Government extends deadline to file I-T returns by 10 days – Times of India

NEW DELHI: After intense lobbying by chartered accountants and tax professionals, the government has granted a fresh extension to those who have not filed their returns, citing Covid-19 as the reason.
A majority of individual taxpayers, who were earlier required to file their returns by December 31, have been given another 10 days till January 10 to comply with the statutory requirement, for which the original deadline was July 31.
The deadline for making declarations under the ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ scheme has also been extended up to January 31. Further, I-T returns for tax audit assessees can be filed up to February 15.

There is a relaxation for GST too with an extension given for filing the returns for FY20 to February 28. But the deadline for FY19 ends on Thursday, added CA Vinod Jain.
Government sources sought to portray the extension as an example of the Centre being responsive to the requirements and pointed out that the additional time given was much more than what was offered in other countries. Although the US had offered a six-month extension, other countries such as Singapore and Canada were less liberal.
On Wednesday, close to 16.7 lakh returns had been filed, according to the data released by the I-T department as individuals rushed to meet the Thursday deadline.
Up to Wednesday evening, over 4.5 crore returns had been filed, which was 5% lower than the comparable number for 2019. The government announced the relaxation on Wednesday evening, with just around a day left for the returns to be filed.