Due date of Income tax return for companies without tax audit is 31.12.2020?

In FY. 2019-20 we have seen various changes and extension of due dates and now that many due dates are coming to end on 31.12.2020, many people are confused whether the due date for filing of ITR of companies without tax audit is 31.12.2020 or 31.01.2021?

The confusion started with an image or banner by Income tax department on e-filing website which read as under:

“Due date for filing ITR for

Tax payers Not Requiring Audit 31st December 2020

Tax payers Requiring Audit – 31st January 2021.”

As the above statement mentions not requiring audit and requiring and since this was posted on income tax website many people presumed that this is talking about tax audit and hence if a company not requiring tax audit is filing normal ITR then it will have to file ITR till 31.12.2020.

However that’s not the case because if ones read the press release extending the due date one would understand that the press release mentioned the due dates as under:

1. Due date 31.01.2021 for those whose original due date was 31.10.2020.

2. Due date 31.12.2020 for those whose original due date is 31.07.2020.

Since by virtue of section 139 due date for filing of income tax return for companies is 31.10.2020 whether or not tax audit is being conducted. Thus, the new date for filing of ITR of companies is 31.01.2021 and not 31.12.2020 whether or not tax audit is being conducted.

Also, after understanding all the above points one could conclude that because of the above reasons the word use in image is just audit and not tax audit.