Taxation Tax Bar Association, Ludhiana has requested to extend the due date of filing return of income tax u/s 139(1) of the income tax act, 1961 for all the salaried and non-corporate tax payers (not subject to audit from 31.07.2022 to 31.08.2022.
TAXATION BAR ASSOCIATION
To
Smt Nirmala Sitaraman,
Honorable Finance Minister
Government of India
New Delhi
Subject: Request to extend the due date for filing Non Audit Income Tax Return for A.Y. 2022-23 up to 31.08.2022.
Respected Madam,
Regarding Taxation Tax Bar Association, Ludhiana
The Taxation Tax Bar Association, Ludhiana (in short TBA) is an association consisting of Advocates and Tax Practitioners. TBA has been primarily constituted for the welfare of the members as well as to safe guard the interest of taxpayers through representations before various authorities from time to time as needed be.
At the outside we would like to appreciate the initiate taken by the Government for better services to the taxpayers.
We are writing this letter to your good self to consider our requests to extend the due dates of Income tax returns for salaried and non-corporate (not subject to audit) taxpayers from 31.07.2022 to 15.09.2022 due to the following reasons:
Due date for filing TDS returns for the Q4 (2021 22) was 31.05.2022. Post filing the TDS returns for salaried and non-salaried persons, IDS Certificates are required to be issued within 15 days, i.e. by 15.06.2022. On receipt of the TDS certificates, the tax payers’ reconcile the same with their books of accounts and then inform the TDS deductors of changes, in any. The deductors would then have to file the revised TDS returns and give the deductees, the corrected TDS certificates. Once the TDS / TCS credit is properly reflected in the Form 26AS of the tax payers, the accountants can proceed with finalization of accounts / determination of final tax liability. The issuance of TDS certificates by 15.06.2022, leaves a very less time on hand for the tax payers to reconcile and finalise the income vis-a-vis the tax deducted thereon. The tax payers also have to reconcile the information shown in Annual Information Statement. Hence, they need proper time to collect the correct information so that their returns are filed accurately.
The month of July is particularly a very busy month for the professionals & accountants. In this month, post TDS / TCS challans and monthly & quarterly GST filings, TCS / TDS quarterly return filings are also to be done. There are various new amendments related to TDS (like section 194R and 194S which are applicable from 01.07.2022), which requires time to understand and implement. TDS / TCS Sections like 194Q & 206C(1H) have increased the work of accountants wherein they have to reconcile each transaction and make sure correct TDS/ TCS is deducted / collected. This year, post amendment to the Schedule Ill of the Companies Act, 2013, plethora of new disclosure requirements have been added to the financial statements. Both the auditors & accountants are working extremely hard to comply with the new requirements. Moreover, due to the new disclosure requirements of the Companies Auditor’s Report Order (CARO), 2020 which has been made applicable for the financial year 2021 22, the auditors / professionals are revisiting their audit procedures to comply with the CARO 2020 requirements. the Accounting standards Board of ICAI has issued Technical Guide on financial Statements of Non-Corporate entities which will lead to uniformity of presentation of accounts of non-corporate tax payers also. The Non-Corporate entities are in the process of adopting the recommendatory financials and this will usher in easy comparability and detailed disclosures for non-corporate entities also. This process also requires time and most of the MSME tax payers which are non-corporates, would want to comply with the recommended guidelines from the financial year 2021-22.
- While the country has been unlocked as a whole, the scare of COVID -19 still prevails. The businesses are still struggling to get back to their normal capacities. We are experiencing increase in no. of cases in several parts of the country, which has slowed down the recovery process of the businesses in those regions. As on 08.07.2022, India reported 18,815 new Covid-19 cases with 38 deaths in past 24 hours. The total number of active cases in the country now stands at 1,22,335. The offices are still not working at their 100% capacities as COVID-19 cases are still on a rise in parts of country and they do not expect their workforce to resume work physically in near future, making it strenuous for them to do necessary accounting and finalisation work. COVID-19 has had a huge impact psychologically and it will take some time for people to leave behind the fear and anxiety caused due to this pandemic. There is still a negative impact on demand and supply of goods and services and businesses are also facing serious cash flow issues as the economic activities have still not been able to run at the normal capacities.
Though lot of the issues of the new income tax portal have been solved, there are still various issues in the portal which we expect to be resolved in the coming weeks. Due to heavy load on last days of filing which also coincides with the due date of filing TDS / TCS returns for Q 1 2022-23, the portal might not work to optimum capacity resulting into dissatisfaction amongst the tax payers. Further, common offline utility for filing Income-tax Returns ITR 1, ITR 2, ITR 3 and ITR 4 for the AY 2022-73 was released on 01.07.2022.
CBDT on 14th June 2022 has finally released after 74 days Excel offline Utility of ITR-5 [For persons other than,- (i) individual, (ii) HUF, (iii) company and (iv) person filing Form ITR-7] for Assessment Year 2022-23
Issues in filing of Income Tax returns: While trying to file Income — tax returns absurd errors appears & returns could not be uploaded. This is seen from 7th July till date. Copies of screenshots are attached herewith. Even, the Software Companies have sent the message in response to queries that they have communicated to the department & they are working on it.
Irregular traffic on the website: On the first anniversary of launching of the website on 2nd July 2022 the Income tax department has agreed that there is some irregular traffic on the website & they are searching for the issues to overcome. Screenshot of the departmental tweet is attached herewith for your verification.
Heavy Rains
Heavy rains have brought all the Indian cities to a standstill. This has further disrupted the lives of millions of people across the country.
The weather department has issued red/ orange alert specifically for few cities, predicting heavy to very heavy rains over the next week as well.
Keeping in view the above weather conditions, a short extension till August, 31st should be considered by the tax department. This will help many taxpayers to file their tax returns within the due date.
In the light of all the facts put forth before your honour, be humbly request your good self to extend the due date of filing return of income tax u/s 139(1) of the income tax act, 1961 for all the salaried and non-corporate tax payers (not subject to audit from 31.07.2022 to 31.08.2022. Your early action in the matter will be in the interest of both us taxpayers and the income-tax department.
For Taxation Tax Bar Association, ludhiana
Adv. Naresh GAba
1. The Honorable Prime Minister.
2. The Honorable, MOS Finance.
3. The Revenue Secretary.
4. Chairman, CBDT.
5. Principal CCIT, Chandigarh.
6. The Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Ludhiana.
Representation on Income Tax Return due Date Extension
