After extending deadline to file income tax return, CBDT revises ITR forms to help taxpayers

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The Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has revised the return forms for financial year 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21), in order to enable income taxpayers to avail full benefits of various timeline extensions granted by the government due to coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

The revision will be be notified by the end of this month, the CBDT said in a statement realeased on Sunday (April 19, 2020).

Last month the various statutory deadlines related to income tax were extended till June 30, which were earlier ending on March 31.

The necessary modifications in the return forms are being made to allow taxpayers to avail the benefits of their investments made between April to June 2020.

The statement read: “The necessary modifications in the return forms are being made to allow taxpayers to avail the benefits of their investments/transactions made for the Apr-to-Jun 2020 period. Once the revised forms are notified, it will further necessitate the consequential changes in the software and return filing utility. Hence, the return filing utility after incorporating necessary changes shall be made available by 31st May, 2020 to avail benefits for FY 2019-20.”

Generally, the income tax return forms are notified in the first week of April, and this year too, the e-filing utility for filing of return for Assessment Year 2020-21 was made available as on 1st April, 2020, and the Income-tax Return (ITR) Forms ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 (Sugam) for the FY 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21), too, were already notified vide notification dated January 3, 2020. 

But to ensure that the taxpayer is enabled to avail all benefits of the timeline extension due to COVID-19 pandemic, the Return Forms revision is being carried out.

Under the income tax laws, the due date to file ITR for a financial year typically ends on July 31 of a particular relevant assessment year. However, if someone fails to file her ITR before the due date, he/she can still file a belated return till March 31. This deadline was extended till June 30, so now you can file your return for FY’19 till that date. However, you will have to pay a late fee at the time of filing returns.