Confirmed! Income Tax alert! ITR filing last date to extend again? Finance Ministry has this to say

Income Tax Return (ITR) last date of 10th January 2021 has lapsed and there was buzz that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) may extend the ITR deadline again. However, for those who are awaiting such an announcement from the Income Tax Department, the Ministry of Finance has made it clear that there will be no ITR last date extension for the AY 2020-21. The ITR deadline no extension got confirmed, when the CBDT replied to the Gujarat High Court's order asking the Income Tax Department to clarify on the rumours and the former made it clear that there was no such plan to extend the ITR due date.

In its reply to the Gujarat High Court, the CBDT said that the due date for Audit Report filing has already been extended till 15th February 2021. It said that due to the COID-19 pandemic, it has already been extended thrice and in the case of audit, ITR filing due date has been extended till 15th February. In the case of non-audit ITR filing, the last date for ITR filing was 10th January 2021 that has already been gone, said CBDT.

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The CBDT further calrified that ITR filing with and without audit report is an important part of an assessment year as various other important works at the Income Tax Department begins only after the ITR filing. So, ITR filing can't be extended after a certain period of time and the department has given maximum extension benefit to the taxpayers.

ITR filing: Penalty on late return filing

So, it has become clear for those taxpayers who haven't filed their ITR by 10th January. But, it doesn't mean a taxpayer can't file one's ITR. Now, they will have to pay a penalty of up to Rs 10,000 as late fee for late ITR filing. However, for those who have an annual income below Rs 5 lakh, they will have to pay only Rs 1,000 for late ITR filing.