On July 2 this year, the Income Tax department had declared that it has extended the last date for filing tax returns (ITR) for the financial year 2019-20 till November 30, 2020.

The tweet by the IT department had said: "Understanding & keeping in mind the times that we are in, we have further extended deadlines. Now, filing of ITR for FY 2019-20 is extended to 30th November 2020. We do hope this helps you plan things better."

This means that investors get an extended time limit for making investments to claim an income tax deduction by a month till July 31, 2020. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has made that exception to ease the taxpayer's burden during the trying and testing time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can also furnish or issue TDS (tax deducted at source) or TCS (tax collected at source) statements/certificates pertaining to the financial year 2019-20 by the extended dates of July 31 and August 15 respectively.

Tax audit reports can now be furnished till October 31.

If you are a taxpayer, you can now have a slew of deductions against investment in life insurance, PF (Section 80C of the Income Tax Act) and health insurance (Section 80D) for the financial year 2019-20.

You can have the assessment made to claim deductions in capital gains arising out of investments, construction and purchases made till September 30, 2020.

Deadline for linking PAN with Aashaar has also been extended by three months.

The ITR deadline was otherwise set to end on June 30. 

This extension will provide relief to taxpayers in these stressful times of COVID-19 pandemic and also provide the tax officials with the room to ensure compliance of statutory and regulatory requirements across all sectors.

It is to the taxpayer's benefit that the filing is not left to the last day of the extended period.