In a bid to mitigate the hardship of individual taxpayers and businesses in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has made some changes in the income tax compliance requirements. The move is aimed at giving the concerned persons and businesses some relief as well as more time to meet their various statutory and regulatory compliances, including extension in the date for filing of income tax return (ITR) for FY19 as well as linking PAN with Aadhaar.

Here we are taking a look at the 6 key changes made in the income tax and other compliance requirements:

1. Extension in the date for filing ITR

As per the notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, the time for filing of original as well as revised ITR for AY 2019-20 (FY 2018-19) has been extended to July 31, 2020. Along with this, the due date for filing ITR for AY 2020-21 (FY 2019-20) has also been extended to November 30 this year. With this, the income tax returns required to be filed by July 31, 2020 and October 31, 2020 can now be filed up to November 30, 2020. Apart from this, the government has also extended the date for furnishing tax audit report to October 31.

2. Extension in PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline

Along with extension in the date for filing income tax return, the PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline has also been extended to March 31, 2021. The previous deadline for linking one’s PAN card with the Aadhaar card was June 30, 2020. This deadline extension will help those PAN or Aadhaar cardholders who are yet to link the two.

According to CBDT, the PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline has been extended particularly in view of the fact that the government has also extened the date for passing of order or issuance of notice by the authorities and various compliances under various Direct Taxes and Benami Law from December 31, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

3. Extension in due date for payment of self-assessment tax

To give some relief to the middle class and small taxpayers, the government has extended the due date for payment of self-assessment tax to November 30 this year. However, as per the notification, this has been done only for those taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs 1 lakh. Thus, taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is more than Rs 1 lakh will not get benefitted from this extension in date.

“In this case, the whole of the self-assessment tax shall be payable by the due dates specified in the Income-tax Act, 1961 and delayed payment would attract interest under section 234A of the IT Act,” the CBDT clarified.

4. Extension in date for making investments

The government has further extended the date for making various investment or payment for claiming deduction under Chapter-VIA-B of the Income Tax Act, which includes section 80C (PPF, LIC, NSC etc.), section 80D (Mediclaim), and section 80G (Donations) among others. With this extension, one will now be able to make investment or payment up to July 31, 2020 for claiming deductions under the various sections for the Financial Year 2019-20.

5. Extension in date for claiming deduction in respect of capital gains

As per the notification, the government has further extended the date for making investment, construction or purchase for claiming the roll-over benefit or deduction in respect of capital gains under sections 54 to 54GB of the Income Tax Act to September 30, 2020. With this, the investment, construction or purchase made up to September 30 this year will be eligible for claiming deduction from capital gains.

6. Extension in dates for furnishing and issuance of TDS and TCS certificates

The furnishing of the TDS and TCS statements and the issuance of TDS and TCS certificates being the prerequisite for enabling the taxpayers to prepare their ITR for FY 2019-20, the date for furnishing of TDS/ TCS statements and issuance of TDS/ TCS certificates pertaining to the FY 2019-20 has been extended to July 31, 2020 and August 15, 2020, respectively.