CBDT to revise income tax return forms to help taxpayers avail benefits of timeline extension due to COVID-19

The Central Board of Direct Taxes is revising the income tax return forms to help taxpayers avail benefits of various extensions granted by the government due to coronavirus.In a release, CBDT said the revision in the return forms for financial year 2019-2020 will be notified by the end of April. The Ministry of Finance tweeted about the notification.“In order to enable income taxpayers to avail full benefits of various timeline extensions granted by the Government of India due to COVID-19 pandemic situations, the CBDT is revising the return forms for FY 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21) which shall be notified by the end of this month,” the release said.[caption id="attachment_4347785" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. Reuters.[/caption]The CBDT said that it has initiated necessary changes in the ITR forms so that taxpayers could take benefits of their transactions carried out during 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020.“Once the revised forms are notified, it will further necessitate the consequential changes in the software and return filing utility. Hence, the return filing utility after incorporating necessary changes shall be made available by 31 May 2020 to avail benefits for FY 2019-20,” CBDT said.In March, the government had announced a host of relaxations in tax and payment compliances including reducing the quantum of penalties, extending the deadline to make clear the dues among others to help the public and corporates.Generally, the income tax return forms are notified in the first week of April. This year too, the e-filing of income tax department had released ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 (Sugam) for FY 2019-20 in January itself.The last date of filing income tax return is usually 31 July.To restrict the spread of novel coronavirus, the government had on 14 April announced the extension of nationwide lockdown till 3 May.