Good News! Deadline for filing Income Tax returns extended; Find out here

The government has extended the deadline to file income tax return (ITR) for FY 2019-20 for individuals to January 10, 2021. The current deadline for filing the income tax return was December 31, 2020, which means an extension of 10 more days have been given. 

The extension of the deadline is for those individuals whose accounts are not required to be audited and who usually file their income tax return using ITR-1 or ITR-4 forms, as applicable, as per the press release dated December 30, 2020.

This is the third time that the government has extended the deadline to file ITR - first from the normal deadline of July 31 to November 30, 2020, and then to December 31, 2020.

As per the press release, the deadline for other taxpayers whose accounts are required to be audited (including partners of a firm) and/or those who have to submit report in respect to international financial transactions has been extended to February 15, 2021.

The government has also extended the date of furnishing the tax audit report to January 15, 2021, from the current deadline of December 31, 2020.

This year the government has raised the penalty amount for missing the deadline, by imposing a fine up to Rs 10,000 as opposed to the Rs 5,000 imposed last year. The practise of charging late filing fees under section 234F was introduced in the Budget of 2017 and became effective for financial year 2017-18 or assessment year 2018-19 onward.

However, if your income is below the taxable limit then you will not have to pay it even if you file after the deadline, according to the Income Tax Department website.