Filing IT-R extended till August 5; PAN-Aadhaar link mandatory for processing by August 31

According to the Ministry of Finance, the site had slowed down on the last day of the IT-R filing because of heavy rush. Tax Payers complained that they were unable to file their returns because of the slow site. The Government of India also has mandated taxpayers to declare bank details if it exceeds Rs 2 lakh savings after demonetisation.

Good news for IT-R applicants! The government has extended the last day of filing returns to August 5. However, it has warned that the applications will not be processed until the PAN and the Aadhaar card of the applicants are linked. And the last date for that is August 31. 

According to a report by the Hindustan Times, the extension was done due to some technical glitches on the e-filing site. According to sources, due to heavy traffic on the site on the last day of filing the returns, the website had slowed making application difficult. The official Twitter handle of the Income Tax department said, "In view of the difficulties faced by taxpayers, date for filing of income tax returns for FY2016-17 has been extended to 5th August, 2017.”

The decision to extend the deadline was taken after a meeting between the revenue department and the direct tax board. However, officials in the finance ministry said that there were no major glitches in the website, despite reports of people complaining about the slow process. The Government of India also has mandated taxpayers to declare bank details if it exceeds Rs 2 lakh savings after demonetisation. India has close to 6.5 crore income tax payers as of 2016-2017.