E-Paper
Covid-19: After extending deadline to file income tax return, govt revises Sahaj, Sugam forms
The CBDT said that necessary modifications in the return forms Sahaj and Sugam are being made to allow taxpayers to avail the benefits of their investments/transactions made from April to June 2020.
The government has decided to revise the income tax return forms for assessment year 2020-21 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The revision will be notified by the end of this month, the Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a release on Sunday.
Giving respite to tax payers, various statutory deadlines related to income tax which were ending on March 31, were extended till June 30 last month. Considering the hardship people are facing due to spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19 and measures taken to curb it, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the extension of the deadlines.
The CBDT explained that necessary modifications in the return forms are being made to allow taxpayers to avail the benefits of their investments/transactions made from April to June 2020. After incorporating necessary changes, the return filing utility will be made available by May 31, to avail benefits for FY 2019-20, it further said.
Generally, the income tax return forms are notified in the first week of April.
This year too, the e-filing utility for filing of return for assessment year 2020-21 was made available on April 1 and the Income Tax Return (ITR) forms - ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 (Sugam) - for the FY 2019-20, too, were notified on January 3.
However, to ensure that the taxpayer is enabled to avail all benefits of the timeline extension due to Covid-19 pandemic, the revision of the return forms is being carried out.
Under the income tax laws, the due date to file ITR for a financial year typically ends on July 31 of a particular relevant assessment year. However, if someone fails to file her ITR before the due date, he/she can still file a belated return till March 31.
This deadline was extended till June 30, so now you can file your return for FY’19 till that date. However, you will have to pay a late fee at the time of filing returns.
