Not filed your ITR yet? Fret not, the deadline is extended to March 15

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) today extended the date of filing income tax returns (ITRs) to March 15. The earlier deadline to file the ITRs was December 31.

In a press release, CBDT said it was extending the deadline "on consideration of difficulties reported by the taxpayers and other stakeholders due to COVID-19 and in electronic filing of various reports of audit under the provisions
of the Income Tax Act, 1961".

The CBDT also extended deadlines to file audit reports, and reports by accountants under Section 92E of the I-T Act, to February 15.

The statement clarified that the extension does not apply to cases in which  the amount of tax on the total income "as reduced by the amount as specified in clauses (i) to (vi) of sub-section (1) of that section" exceeds Rs 1 lakh.

The release further said that in case of those who paid the tax under Section 140A of the I-T Act before the original due date (without extensions), the paid amount will be considered advance tax.

Last week, the I-T Department had claimed that it has issued refunds to the tune of more than Rs 1.50 lakh crore so far in the ongoing fiscal. As per the department, this includes 1.1 crore refunds for AY22 amounting to Rs 21,324 crore. In a tweet, the I-T Department had said, "CBDT issues refunds of over ₹1,50,407 crore to more than 1.48 crore taxpayers from 1st Apr,2021 to 3rd January,2022 ."

Should an individual fail to file their income tax returns by the deadline, a penalty along with interest under section 234A of the I-T Act is levied. The taxpayer is liable to pay simple interest at 1 percent per month or part of a month for delay in filing the return of income. Such a filing is known as belated income tax return. The penalty for filing ITR after the due date is up to Rs 5,000.