The income tax department is now revising income tax return (ITR) forms so that taxpayers can avail benefits of relief measures given by the government due to coronavirus lockdown. The statement came from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on April 19.

“Given that the government expects to notify the new ITR forms/ utilities by end of May 2020 coupled with the fact that still, taxpayers will have time to make tax-saving investments by 30th June, it may leave taxpayers with lesser time to comply with ITR filing by end of July. It would, therefore, be not unreasonable to expect an extension in the due date of filing the ITRs as well, which may be announced by the government subsequently,” Shailesh Kumar, Director, Nangia Andersen Consulting, said.

Earlier, an extension till June 30 was provided to various statutory deadlines related to income tax which were ending on March 31. 

Here are five things you should know: 

1. The new income tax returns forms for 2019-20 will be notified by month-end and return filing utility would be made available by May 31, according to CBDT. Once the revised forms are notified, it will further necessitate changes in the software and return filing utility.

2. The revised ITR forms would allow taxpayers to enjoy the benefits of their transactions carried out from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020. It is also expected that the July 31 last date for filing of ITR this year would be extended by the income tax department.  

3. The deadline for making investment or payments for claiming deduction under Section 80C (LIC, PPF, NSC, ELSS mutual funds, etc.), 80D (Mediclaim), 80G (Donations), etc. for FY 2019-20 has been extended till June 30.

4. ITR forms are generally notified immediately after the relevant financial year closes in March so that taxpayers can file their ITRs before the due date of 31 July.

5. Usually, the I-T return forms are notified in the first week of April. This year as well, the e-filing utility for return filing for Assessment Year 2020-21 was available from April 1 2020. This year, the ITR Forms ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 (Sugam) were already notified on January 3, 2020, after making some changes related to disclosures.