In view of difficulties being faced by assessees, the government today extended the last date for filing income tax returns for assessment year 2018-19 by a month to August 31. Individuals and entities, whose accounts are not required to be audited, were mandated to file I-T returns by July 31. The forms were notified earlier in April.

Upon consideration of the matter, the (CBDT) extends the due date' for filing of Income Tax Returns from July 31, 2018 to August 31, 2018 in respect of the said categories of taxpayers, a Finance Ministry statement said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, in a tweet, appealed to citizens to pay taxes within the extended due date.

"The last date for submission of income tax has been extended from July 31 to August 31, 2018, I request every taxpayer to submit their income tax by the due date, fulfil their duty as a law-abiding citizen and contribute in the nation building," he said.

Nangia Advisors LLP Partner Suraj Nangia said that by extending the due date, the tax department has addressed the concerns raised by the taxpayer and tax professional regarding the legal, technical and practical difficulties faced while filing the Income-Tax return for AY 2018-19.

"The concerns raised by the stakeholders were many, viz. considerable delay in release of form utilities leading to shortage of time, continuous updation of schema of utilities leading to further delay, delay in updation of Form 26AS which reflects the TDS credit that is available at the time of ITR filing, mandatory penalty for even one day of delay in filing ITR, implementation of GST law adding to the work load since GST reconciliation with books is required," Nangia said.

PwC India Partner and Leader, Personal Tax, Kuldip Kumar said, "Although due date (has been) extended, those who have taxes to pay should pay before July 31 to save additional one month interest under section 234B.

Upon consideration of the matter, the (CBDT) extends the ‘Due Date’ for filing of Income Tax Returns from 31st July, 2018 to 31st August, 2018 in respect of the said categories of taxpayers. — Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 26, 2018