The filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) for the financial year 2021-22, the last due date of July 31, has not been extended as of now. While the possibility of the government extending the due date of ITR filing beyond July 31, 2022 will actually exist till the deadline ends, the chances of it happening are slim.

It should be noted that ITR. due date of filing For those individuals for FY2021-22 (July 31, 2022) who are not required to get their accounts audited. Also, this is the last date to file ITR without late fee/penalty. ITR can be filed after this date as a delayed ITR till December 31, 2022, though with a late filing fee of up to Rs 5,000.

While Twitterati is looking forward to the expansion, the reasons for it being less visible are:

1. As per official data shared by Income tax department More than 5.10 crore ITRs have been filed till 30th July 2022 on his official Twitter handle this morning.

According to the tweet, “Over 5.10 crore ITRs have been filed till 30th July 2022. More than 57.51 lakh #ITRs were filed on 30th July 2022 itself. Remember to file yours, if you haven’t filed yet. #File Now to avoid late fees. Today is the due date to file #ITR for AY 2022-23. Please visit: http://incometax.gov.in.”

The latest figures show that till 1 pm today, more than 19.53 lakh ITRs have been filed. “Some figures of income tax returns filed today. Today 19,53,581 #ITRs were filed till 1300 hours and 4,67,902 #ITRs were filed in last 1 hour. For assistance, please connect to orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in or our help desk numbers on 1800 103 0025 and 1800 419 0025. We will be happy to assist,” according to a tweet from the Income Tax Department.

2. According to the tweet of the IT department yesterday i.e. on July 30, 2022, more than 57 lakh ITRs were filed. Assuming that a similar number (if not more) are filed today, the total number of ITRs filed till midnight tonight would cross 5.7 crores by around 5.7 crores. This is because the number of ITRs filed till yesterday had already crossed 5.1 crore. Last year the number of ITRs filed till the due date (December 31, 2021) of ITR filing was 5.9 crore (as per the Income Tax Department’s press release dated January 1, 2022), so the shortfall would be only around 20 lakh.

Since those who miss the due date have the option of filing a belated ITR with late fee, the government may decide to stick to the deadline. It should be noted that the late fee also adds to the government revenue. However, the possibility of the government going soft and extending the deadline at the last minute cannot be completely ruled out.

3. Some experts have been quoted in other media as saying that the only reason for any extension of the deadline would be that the government’s ITR filing e-portal faces major technical issues/very close to the deadline. Slows down to some extent. Though many ITR filers may face problems while filing ITR on the e-portal, there have not been many reports about such major technical problems when the portal was newly launched.

4. Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj has been widely quoted in the media as saying that there are no plans to extend the ITR filing deadline this year.

ET Wealth had earlier spoken to tax experts and chartered accounts on whether the deadline for filing ITR would be extended after the Income Tax Department tweeted about the glitches in the portal. Here’s what he said:

Akanksha Goel, Direct Tax Partner, TR Chadha & Co LLP: The Income Tax Department has recently tweeted about erratic traffic on the portal slowing down the website. This has raised hope for many tax filers, if it reflects the intention of the tax department to extend the due date for filing ITR. Though it is a bit unfortunate that even after more than a year of the launch of a new website, it is not able to handle the traffic on the portal, however, looking at it positively, it may be due to efforts by more assessees. could. File ITR early and don’t wait for the last date. Considering the ITR forms and utilities were issued long back, an extension may not be required this year. However, if the portal slows down and taxpayers are not able to do the required filing, the CBDT may have to consider extending the due date to enable compliance.

Read the rest of the story here:
Will the deadline for filing ITR be extended? What do tax experts say

Hence, it would be wise to try to file your income tax return before the deadline and not wait for the extension as the efforts involved in filing delayed ITR are similar. Here’s help on how to file your ITR.

Here is the complete ITR filing guide