Deadline for e-filing audit reports of some taxpayers extended

The deadline has been extended from September 30 to October 31

Government today extended the deadline for e-filing of income returns and audit reports for a special category of taxpayers, assessed under section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, by a month to October 31.

The earlier deadline was September 30.

"In order to avoid discrimination between taxpayers residing in different jurisdictions and to be fair to all and also in view of paucity of time to approach Supreme Court by way of Special Leave Petition, government has decided that across the country all returns of income and audit reports under section 44AB which were due for e-filing by September 30, 2015, may now be filed by October 31, 2015," the CBDT said in a order issued today.

The apex policy-making body of the I-T department said the issue of extension of last date for e-filing returns of income and audit reports under this category by the earlier stated deadline (September 30) has been the subject matter of litigation in various High Courts across the country.

"While some High Courts have ruled in favour of the extension of due date, some others have ruled otherwise," it said.

A senior official said the decision to extend the deadline was taken as in a specific case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, had ruled against the tax department in this matter on September 28 and had asked the CBDT to extend the deadline to October 31, 2015.

The section 44AB of the I-T Act talks about the provisions relating to those taxpayers who are required to get their accounts audited from a Chartered Accountant (CA). The audit under section 44AB aims to ascertain the compliance of various provisions of the said law.