The deadline for Income Tax Return (ITR) filing for FY 2016-17 (AY 2017-18) has been extended to 5th August 2017 from 31st July 2017.
It has come as a relief for a number of taxpayers who were facing problems due to multiple changes made in the procedure lately. These changes include the mandatory linking of PAN and Aadhaar, quoting of Aadhaar in tax returns, etc. Moreover, tax payers have also faced delays in getting TDS certificates from their employers due to the recent roll out of GST. Some also complained about the Income Tax e-filing website getting shut down erratically.
An extended deadline will help these tax payers in filing their ITR without having to pay penalties for delays. The government has also provided relief to people by allowing ITR filing without the linking of PAN and Aadhaar for now. However, they will have to quote their 12-digit Aadhaar in the tax return and get the two documents linked before August 31, 2017. The returns will be processed by the department only after the two documents are linked.