The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday announced that the deadline for filing income tax returns (ITR) for the financial year 2018-19 has been extended to August 31. The previous deadline was July 31. The government has been extending the deadline for ITR filing in the past few years too.

“The due date for filing of Income Tax Returns for Assessment Year 2019-20 is July 31, 2019 for certain categories of taxpayers,” the CBDT said in a statement.

The new deadline applies to individuals, body of individuals (BOI), Hindu Undivided Families (HUF), and Association of Persons (AOP).

“Upon consideration of the matter, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extends the ‘due date’ for filing of Income Tax Returns from July 31, 2019 to August 31, 2019 in respect of the said categories of taxpayers,” it said. The CBDT is the apex direct tax policy-making body.

With the July 31 deadline approaching, some individual taxpayers had complained that they had not received the required documentation for filing the tax returns. Without those documents, IT returns cannot be filed.

An official order issued by the CBDT said that it was reported some taxpayers were facing difficulties in filing their tax returns due to various reasons. The problems include the extension of due date for issue of Form 16, the tax deducted at source certificate given by employers.

Additional Read: 6 changes in Income Tax Return forms for AY 2019-20 that you must know

The tax department had earlier this year brought in changes in the format of tax returns as well as in the tax deducted at source (TDS) certificates issued by employers. It also brought out modifications to the TDS returns to be filed by employers with the income tax department.

Changes to the TDS certificate format notified in April requires employers to give the breakup of all the tax-exempt payments to the employee. Details about the bifurcation of tax-exempt allowances and the various deductions claimed have to be provided.

Late ITR filing attracts penalties. If the return is furnished after the due date of filing but on or before December 31, it attracts a penalty of Rs 5,000. The penalty doubles to Rs 10,000 if the return is filed between January 1 and March 31. If the total income of the person, however, does not cross Rs 5 lakh, the penalty will not be more than Rs 1,000.

Additional Read: Income tax return filing for FY 2018-19 starts; Here is what you need to know

Staff Writer

This article is written by RupeeIQ editorial staff.

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