(ET)
The finance ministry has extended the deadline for filing income tax return (ITR) for FY2018-19 by individuals to August 31, 2019 from July 31, 2019. The extension is a much needed relief as there were multiple problems being faced by individuals in filing returns by July 31. July 31 was the deadline to file income tax returns for most individuals and HUFs. This is that category of individuals and HUFs who are not mandatory required to get their accounts audited for tax purposes.
Many chartered accountant/tax practitioner societies had appealed to the government to extend the ITR filing deadline to provide sufficient time to individuals to file ITR properly. There are many reasons for this. This year CBDT had extended the deadline for employers to file their TDS returns, i.e., Form 24Q, from May 31, 2019 to June 30, 2019 and consequently deadline of issuing Form 16 by the employer was also extended from June 15, 2019 to July 31, 2019. Consequently, employees waiting to get their Form 16s to file their ITRs were left with only 21 days to file their tax return by the earlier deadline of July 31.
