long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on equity shares and equity mutual funds was not quite complicated.
• Sources of interest income are required to be provided in greater detail.