Income Tax Return: Will the deadline for filing income tax return be extended? What are the problems in filing ITR?

Will the ITR filing deadline be extended : As the last date for filing income tax returns is getting closer, the demand for extending this deadline is gaining momentum. The current deadline for filing ITR is 31 July. But citing the problems being faced on a large scale in filing income tax returns, people are demanding more time. Even the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the apex body of chartered accountants, has written a letter to the Income Tax Department in this matter and tried to draw attention to many such problems. Apart from e-filing of income tax returns, these problems are also related to documents like Form 26AS, Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS).

What problems are taxpayers facing?

1. Problems related to necessary documents: Many people are facing problems in opening and downloading Form 26AS, AIS or TIS on the Income Tax Department portal. Apart from this, the data given in these documents sometimes do not match with each other.

2. There are also complaints that the joint income of two people is sometimes being added separately in the statements of both the joint account holders. Such taxpayers are also getting scrutiny notices from the department, even though they have given information about this to the Income Tax Department.

3. Taxpayers are not getting the necessary options to present their side on AIS and TIS. Actually, the AIS/TIS portal gives some limited options to the taxpayers to present their side on the information shown in these statements. Many times the correct response of the taxpayer does not fall within the scope of these given options. For this, there should also be an option of ‘Others’, in which people can give complete information from their side and if needed, can also upload the correct documents in support of their claim. No such option is available right now.

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4. Many taxpayers have complained that it takes a lot of time for any information to be updated in TIS. They say that the information they are providing is sometimes not included in TIS, due to which it is becoming difficult for them to file income tax returns. Let us tell you that the information filled by the taxpayer in the income tax return must match with Form 26AS and TIS, otherwise they are likely to get a notice from the Income Tax Department, because the department considers only the information given in these forms to be correct.

5. Many times, the return filers are also facing technical glitches on the Income Tax e-filing Portal, due to which there is difficulty in filling the form.

6. Pre-filled data mismatch: Many times the pre-filled data of salary, TDS, interest income etc. in Form 26AS does not match the correct information available with the taxpayers. Without correcting them, it becomes difficult to file the return.

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7. Many taxpayers complain that while filing ITR, they are repeatedly getting ‘error messages’, which is making it very difficult to file the return.

8. Many times taxpayers are not getting One Time Password (OTP) from the income tax portal or they are getting it very late. Due to this, it is becoming difficult to submit and verify the return after filing it.

9. Many people say that after filing ITR, they are facing difficulties in downloading its receipt (ITR Receipts) or acknowledgment, due to which the process of filing the return is not being completed.

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Despite mentioning these problems of taxpayers in its letter, ICAI has not directly demanded an extension of the deadline. But the question is that if these problems are not resolved in time, will it not be injustice to the income tax payers?