Deadline to file corporate income-tax returns, audit extended

The finance ministry on Tuesday extended the deadline for corporations to file income-tax returns (ITRs) to March 15, 2022. For entities whose accounts need auditing, the last date to submit the audits has been extended to February 15. However, salaried taxpayers whose accounts are not liable for auditing did not get an extension.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a statement said that on consideration of difficulties reported by the taxpayers and other stakeholders due to Covid and in electronic filing of various reports of audit, it was decided to further extend the due dates for filing ITRs and various reports of audit for the Assessment Year 2021-22.

Assessment Year 2021-22 is for income earned in the financial year 2020-21.

“Those categories in which the accounts had to be audited, that date has been extended. And along with that, the date of furnishing of audit reports has been extended,” Surabhi Ahluwalia, a CBDT spokesperson, told Business Standard.

This is the third ITR extension given to corporations for FY21. The original deadline for filing ITR for corporations was October 31. For those with transfer pricing transactions, it was November 30.

Rahul Singh of tax research firm Taxmann said the taxpayers for whom the dates have been extended include a corporate, non-corporate assessee whose books of account are required to be audited, partner of a firm whose accounts are required to be audited and spouse of such partner, and an assessee who is required to submit a report under section 92E pertaining to international or specified domestic transactions.

“An individual taxpayer not falling under any of the above categories has not received any extension benefit. It should be noted that no relief has been granted from the interest chargeable under section 234A if the tax liability exceeds Rs 1 lakh. Thus, if the self-assessment tax liability of the taxpayer exceeds Rs 1 lakh, he would be liable to pay interest under section 234A from the expiry of the original due dates,” Singh said.

Vishweshwar Mudigonda, Partner, Deloitte India, said: “The CBDT announcement is a major relief considering the challenges faced by both the taxpayers and their advisors due to newer variant of virus and the glitches in the online portal. Timing of the announcement, in particular, avoids anxiety for all concerned.”