Belated, revised ITR deadline extended to June 30, 2020

In good news and much relief for individuals, the government has decied to extend the deadline for belated income tax return (ITR) and revised tax return for FY 2018-19 from March 31, 2020 to June 30, 2020. The decision has come due to curfews and lockdowns becuase of the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.

The news was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her press conference held on March 24, 2020. Other tax-related deadlines were also extended. These include extension of PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline to June 30, 2020 from March 31, 2020, Vivad se Vishwaas scheme without paying any interest and penalty to June 30, 2020 from March 31, 2020 and completing tax-saving for FY 2019-20.

Sonu Iyer, Tax Partner, EY India says, "Revised and belated tax returns for FY 2018-19 due to be filed on or before March 31, 2020 may now be filed up to June 30, 2020. We will need to review the fine print of the Amendment Act or the ordinance to be certain of these interpretations"

The extension will come as relief for those individuals who are yet to file their tax returns and could not do so because of lockdown and curfews. Various income tax officials associations and chartered accountants, since Monday, have been asking the government to extend these deadlines because of the lockdowns across various states.

Why the deadline extensions were needed
Deadline for belated ITR: If the deadline for belated ITR was not extended for FY 2018-19, then taxpayers would have lost the opportunity to file their tax return unless income tax department specifically would have asked them to.

According to the Income Tax Department, wilful failure of filing ITR can lead to prosecution and levy of fines under the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Deadline for revised ITR: The deadline to file revised ITR is also March 31, 2020. Had the deadline been not extended, then person would have lost the opportunity to file correct ITR. Later, if the tax department discovers an income which was not reported earlier, then it could lead to penal consequences for under-reporting/mis-reporting of income.