Last year, 7.28 crore returns were filed till July 31. This year the pace of filing returns has been slow. Only 5.47 crore returns were filed till September 11. The TRACES portal has been down since September 11
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Only 3 days are left to file Income Tax Return (ITR). Taxpayers are already facing technical difficulties in filing returns. Taxpayers have told about this on social media platforms. There is also a problem in downloading Annual Information Statement (AIS), Form 26AS and Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS). E-filing platforms are not working properly due to high traffic. Taxpayers are worried that if the return is not filed by September 15, they will have to file a belated return.
Last year, 7.28 crore returns were filed till July 31
Last year, 7.28 crore Income Tax Returns were filed till July 31. This year the pace of filing returns has been slow. Only 5.47 crore returns were filed till September 11. The TRACES portal is down since September 11. Due to this, taxpayers and professionals are unable to access Form 26AS, download TDS certificates and verify tax credits. The load on the e-filing website and its related portals is expected to increase further.
Penalty for filing returns after the deadline
TaxManager founder and CEO Deepak Jain said, “Since morning, there is a problem in importing Annual Information Statement and Tax Information Statement. Our call centers and tax advisors are constantly getting calls from clients. They are worried about what will happen if the return is not filed by September 15.” Belated returns can be filed after September 15. But, a penalty will have to be paid for this.
Associations of tax experts Chartered Accountants have demanded to extend the last date for filing returns. They have requested Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this regard. Jodhpur Bar Association has said that the deadline for ITR filing and tax audit report should be extended. They say that this time ITR forms were released late and after that there has been a continuous problem in the portal.
Associations are demanding extension of deadline
Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association (KSCAA), Advocates Bar Association (ATBA) and ICAI’s Central India Regional Council (CIRC) have also expressed concern about this and have demanded extension of deadline. ATBA has demanded extension of deadline for non-audit ITR to October 15. Tax professionals say that the relief given earlier by the government is insufficient.
This time less time was given to file returns
He says that although CBDT had extended the deadline for non-audit returns from July 31 to September 15, most of the utilities were released quite late. ITR-2 and ITR-3 were released on July 11. ITR-5 was made available in August. The same was the case with ITR-6 and ITR-7. Last year, taxpayers got about 3 months to file returns. Most of the forms were released in April itself.
Do not wait for the deadline to be extended
Although associations are demanding an extension of the deadline for filing returns, tax experts say that nothing can be said for sure about this. Apart from this, filing returns at the last minute also has its own problems. Sujeet Bangar, founder of Taxbuddy.com, said, “There are problems in filing returns at the last minute. Income tax portals freeze due to heavy traffic. Many types of technical problems including delay in Aadhaar OTP are also faced.”
