As the last date for individuals to file their income tax returns (ITR) is nearing, tax consultants have taken to social media platforms demanding an extension in the date for return filing.  

Experts say due to the delay in update of Form 26 AS, which is a consolidated annual statement having details of tax deducted at source (TDS), tax collected at source (TCS), advance tax and self-assessment tax paid by the assessee, the taxpayers are left with very less time to do all the formalities and due diligence.

The last date for individual return filing is July 31. The finance ministry sources have been saying that it is unlikely that the deadline will be extended. “Form 26 AS gets updated by June 10-15. It is dependent upon TDS returns. The deadline for filing TDS returns is May 31.

Government data related to January-March is never updated on time. So the tax consultants are left with only 45 days to file returns. This time the duration is very short,” Chetan Daga, partner at AdvantEdge Consulting Group, said.

“At the end of the financial year, work gets piled up. So, the time to do the review and formalities related to return filing falls very short,” Daga added. Kunal Singhal, a senior partner at CA firm Suresh Chandra & Associates, suggests that the government should raise the time gap between the processing of TDS returns and the return filing date.