The government today extended the last date for uploading audit reports of income tax returns by a month to October 31.

The due date, which was earlier September 30, has been extended in the wake of difficulty in uploading the report of audit electronically as prescribed under the sub—rule (2) of Rule 12 of the IT rules for the assessment year 2013—14.

“It has come to the notice of the CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) that many assessees who are required to file their income tax returns by September 30, 2013 are finding it difficult to upload the report of audit electronically.

“Therefore, the CBDT has decided to extend the time for furnishing the report of audit electronically till October 31, 2013,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

The statement, however added that, the assessees are required to file the report of audit manually with the jurisdictional Assessing Officer by September 30, 2013.

As per the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), there has been an unprecedented surge in number of returns being e—filed.