No plan to extend deadline for filing income tax returns: Revenue Secretary

The government on Friday said there is no proposal before it to extend the last date for filing income tax returns (ITR).

The last day of filing returns is July 31. As of July 20, over 2.3 crore income returns were filed for fiscal 2021-22 and the numbers are picking up each day, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj told media here.

He also said as per the feedback received, filing returns has been easy this year. So far no complaints have been received, he said.

Also Read | All you need to know about ITR due dates

On a daily basis, about 15-18 lakh returns are being filed. This will slightly go up to 25 lakh to 30 lakh returns, next week. Last time over 50 lakh filed returns on the last date while this year the government is ready for one crore return filings.

The Tax department’s new income tax filing portal is very robust to take the increased loads, he said.

Last fiscal (2020-21), about 5.89 crore ITRs were filed by the extended due date of December 31, 2021.

As per I-T rules, the deadline for filing ITRs of a fiscal by individual taxpayers who do not need to get their accounts audited is July 31 of the subsequent financial year.

The Income Tax Department has prescribed 7 types of ITR forms, whose applicability will depend on the nature and amount of income and the type of taxpayer.

Over the last two financial years, the government had extended the deadline for filing ITRs to ease compliance for taxpayers battling the Covid pandemic.