ITR Filing Due Date for AY 20-21 Extended but with Interest

ITR Filing Due Date for AY 20-21 Extended but with Interest: On March 31. 2020 the government has promulgated Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (hereinafter referred to as “Ordinacne 2020”)  to provide relaxation in relation to tax matters under direct tax laws, which include ITR Filing due date for AY 2020-21, due to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent nation-wide lockdown imposed.

It should be noted that there is no extension of the financial year 2019-20. 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has vide Notification 35/2020 dated 24.06.2020 further extended the time limits under the Income-tax Act, 1961 and related Acts which were earlier extended by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020. 

The provisions of the Ordinance, 2020 have been given overriding effect to the provisions of the Income Tax Act and other specified Acts.

The Notification No. 35/2020 dated 24.06.2020 issued by the CBDT should be read in conjunction with the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020. This is because the notification is issued by the CBDT by exercising the powers given under this Ordinance and not under the Income Tax Act.

Section 3(1) of the Ordinance explicitly extends the time limit for specific compliance requirements under the Income Tax Act, 1961. 

Section 3(1) of the Ordinance, 2020 is relevant to the time extension and other compliance requirements. It states that where any time limit is-

specified in the specified Act (for eg., Income Tax Act, 1961), or

prescribed in the Rules made thereunder (for eg. Income Tax Rules), or

notified in any Notifications (for eg. the last date to link PAN-Aadhaar is notified by a Notification)

and such time-limit falls in the period between 20-03-2020 and 29-06-2020 (or a new notified date)-

then the followings are provided under section 3 of the Ordinance,2020 and completion or compliance of action must be related to the followings-

completion of any proceeding,

the passing of any order,

issuance of any notice, intimation, notification,

sanction or approval or such other action, by any authority, commission or tribunal,

filing of any appeal,

furnishing of any report, document, return, statement or such other records,

under the provisions of the specified Acts which includes Income Tax Act, 1961.

 

The above provisions are as per the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020. The above dates have been further extended by CBDT’s Notification No. 35/2020. As stated above, different extended due dates have been specified for different actions unlike the Ordinance where one common date of June 30 is prescribed for all the compliances.

There are two dates to be noted. One is ‘end due date’ which is June 29, 2020 and the other one is ‘end extended date’ which is June 30, 2020. The Ordinance provides relief from the compliances or actions which are required to be done or taken for the period beginning from March 20, 2020 and ending on June 29, 2020 shall be done by June 30. 2020. 

At the first instance, the notification has extended June 29, 2020 to December 31, 2020 and June 30, 2020 to March 31, 2021. This means the time limit for all the compliances and other actions which falls during the period from March 20, 2020 to December 31, 2020 has been extended till March 31,  2021. But this time this date of March 31, 2021 is not common for all the actions. In case of filing of income tax returm or ITR the end completion date of March 31, 2021 shall not apply as stated below-

Read more on Section 139 Provisions for filing Return of Income

Due Date of filing of Return of Income or ITR for AY 2020-21 (FY 2019-20)

As per section 139(1), the due date to file return of income is as given below-

Person/Assessee	Normal Due Date
Company	31st October of the assessment year
A person (other than a company) whose accounts are required to be audited under Income Tax Act or under any other law for the time being in force (Companies Act, Societies Registration Act, etc.)
A partner of a firm whose accounts are required to be audited under Income Tax Act or under any other law for the time being in force. (Prior to 01.04.2020, only working partners were covered. From 01.04.2020, all the partners are covered)
Assessee who is required to furnish a report referred to in section 92E	30th November of the assessment year
Other persons (Individuals/HUF/Firms not subject to tax audit, partner of such firms, AoP, BoI, AJP, etc.)	31st July of the assessment year

Notes:

 

1. The due date to file return of a partner of  the firm which is not subject to tax audit is 31st July, whereas, the due date to file return of a partner of the firm which is compulsory subject to tax audit is 31st October of the assessment year. The Finance Act, 2020 has removed the distinction between a working and a non-working partner.

 

2. The due date to furnish return by a charitable trust is 31st October if tax audit is applicable. Otherwise, the due date is 31st July.

 

3.The due date to furnish return by a political party is 31st October if tax audit is applicable. Otherwise, the due date is 31st July.

Since these dates fall beyond the end date of June 29, 2020 as stipulated in the Ordinance, 2020, it was of no significance when the Ordinance was notified. However, since now the end date is extended till December 31, 2020, these dates have assumed significance now.

The Notification No. 35/2020 of 24th June, 2020 has extended the due date to file the return of income for AY 2020-21 (FY 2019-20) to 30th November, 2020 in respect of all catgories of assessees. In this case, the end date of March 31, 2021 will not apply.

Hence, the extended due date to file return of income for AY 2020-21 is as given below-

Person/Assessee	Normal Due Date	Extended Due Date
Company	31st October, 2020	30th November, 2020
A person (other than a company) whose accounts are required to be audited under Income Tax Act or under any other law for the time being in force (Companies Act, Societies Registration Act, etc.)
A partner of a firm whose accounts are required to be audited under Income Tax Act or under any other law for the time being in force. (Prior to 01.04.2020, only working partners were covered. From 01.04.2020, all the partners are covered)
Assessee who is required to furnish a report referred to in section 92E	30th November, 2020
Other persons (Individuals/HUF/Firms not subject to tax audit, partner of such firms, AoP, BoI, AJP, etc.)	31st July, 2020

Interest u/s 234A: However, in this case it should be noted that there is no immunity provided from the levy of interest u/s 234A for filing of return of income by 30th November, 2020 from the due date specified in section 139(1). 

The immunity from levy of interest u/s 234A is provided only in a case where the self-assessment tax payable is upto Rs. 1 Lakh. In case the self-assessment tax payable is more than Rs. 1 Lakh, interest u/s 234A will be payable on the entire amount of the self-assessment tax.

As readers are aware that interest u/s 234A is payable where there is a tax liability or self-assessment tax is required to be paid at the time of filing of return of income. If the tax liability is already paid by way of advance tax or TDS or in a case where there is tax refundable, there will not be any liability to pay interest u/s 234A.

Earlier, the Finance Minister Nirmal Sitaraman in a press conference held on 13.05.2020 announced the extension of due dates for filing of return of income for AY 2020-21 for all classes of persons to 30th November, 2020.

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