Income Tax Dept Relents; August 5 New Deadline For Filing Tax Return

File Pic: Last day rush of people filing income tax return

If you haven't filed your income tax returns for the assessment year 2016-17, here is your last chance. The IT dept has extended the deadline to August 5. This follows widespread complaints from income tax filers and chartered accountants as the website www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in continued to remain unoperational through the day. On our last check, BOOM found the site to be working as the IT department had resolved the technical snag.

To facilitate e-filing of IT Returns, extension of five days has been given for e-filing of returns i.e. upto 5th August, 2017.

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) July 31, 2017

Interestingly, this relaxation comes after several denials by tax officials of any deadline extension. "The last date for filing of ITRs remains July 31. There are no plans to extend this deadline. The department has already received over 2 crore returns filed electronically. The department requests taxpayers to file their return in time," said an IT official to PTI on Sunday, reported The Times of India.

"The website was down the entire day, probably due to the heavy rush of tax filers rushing to meet the deadline. On Saturday, the website was erratic while on Sunday, we were able to file returns on behalf of our clients though the speed was quite slow," said a chartered accountant even as he kept taking calls from his clients to clarify if the deadline has been extended.

Even last year, the IT department had extended the deadline to August 5, 2016 as late filers complained of not being able to access the website. "This is a common feature every year with the site not being able to meet last minute demand. The IT department waits till the last minute to extend the deadline as any advance notification will mean more tax payers postponing their filing of returns, " said Mahesh Thakkar, a Mumbai-based chartered accountant.

Taxpayers also took to Twitter reminding the government of Digital India and the failure of the IT department to keep the website running till the end of the deadline.

How can India become #digitalindia when Govt. Site get crashed. Why they extend deadline why can't they improve their website @KavitaSarla

— Lalit Kumar Sharma (@lalithitechbwn) July 31, 2017

Site not working....ensure #DigitalIndia

— VIVEK MASHRANI (@MashraniVivek) July 31, 2017

But chartered accountants also say that this new deadline should not be taken for granted and the returns should be filed as soon as possible without waiting for the last day. There are several advantages that the taxpayer receives for filing returns on time as this Business Standard reports points out.

The IT department has also extended the deadline for the actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar and has given the option to quote Aadhaar or acknowledgement number of the application made while filing e-returns. The department had received several complaints on the failure of Aadhaar centres to meet the demand of providing the unique identification number on time to file IT returns.

For e-filing return, as of now, it would be sufficient to

quote Aadhaar or acknowledgement No. of Aadhaar

applied for in e-filing website.

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) July 31, 2017

Actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done subsequently before 31.08.2017. ITRs will be processed after the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN.

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) July 31, 2017