ITR filing deadline ends tomorrow; taxpayers, CAs demand deadline extension

Only a day is left before the deadline for filing income tax returns (ITR) for individuals expires. Hence, the Income Tax Department is repeatedly reminding the taxpayers to file their ITR before the last date. The extended deadline for filing individual ITRs is tomorrow, i.e. January 10.

In an effort to remind taxpayers about the deadline for filing their ITRs, the Income Tax Department tweeted, "Remember... the due date for ITR for AY 2020-21 is almost here. Do not wait for the last date. File your ITR NOW".

Remember... the due date for #ITR for AY 2020-21 is almost here. Do not wait for the last date. File your #ITR NOW by visiting https://t.co/EGL31K6szN#AajHiFileKaro #FileITRNow pic.twitter.com/olDxmbsvtJ

- Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) January 8, 2021

The I-T Department is also continuously publishing updates on how many people have filed ITRs so far in a series of tweets.

According to its latest update on January 9, 3,30,142 ITRs have been filed till 12:00 noon on January 9 and 1,22,951 ITRs were filed during the hour before their update.

The deadline for filing ITRs for a particular fiscal year is generally July 31 of the next fiscal but for FY19-20 the deadline had to be extended to December 31, 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic. If those eligible do not file ITR before the deadline they will be liable to pay a late filing fee of Rs 10,000.

The deadline for filing ITRs was initially December 31, 2020, but this was extended for another 10 days till January 10, 2021. However, this extension has not pleased chartered accountants (CAs) as they fear this 10-day extension would not be enough for all eligible people to file ITRs. This is the shortest extension ever given and the CA community is demanding the deadline should be extended further to January 31, 2021.

There is immense pressure on the professionals to meet the deadline, which has only increased in the last few days. The CAs and taxpayers have both demanded that the government should extend the deadline for filing ITRs. Hashtags regarding the demand for extending the deadline are still trending on Twitter as professionals and taxpayers continue to demand for the extension of the deadline, even a day before January 10.

@FinMinIndia @nsitharamanoffc #IncomeTaxFilingDate #TaxAudit #DueDateExtension please extend due date for ITR TAR it is not possible for even department to complete all work within these due dates

- Arun Trivedi (@caaruntrivedi) January 8, 2021

Hey @IncomeTaxIndia, can u show delay in issuing refunds from date of filing along with #itrfiling stats?

Time for a little transperancy right?!#Extend_Due_Dates #Extend_Due_Dates_Immediately #IncomeTaxFilingDate #ICAI

- Siddharth Mehta (@thesidmehta) January 8, 2021

........#cbic #Extend_Due_Dates_Immediately #Extend_Due_Dates #IncomeTaxFilingDate

- (@jaiprakash1702) January 8, 2021

Also read: Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro asks PM Modi to expedite shipment of COVID-19 vaccines

Also read: Indian start-ups of today are MNCs of tomorrow: PM Modi