Due date for Tax audit for A.Y. 2019-20 extended from 30th September to 31st October

written by Income tax Expert | September 28, 2019

CBDT vide order under section 119 on 27.09.2019 extended the due date for filing Tax audit report and income tax return from 30th September to 31st October.

Now many people were confused whether the due date has been extended for everyone who were required to file return of income till 30th September or only people who are required to file Tax audit report i.e. will this extension apply to Companies required to conduct Statutory audit and working partners of firm who were required to get their accounts audited.

As per the notification/ order u/s 119 this extension applies to due date mentioned in clause (a) of Explanation 2 of sub section 1 of section 139 which covers:

 “Explanation 2.—In this sub-section, “due date” means,—

(a)  where the assessee other than an assessee referred to in clause (aa) is—

(i)  a company; or

(ii) a person (other than a company) whose accounts are required to be audited under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force; or

(iii) a working partner of a firm whose accounts are required to be audited under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force,

 the 30th day of September of the assessment year;“

From the above it’s clear that date has been increased for companies whether required to get tax audit or not and also for working partner of firm in addition to people required to get their accounts audited.

Now the second interest thing about this order is that in last third line they have mentioned that the due date has been extended for filing of return of income and not for levying interest u/s 234A which means you need to pay your tax payable if any before 30th September to save 1% interest per month. Government has been coming up with this kind of notification for past 2 years where they extend date for filing return of income and not for paying tax even when both of them are inter connected if you look at section 234A as section 234A borrows its definition of due date from section 139(1).

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