TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (1) TMI 792
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....y alterations in Forms and Utilities or changes in tax compliance requirements in that regard, after the beginning of the Assessment Year in which the same are made applicable; (b) direct the Respondent No.2 to provide the tax payers and the tax practitioners a clear period of 183 and 214 days to prepare and submit the prescribed Reports and Forms, respectively and that in the matter of extension of due dates, consult the stakeholders well in advance and not to keep the matter pending till last moment. (c) direct the Respondent No.2 to extend the due date for filing the Income Tax Returns (ITR) for A.Y. 2020-2021 till 31st March, 2021 and to extend the due date for filing the Tax Audit Reports (TAR) for A.Y. 2020-2021 to 28th February, 2021; (d) for ad-interim reliefs in terms of prayers in clauses above; (e) for costs of the petition; and (f) for such other and further other reliefs as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the nature and circumstances of the case." 3. Petitioner No.1 is a trust representing Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants whereas petitioner No.2 is a Chartered Accountant beside....
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....9 the due dates for filing of income tax returns for A.Y. 2020-21 was extended vide the Taxation and Other laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 (which was enacted on 29th September,2020) to 30th November, 2020. Subsequently, vide notification S.O. 3906(E) dated 29th October, 2020 the due dates for filing of returns were further extended to 31st January, 2021 for cases in which tax audit report under section 44AB of the Income tax Act ("the Act") is required to be filed and 31 st December, 2020 for all other cases. Further vide notification S.O.4805 (E) dated 31st December, 2020 the above due dates were further extended to 15th February, 2021 and 10th January, 2021 respectively. 3. As per the provisions of the Act the due date for-filing of the audit report under section 44AB is one month prior to the due date of filing of income tax return. Therefore, the said due date was extended to 31st October, 2020 vide the Taxation and Other laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020, 31st December, 2020 vide notification S.O. 3906(E) dated 29th October, 2020 and further to 15th January, 2020 vide notification S.O. 4805 (E) dat....
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.... 3,323 31,035 24-Oct-19 10,977 87,350 08-Jan-21 3,316 29,924 25-Oct-19 11,841 93,575 09-Jan-21 2,824 26,924 26-Oct-19 10,366 91,397 10-Jan-21 1,416 16,370 27-Oct-19 2,309 30,861 11-Jan-21 28-Oct-19 6,138 59,785 12-Jan-21 29-Oct-19 10,119 1,00569 13-Jan-21 30-Oct-19 23,125 1,87,444 14-Jan-21 31-Oct-19 42,280 3,15,190 15-Jan-21 Grand Total cumulative 2,88,236 25,37,444 Grand Total cumulative 2,14,804 18,49,461 6. The above table also show that majority of the auditreports under section 44AB of the Act as well as income tax returns are filed within the last few days of the dates only. For A.Y. 2019-20 it is seen that 24% of total audit reports were filed in last 3 days before the due date. Therefore, lesser filing compliances having been made much before the due date cannot be said to be an anomalous situation. 7. A look at the relaxation of similar nature provided byother economies globally makes it clear that the Government of India ....
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....ue collected. Sufficient time has already been given to taxpayers to file their tax returns and a large number of taxpayers have already filed their returns of income. 9. From the above discussion, it is apparent that,- • The due dates for filing of return/tax audit have already been extended on 3 occasions. • Internationally, the extension provided by India is more generous as compared to other countries. • The return filing statistics of the current year indicates that returns filed in this financial year already for exceeds the returns filed which were due on the last date of filing of returns. Any further extension would adversely affect the return filing discipline and shall also cause injustice to those who have taken pains to file the return before the due date. It would also postpone the collection of revenue thereby hampering the efforts of the Government to provide relief to the poor during these COVID times. 10. In this regard, the decisions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court have also been considered. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Govt. of A.P. v. N. Subbarayudu, (2008) 14 SCC 702 at page 703: "5. In....
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....d by the Government, (unless it is shown to be totally capricious or whimsical). [State of Bihar vs. Ramjee Prasad 1990(3) SCC 368, Union of Indian & Anr. vs. Sudhir Kumar JaiswaI 1994(4) SCC 212 (vide para 5), Ramrao & Ors. vs. All India Backward Class Bank Employees Welfare Association & Ors. 2004(2)SCC 76 (vide para 31), University Grants Commission vs. Sadhana Chaudhary & Ors. 1996(10) SCC 536, etc .] When it is seen that a line or a point there must be and there is no mathematical or logical way of fIxing it precisely, the decision of the legislature or its delegated must be accepted unless it can be said that it is very wide off the reasonable mark. (See Union of India & Anr. v. Mis Parameshwaran match works Ltd., 1975 (2) SCR 573, at p.579; and Dr. (Mrs.) Sushma Sharma etc. etc. v. State of Rajasthan & Ors. 1985 (3) SCR 243, at p. 269) 12. In view of the above reasons, all the representations for further extension of the due date are hereby rejected." 8. Grievance expressed by the petitioners as highlighted by Mr.Sridharan relates to amendment brought to the Income Tax Rules, 1962 by way of Income Tax (22nd Amendment) Rules, 2020 vide notification dated 1st Octob....