Every taxpayer is required to file their income tax return (ITR) within the due date prescribed under the Income Tax Act, 1961. However, with the growing complexities in business and audit requirements, meeting these fixed deadlines has become increasingly difficult for both taxpayers and professionals.
Advocate Dr. Paras Kochar highlights that while the government prescribes a due date for filing returns—typically July 31 for individuals and October 31 for audit cases—practical challenges often make adherence difficult. These challenges have intensified with the digitization of the filing process and increasing audit obligations.
Practical Issues in Meeting Deadlines
Dr. Kochar explains that in recent years, all returns are filed online, and yet, taxpayers and professionals encounter frequent issues such as:
- Portal Inefficiencies: The income tax portal often suffers from downtime and glitches, preventing timely filings.
- Late Notifications: Frequently, utilities for filing or reporting are updated close to the deadline, leaving insufficient time for compliance.
- Festive Season Clashes: The return filing deadlines often coincide with the festival months—August to November—covering Raksha Bandhan, Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra, Diwali, and Chhath Puja. These festive breaks disrupt work schedules.
- CA Examination Period: A large section of articled assistants, who form the backbone of accounting and audit work, are engaged in exams during these months, further delaying completion of audits and returns.
- Bulk Filing Pressure: A huge number of tax professionals face immense workload pressure as returns, audits, and other compliances bunch up around the same period.
Additional Complications
According to Dr. Kochar, beyond the return filing itself, taxpayers are also burdened with audit reports, tax reconciliations, and various statutory filings—all of which require significant time and technical accuracy.
If deadlines remain unchanged amidst these challenges, both taxpayers and professionals are subjected to undue stress, errors, and non-compliance risks.
Proposed Solutions
Dr. Kochar proposes that the government should consider the following measures to address this recurring issue:
- Align Return Due Dates with Calendar Year: Instead of linking due dates with the assessment year, they should be tied to the financial year calendar, making them more practical.
- Comprehensive Coordination: The government should coordinate with institutions like ICAI, ICSI, and audit bodies before finalizing timelines.
- Staggered Deadlines: Different categories of taxpayers—individuals, firms, companies—could have separate, evenly distributed deadlines to avoid last-minute traffic on the income tax portal.
- Advance Utility Release: Return filing utilities and schema should be made available well before the due dates.
- Avoid Frequent Changes: The income tax department should avoid repeated modifications to forms and processes close to deadlines, as these create confusion and inefficiency.
Expert Observation
Dr. Kochar emphasizes that extending due dates year after year is not a sustainable solution. Instead, the government must adopt a structural reform approach—by redesigning the compliance calendar and ensuring systemic readiness before fixing deadlines.
He concludes that with better planning, coordination, and technological preparedness, both the taxpayer community and the administration can achieve smoother, error-free compliance — without the annual chaos and appeals for extensions.
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