Income Tax Return (ITR) filing ALERT! Last date extended to August 31, 2019 in big relief for taxpayers!

Income Tax Return (ITR) filing: Finally, taxpayers have got what they had hoped for! The Income Tax department has extended the last date for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) to August 31, 2019. Earlier, deadline was July 31, 2019 for the assessment year 2019-20 (FY2018-19). The decision was announced by Finance Ministry via their Twitter account over ITR filing deadline today. Interestingly, most people were expecting extension in ITR filing due date, as recently the CBDT had already extended deadline for Form 16, Form 26AS and TDS certificate.  

The Ministry of Finance through statement said, "Upon consideration of the matter, the Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) extends the ‘due date’ for filing of Income Tax Returns from 31st July, 2019 to 31st August, 2019 in respect of the said categories of taxpayers."

Upon consideration of the matter, the Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) extends the ‘due date’ for filing of Income Tax Returns from 31st July, 2019 to 31st August, 2019 in respect of the said categories of taxpayers.

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 23, 2019

However, the ministry also notified that, the July 31, 2019 deadline for filing ITR for assessment year 2019-20 is very much active for certain categories of taxpayers. 

Extension of date for filing of Income Tax Returns
The due date for filing of Income Tax Returns for Assessment Year 2019-20 is 31.07.2019 for certain categories of taxpayers @nsitharamanoffc @Anurag_Office @PIB_India @MIB_India

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 23, 2019

Later even the IT-department notified saying, "The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extends the ‘due date’ for filing of Income Tax Returns from 31st July, 2019 to 31st August, 2019 in respect of certain categories of taxpayers who were liable to file their Returns by 31.07.2019."

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extends the ‘due date’ for filing of Income Tax Returns from 31st July, 2019 to 31st August, 2019 in respect of certain categories of taxpayers who were liable to file their Returns by 31.07.2019.

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) July 23, 2019

But soon, the tax department made it clear that, the categories of taxpayers includes all taxpayers who were liable to file their Income Tax Returns by 31st of July, 2019 & can now file their Income Tax Returns by 31st of August, 2019.

The categories of taxpayers includes all taxpayers who were liable to file their Income Tax Returns by 31st of July, 2019 & can now file their Income Tax Returns by 31st of August, 2019.

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) July 23, 2019

In first week of June 2019, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had extended the due date of filing of TDS (tax deducted at source) statement by employers to the Income Tax department in Form 24Q for the financial year 2018-19  till June 30, 2019.

In an official statement released by the Ministry of Finance, CBDT said on July 05, 2019, "The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had earlier notified amended Form 24Q for filing TDS statement by deductors of tax vide Notification No. 36/2019 dated 12th April 2019. Subsequently, the File Validation Utility (FVU) for online filing of Form 24Q was updated by NSDL on 21st of May, 2019." CBDT said that the deadline is being extended to "redress genuine hardship of deductors in timely filing of TDS statement on account of revision of its format and consequent updating of the file validation utility for its online filing."

Now, the due date of filing of TDS statement in Form 24Q for the financial year 2018-19 was June 30, 2019. While, for issuing TDS certificate in Form 16 for the financial year 2018-19, the new due date was  July 10, 2019.