Income tax department to issue new ITR forms after extension of deadlines to enable the taxpayer to avail benefits of relief measures

NEW DELHI : The income tax department has decided to revise income tax return (ITR) forms for the FY 2019-20 in order to enable the taxpayers for recieving the benefits of relief measures announced by the government in the wake of coronavirus lockdown . It shall be notified by the end of the month.

” in order to facilitate taxpayer to avail full benefits with various timeline extension up to 30th June 2020 granted by the government, it has initiated necessary changes in the return forms so that taxpayers could take benefits of their transactions carried out during the period from 1st April 2020 to 30th June 2020 in the return forms for FY 2019-20.”A Press release by Ministry of Finance said today

According to the Press release CBDT(Central Board of Direct Taxes) informed that the necessary modifications in the return forms are being made to allow taxpayers to avail the benefits of their investments/transactions made for the Apr-to-Jun 2020 period. Once the revised forms are notified, it will further necessitate the consequential changes in the software and return filing utility.Hence, the return filing utility after incorporating necessary changes shall be made available by 31st May, 2020 to avail benefits for FY 2019-20.

According to CBDT due to outbreak of Covid-19, the Government has extended various timelines under the Income-tax Act,1961  Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of certain provisions) Ordinance, 2020. Accordingly, the time for making investment/ payments for claiming deduction under Chapter-VIA-B of IT Act which includes Section 80C (LIC, PPF, NSC etc.), 80D (Mediclaim),80G (Donations), etc. for FY 2019-20 has also been extended to 30thJune 2020. Also, the dates for making investment/construction/purchase for claiming roll over benefit in respect of capital gains under sections 54 to section 54GB has also been extended to 30th June 2020. Therefore return forms are being revised to facilitate reporting of the transactions of the relief period. Press Release said.

It also noted that generally the income-tax return forms are notified in the first week of April. This year also the e-filing utility for filing of return for Assessment Year 2020-21 was made available as on 1st April, 2020, and the Income-tax Return (ITR) Forms ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 (Sugam) for the FY 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21),too, were already notified notification dated 3rd January, 2020. However, to ensure that the taxpayer is enabled to avail all benefits of the timeline extension due to Covid -19 pandemic, the Return Forms revision is being carried out.