ITR Filing for financial year 2021-22: #ExtendDueDate immediately trends on Twitter as deadline to file ITR ends in two days

New Delhi: Netizens have voiced a number of concerns with the income tax site as the deadline for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR) approaches and have demanded an immediate extension of the deadline. However, there are no plans for the administration to extend the July 31 deadline.

While some have complained about how time-consuming submitting returns is, others have called attention to bugs on the official platform. They have also expressed dissatisfaction with the number of attempts needed to download 26AS and AIS/TIS.

Only 40% of IT returns, as reported on the official portal, had been completed as of yesterday, July 27.

!! ITR Filing ~ #Extend_Due_Dates !!

Reasons :
1. Increased Taxpayer base
2. TDS reflects after 15th June
3. AIS/TIS Late updatation
4. Increased cap for Non Audit (1crores to10)
5. Other Statutory Compliance dates
6. History also proves
7. Precision while filing is must.. pic.twitter.com/Izo7Y31tOE

— CMA Vr. Dr. Pawan Jaiswal (@drpawanjaiswal) July 27, 2022

And in accordance with the Income Tax Rules, there may be further penalties in addition to a Rs 10,000 fine for failing to file the income tax return by the deadline. According to Section 234A of the Income Tax Act of 1961, any delay after July 31 may result in interest being charged on the tax owed.

@IncomeTaxIndia @FinMinIndia trying to file Form 10 IE from past 4 days,

Error as Invalid input is occurring.

Kindly resolve the same at earliest or else #Extend_Due_Date_Immediately pic.twitter.com/EUiyfsoa8Q — CA JAYESH RATHOD (@CAJayeshRathod) July 28, 2022

"The portal is completely offline. Can't work on it at all. Income tax should be aware of heavy traffic," a chartered accountant stated on Twitter.

"Dead Tax Portal! We ask that anyone who is having issues use the hashtag #FMMissing to voice their worries "another said.

Salaried employees who attempted to file their taxes in the previous week posted a screenshot of the "on maintenance" webpage. Some people were unable to download 26AS because the pages crashed as soon as they loaded.

"3.73 crore returns were submitted in total as of July 22. By comparison, 4.67 crore returns were submitted from December 21 to December 27 of the previous year. This significant disparity justifies an extension, "stated another user.

In the meantime, the Income Tax agency asserted that up till July 25, more than three crore ITRs for 2022–23 have been submitted electronically.

Salaried employees and people whose accounts have not been audited have until July 31 to file their ITRs. However, one has until December 31 to file returns. Belated returns are what we call this. If you don't submit an ITR by the deadline, you risk a Rs 10,000 fine and a legal notice from the Income Tax department (IT).

If you don't pay your taxes until July 31, 2022, interest at the rate of 1% will be added to the unpaid balance. Whether or not the tax amount was filed incorrectly is irrelevant.

The taxpayer will therefore be required to repay the unpaid tax and interest retroactively to July 31. Additionally, interest accruing for the entire month must be paid if the unpaid tax is paid on or after the fifth of any given month.

Notably, the government had extended the ITR filing due to make it easier for taxpayers who had been affected by the Covid-19 outbreak over the previous two fiscal years to comply.