Dear Editor,
Through the medium of your esteemed daily, we would like to submit following few lines for the kind consideration of Union Finance Minister, seeking extension in due dates for filing Income Tax returns, under IT Act. Income-Tax Bar Association comprises exclusively of Advocates, majority of whom are practicing in Indirect and Direct Taxes. The Advocates are a part and parcel in the administration of Finance and Taxes and undertake compliance work under Income Tax Act. The due date for filing of the Income Tax returns for the period 01.04.2021 to 31.03.2022 (Assessment Year 2022-23) under section 139 of Income-tax Act, 1961 is tomorrow only, i.e. July 31, 2022. However, with regard to the same and the captioned subject hereinabove and also due to the following reasons, we respectfully bring to your kind attention the imperative need to extend the due date of filing of the income tax returns as rain-hit people of Jammu region, as also of entire nation as recently heavy Monsoon showers have wreaked havoc in the entire country badly affecting business community and their infrastructure which is essential for maintenance of account books, preparation of various financial reports and consulting their legal experts for filing of income-tax returns for assessment year 2022-23. Income tax department has recently tweeted regarding irregular traffic on the portal slowing down the website. This has raised hope for many tax filers if this shows the intent to extend of due date for filing ITR by the tax department. Though this is a bit unfortunate that even after more than a year of the launch of a new website, it is not able to handle the traffic on the portal, however, considering it positively, this might have been caused due to more assesses trying to file the ITRs. With taxpayers complaining about issues with the e-filing portal this year as well, there should be bright chances of the government extending the ITR filing deadline this year? Also, tax experts state that so far, very few taxpayers have filed their tax returns, and majority (more than 6 crore taxpayers) are yet to do it. The new Income Tax portal had actually become functional only during the end of September, 2021 and the same is continuing and functional, albeit a lot of glitches and difficulties. The taxpayers as well as the professionals are still facing many a problem in filling up the relevant Income Tax Forms and uploading the information on the portal. The taxpayers, professionals are taking time to understand and then upload the information required to file various Forms. At the same time, even the software companies are also taking quite some time to modify and amend their respective software and this is resulting in consequential delays for the taxpayers to file their returns. The recently introduced systems of MS (Annual Information System) and TIS (Tax Information Summary) on the Income Tax portal is a very new thing for the taxpayers and is resulting in lots of difficulties and anomalies for them to reconcile the information & details. This reconciliation of information is taking a very long time and it may not be possible to submit the income tax returns by the due date. We therefore, sincerely pray that due date of Income Tax Returns be extended at least by three months i.e. upto October 31, 2022 so that professionals are not put to undue stress for timely compliances. This act of extension of the due dates, by passing suitable Orders and issuing Notifications would be very useful for the taxpayers and a great relief for the taxation fraternity.
Adv Sat Mehta, President
Adv V K Grover, General Secretary