Tax audit deadline: Last date for the income tax audit report: The deadline for the tax audit report is extended

The deadline to present the income tax audit report has been extended until October 7, 2024 for those taxpayers who are required by law to make a income tax audit of its accounts and submit the audit report by September 30, 2024. The report has to be submitted online on the ITR e-filing portal. This extension is important since the penalty for filing a tax audit The report after the deadline is Rs 1.5 lakh or 0.5% of the total sales, whichever is less.

“The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend the date specified for submission of various audit reports for the previous year 2023-24, which was September 30, 2024 in the case of the assessees referred to subsection (a) of the Explanation. 2 to paragraph (1) of article 139 of the Law, until October 7, 2024,” said the Revenue. Tax Department in a circular published on September 29, 2024.

For which taxpayers is the deadline for submitting the tax audit report extended?

In the circular, CBDT specifically mentioned the category of taxpayers for whom the deadline was extended till October 7, 2024.

Chartered Accountant Ashish Niraj, Partner at ASN & Company Chartered Accountants, says:
“As per this circular, all assessees who are required to conduct tax audit, including individuals, companies and other assessees whose ITR are required to be filed by October 31 of the assessment year, and who were required to submit tax audit report before “On September 30, you can upload the tax audit report before October 7, 2024, now.” he says.Chartered Accountant Deepak Chopra, Chairman, direct tax Committee, Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association (KSCAA) confirms ET Wealth Online that, “The deadline for submitting the Income Tax audit report has been extended until October 7, 2024 for ALL taxpayers who were required to submit their tax audit report before September 30, 2024” .

Why was the deadline for submitting the tax audit report extended?

In the circular dated September 29, 2024, CBDT said, “In considering the difficulties faced by taxpayers and other stakeholders in electronic submission of various audit reports under the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (Act), the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in exercise of its powers under section 119 of the Act, extends the date specified for submission of audit report….”

Economic Times Wealth Online reported on September 19, 2024 that many taxpayers were experiencing slowness in the functioning of the ITR e-filing portal and were unable to upload tax audit reports on it.

Reaction of experts to the extension of the tax audit deadline until October 7, 2024

Chartered Accountant Deepak Chopra, Chairman, Direct Taxes Committee, Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association (KSCAA), says:
“We welcome the decision of the CBDT to extend the date specified for submission of various audit reports for the previous year 2023-24 from September 30 to October 7, 2024. This extension provides much-needed relief to taxpayers , especially in light of the technical challenges. confronted on the income tax portal. However, I would like to urge taxpayers and professionals alike not to wait until the last minute to complete their returns. Delaying submissions tends to overwhelm the system as the deadline approaches, adding undue stress to both examinees and the portal infrastructure.”

Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, Direct Tax, SK Patodia & Associates LLP, says:
“As the tax website was not working properly for the last few days. We were finding it difficult to submit tax audit reports and other forms like form 10B/10BB, 29B etc, the due date of which was September 30, 2024. Now the ITR due date is also expected to be extended till November 7. 2024 or later date. We hope that our Honorable FM will extend the ITR date by more than 7 days considering that the festival of Diwali is in the first week of November.”

Chartered Accountant Ashish Niraj, Partner, ASN & Company:
“This 7-day extension for submission of tax audit report will also save a penalty of Rs 1.5 lakh or 0.5% of total sales, whichever is less for those taxpayers who are likely to miss the deadline. deadline of September 30, 2024 for the presentation of the tax audit report. due to portal failures or any other reason. Although the tax audit report submission date was extended just before the deadline, it will provide some relief to professionals like us. Some clients provide explanations requested by public accountants on tax audit-related queries very late. As a result, professionals are facing a lot of pressure in recent days. etc.”