ITR Filing Last Date: A top official said on Friday that the government is not contemplating to extend the last date for filing income tax returns as it expects most of the returns by the due date of July 31.
Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said over 2.3 crore income returns were filed for the financial year 2021-22 till July 20 and the number is increasing. In the last financial year (2020-21), around 5.89 crore ITRs (Income Tax Returns) were filed till the extended due date of December 31, 2021.
Talking to PTI, he said that people were earlier thinking that the dates would be extended like before. So they were a little slow in filing returns initially but now on a daily basis we are getting returns between 15 lakhs to 18 lakhs. It will reach 25-30 lakhs.
Usually, the return filers wait till the last day to file the return.
He told that last time 9-10 percent entered on the last day. Last time, we had more than 50 lakhs (filing returns on the last date). This time, I have asked my people to be ready for 1 crore (for the last day).
As per IT rules, the deadline for filing ITR for one financial year by individual taxpayers who are not required to get their accounts audited is July 31 of the next financial year.
Through ITR, a person has to submit to the Income Tax Department of India. It contains information about the income of the individual during the year and the taxes to be paid on it.
The Income Tax Department has prescribed 7 types of ITR forms, the applicability of which will depend on the nature and amount of income and the type of taxpayer.
The new income tax filing portal of the tax department is now very strong to bear the increased burden.
“As of now, there is no thought of extending the last date of filing,” he said.
Bajaj said that the feedback received from taxpayers is that filing of return forms has become very easy and refunds are also being done in less time.
When some people complained about the difficulty in filing returns, he said that 2.3 crore people have already filed returns without any complaints.
He said, “Earlier 50,000 people were filing returns daily and now the number has gone up to 20 lakh. I am sure returns will increase in the next few days and people will file their returns.”
In the last two financial years, the government had extended the ITR filing deadline to ease compliance for taxpayers battling the Covid pandemic.
