The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has vide its above order extended the due date for e-filing of Tax Audit Report to 30 November 2014 for AY2014-15 from 30 September 2014. The order has not mentioned anything about the due date for e-filing of Income tax Return (ITR). It seems the due date for filing of ITR has been kept the same, viz. 30th September 2014.  The Assessee’s who are covered under tax audit provisions of section 44AB, but not under transfer pricing provisions as required by section 92E, do not file the ITR on or before 30 September, 2014, may have the following implications:-

1. He may have to pay interest u/s 234A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on taxes outstanding.

2. Losses if any may not be allowed to be carried forward under the provisions of section 80 Read with section 139(3) of the Income tax Act, 1961.

3. To claim deduction of statutory expenses falling under section 43B, the assessee will have to pay these statutory dues on or before the filing of ITR or the due date of filing the return (due date of return of income-ROI is 30 September 2014), whichever is earlier.

4. Some of the deductions i.e. under Section 10A, which requires the assessee to file his return on or before the due date specified under sub section (1) of section 139, may not be allowed to the assessee.

5. If the assessee is not able to file his return on or before 30 September 2014, he may not be able to revise his return of income.

6. In true terms for the tax professional as evident from the Order, there is no extension of date for submission of tax audit report as most of the professionals prepare the ITR only after completion of tax audit report. This is so because certain disallowances are directly linked to the tax audit findings.

7. The tax audit report has to be filed by the chartered accountant through his login ID on the I-T website under client's PAN, which the client has to accept and only then can the return be filed. In such circumstances if the return filing date is not also extended the clarification issued has no meaning.

The CBDT Order has created a lot of confusion amongst the taxpayers and tax professionals by not specifying the due date for filing the ITR. The CBDT needs to immediately clarify its stand on the due date for ITR filing. A simple sentence adding the line in bold given below would have made things clearer:

“In exercise of power conferred by section 119 of the Income-tax Act (‘the Act’), the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) hereby extends the due date for obtaining and furnishing of the report of audit under section 44AB of the Act for Assessment Year 2014-15 in case of assessees who are not required to furnish report under section 92E of the Act from 30th day of September, 2014 to 30th November, 2014 and consequently also extend the due date for filing the return of income under section 139 for all assessees covered under section 44AB to 30th November, 2014.

Just that simple addition would have avoided all the confusion. In fact there is still time for the CBDT to come out with a clarification to the clarification already issued to clear the air of confusion which has been brought to bear on the tax filing community. (Girish Bokar - Money Life)