Govt extends due date for filing ITR by one month till August 31

The decision comes days ahead of the July 31 deadline.

New Delhi: Government on Thursday extended the due date for filing Income Tax Return (ITRs) for certain taxpayers by one month till August 31, 2018.

The decision comes just a week ahead of the July 31 deadline.

The new ITR forms for the assessment year 2018-19 were notified on April 5 by the the Central Board of Direct Taxes. Market experts believe that the introduction of new forms was leading to delays in filing of returns.

The policy-making body of the tax department "rationalised" some fields in the latest forms though there is no change in the manner of filing of the ITRs as compared to last year.  The most basic -- ITR-1 or Sahaj -- is to be filled by the salaried class of taxpayers, which was used by 3 crore taxpayers during the last financial year.

The form this time seeks an assessees details in separate fields such as allowances not exempt, profit in lieu of salary and value of prerequisites among others.

It may be noted that with effect from assessment year 2018-19, if an Assessee fails to furnish return of income within due date as prescribed under section 139(1) then as per section 234F, he will be required to pay fee of:

a) Rs 5000 if return is furnished on or before 31 December of assessment year

b) Rs 10,000 in any other case

However, the new rule says that if total income of the person does not exceed Rs 5 lakh then fee payable shall be Rs 1000.