As individuals and businesses are struggling to restart their work after the removal of the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of Covid pandemic, the government has announced some relaxations in the income tax compliance requirements which includes extension in the date for filing of income tax return (ITR) for FY19 as well as linking PAN with Aadhaar.

Here are six recent changes made in the income tax and other compliance requirements:

1. Extension in PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline
The deadline for linking PAN with Aadhaar was extended again to March 31, 2021. The previous deadline for linking one’s PAN card with the Aadhaar card was June 30, 2020. This extension in deadline gives some relief to those whose PAN and Aadhaar are not linked yet.

CBDT said PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline has been extended particularly in view of the fact that the government has also extended the date for passing of order by the authorities and various compliances under various Direct Taxes and Benami Law from December 31, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

2. Extension in the date for filing ITR
The Ministry of Finance earlier this week issued a notification mentioning that the last date for filing of original as well as revised ITR for AY 2019-20 (FY 2018-19) has been extended to July 31, 2020. Along with this, the due date for filing ITR for the current assessment year (FY 2019-20) has also been extended to November 30, 2020. The government has also extended the date for furnishing tax audit report to October 31.

3. Self-assessment tax payment deadline 
Due to the lockdown many small businesses and high net worth individuals are witnessing temporary cash crunch as their incomes were impacted. In order to give relief to these people, the government has extended the due date for payment of self-assessment tax to November 30 this year.

Worth mentioning here is that this relaxation has been given only for those taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is up to Rs 1 lakh. Thus, taxpayers whose self-assessment tax liability is more than Rs 1 lakh will not get benefitted from this extension in date.

4. Extension in date for making tax-saving investments
The government has further extended the date for making various tax-saving investment under Chapter-VIA of the Income Tax Act, which includes section 80C investments like PPF, LIC, NSC etc., section 80D, and section 80G donations. With this relaxation, you will now be able to make investment for claiming deductions under the various sections for the last financial year by July 31, 2020.

5. Extension in date for claiming deduction in respect of capital gains

Now, the investment, construction or purchase of house made up to September 30 this year will be eligible for claiming capital gains deduction for the previous financial year (FY2019-20). The government has extended the last date for making investment, construction or purchase for claiming deduction in respect of capital gains under sections 54 to 54GB of the Income Tax Act to September 30, 2020.

6. Extension in dates for furnishing and issuance of TDS and TCS certificates

As you all know that TDS and TCS certificates need to be procured from various tax deductors for filing ITR, the date for furnishing of TDS/ TCS statements and issuance of TDS/ TCS certificates pertaining to the FY 2019-20 has been extended to July 31, 2020 and August 15, 2020, respectively, giving employers and other deductors a much-needed relief.