"In view of the challenges faced by taxpayers in meeting the statutory and regulatory compliances because of the outbreak of COVID-19, the govt. brought the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (‘the Ordinance’) on 31st March, 2020 which, inter alia, extended various deadlines . The Ordinance has since been replaced by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act.
The Government issued a Notification on 24thJune, 2020 under the Ordinance which, inter alia, extended the maturity for all tax Returns for the FY 2019-20 (AY 2020-21) to 30th November, 2020. Hence, the returns of income which were required to be filed by 31st July, 2020 and 31st October, 2020 are required to be filed by 30th November, 2020. Consequently, the date for furnishing various audit reports including tax audit report under the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) has also been extended to 31st October, 2020.
In order to provide longer to taxpayers for furnishing of tax Returns, it has been decided to further extend the maturity for furnishing of Income-Tax Returns as under:
(A) The maturity for furnishing of tax Returns for the taxpayers (including their partners) who are required to urge their accounts audited [for whom the maturity (i.e. before the extension by the said notification) as per the Act is 31st October, 2020] has been extended to 31st January, 2021.
(B) The maturity for furnishing of tax Returns for the taxpayers who are required to furnish report in respect of international/specified domestic transactions [for whom the maturity (i.e. before the extension by the said notification) as per the Act is 30th November, 2020] has been extended to 31st January, 2021.
(C) The maturity for furnishing of tax Returns for the other taxpayers [for whom the maturity (i.e. before the extension by the said notification) as per the Act was 31st July, 2020] has been extended to 31st December, 2020.Consequently, the date for furnishing of various audit reports under the Act including tax audit report and report in respect of international/specified domestic transaction has also been extended to 31st December, 2020.
Further, so on supply relief to small and bourgeoisie taxpayers, the said notification dated 24th June, 2020 had also extended the maturity for payment of self-assessment tax for the taxpayers whose self-assessment liabilities is up to Rs. 1 lakh. Accordingly, the maturity for payment of self-assessment tax for the taxpayers who aren't required to urge their accounts audited was extended from 31st July, 2020 to 30th November, 2020 and for the auditable cases, this maturity was extended from 31st October, 2020 to 30th November, 2020.
In order to provide relief for the second time to small and bourgeoisie taxpayers within the matter of payment of self-assessment tax, the maturity for payment of self-assessment tax date is hereby again being extended. Accordingly, the maturity for payment of self-assessment tax for taxpayers whose self-assessment liabilities is up to Rs. 1 lakh has been extended to 31st January, 2021 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(A) and para 3(B) and to 31st December, 2020 for the taxpayers mentioned in para 3(C)". (Source)
