ITR filing: The Income Tax return filing deadline is July 31, 2024. With the deadline just two weeks away, the rush to file ITRs has increased multifold. Many taxpayers have reported constant delays due to snags with the e-filing portal. Due to this, the Income Tax Department has started receiving requests from individual taxpayers and tax professionals for extending the ITR due date for AY 2024-25 beyond July 31.
After the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and the Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association, the All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants and Income Tax Bar Association have written to FM Nirmala Sitharaman about constant issues with the functioning of the Income Tax Portal and updates in AIS/TIS.
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Both have requested an extension of the deadline for filing Income Tax Returns for AY 2024-25 from July 31, 2024, to August 31, 2024.
Rebate u/s 87A
In its letter to the finance ministry, Income Tax Bar Association noted: “It is to bring to your kind notice that after update in the ITR online utility post 5th July, the utility is not giving benefit of rebate u/s 87A for the tax on short-term capital gain on shares u/s 111A and other special rate incomes. Before 5th July, the same utility and calculator were allowing rebate u/s 87A against the tax on short term capital gain on shares u/s 111A and other special rate incomes other than long-term capital gain u/s 112A where such rebate is specifically barred by the sub-section (6) of the section 112A itself.”
It added: “In our humble opinion and as per the intention of the law in providing the rebate u/s 87A, the behavior of the system is incorrect and the same should be rectified at the earliest considering that it impacts a huge number of taxpayers and especially when the exchequer needs to broaden the taxpayers base in India. During the last days of filing Income Tax Returns for which due date is 31st July, such confusion adds fuel to the fire.”
New Tax and Old Tax Regime
On New/Old regime on Income tax portal there is a specific query – Is there any difference in tax rebate u/s 87A in old and new regime. The portal to this query clearly says that the limit is increased from Rs. 12500 to Rs. 25000. No additional difference has been mentioned in working of Rebate u/s 87A w.r.t. old and new regime which means that if in calculating the rebate of Rs. 12500 under old regime benefit is provided for tax on STCG u/s 111A and other special rate incomes, the same benefit would also be available while calculating rebate under new regime.
Reporting Requirements & Complexity of Transactions
> In the era when CPC is processing ITRs very quickly and the differences between reporting in AIS / TIS & 26AS v/s Income Tax Return are being communicated as errors or are subject to notices for rectification, it takes time in preparation and filing of returns.
> After the introduction of increased limit u/s 44AD up to turnover of Rs. 2 / 3 Crore & proviso to section 44AB having non requirement of audit up to turnover of Rs. 10 Crore in this digital payments’ era, the cases where the due date of 31st July is applicable have increased drastically.
> Moreover, the checking requirements and application of other provisions such as TDS, 269SS/T, 43B, GST etc. are still applicable to such cases, which require considerable time and efforts before filing ITRs. From the current year reporting under 43B(h) related to payments to MSME has also added the need of considerable time to find figures and consider them for preparation of the Income Tax Returns even in non-audit business cases.
Logging issues
Many taxpayers have reported issues with logging into the Income Tax website on social media platform X.
It is also to bring to your attention that once again the Income Tax Portal is not functioning properly for almost a month by now. There are many glitches like –
> Slow speed of portal in loading each and every page,
> Upload related issues where upload fails with unexpected errors
> Pages becomes non-responsive
> No response from UIDAI for Aadhar-based OTP verification etc. are being faced constantly by the taxpayers.
The department addresses the issues through grievances redressal mechanism and also by providing many answers to the queries raised on the official handle on X (formerly known as Twitter) through its handle @IncomeTaxIndia.
There are so many issues where this handle has given standard replies stating there seem to be some intermittent issues. We have flagged them to the team concerned. The technical team is working to resolve the issues. However, please share your details (with PAN & mobile no.) at orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in for our team to assist.