Now file Income Tax Return by August 5, link Aadhar to PAN by August 31 as government extends deadline
BT Online Last Updated: July 31, 2017 | 20:53 IST 
Income Tax Department on Monday extended the last date to file income tax return for financial year 2016-17 or assessment year 2017-18 due to various technical glitches taxpayers were facing on the e-filing website of IT-department.
In order to facilitate e-filing of return, Govt has decided to give extension of 5 days. The return can be now filed upto 5th August, 2017.
- Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 31, 2017
The announcement came after Twitter users complained about not being able to file income tax returns on the e-filing website https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.
ALSO READ: How to file income tax returns? Keep Aadhaar, PAN, bank details ready to prevent last minute hiccup
On Sunday, the Income Tax Department had ruled out any extension in the deadline while saying over 2 crore returns have been received.
The official twitter handle of the Income Tax Department said the decision was taken 'in view of difficulties faced by taxpayers.'
In view of the difficulties faced by taxpayers, date for filing of Income Tax Returns for FY 2016-17 has been extended to 5th August, 2017.
- Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) July 31, 2017
This time, linking of Aadhaar number with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) is mandatory for filing Income Tax return, beginning July 1.
The Ministry of Finance has now said that actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done before August 31. The returns, however, will not be processed until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN. For e-filing of I-T returns now, it will be sufficient to quote the Aadhar number or acknowledgement number for having applied for Aadhar.
Actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done subsequently, but any time before 31st August, 2017.
- Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 31, 2017
However, the returns will not be processed until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN is done.
- Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 31, 2017
An official of the IT department said the decision to extend the deadline ending today was taken after a meeting of the revenue department and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) was held in the finance ministry today.
The last minute inundation and heavy logging on the official website of the e-filing portal of the department led to the extension of five more days for filing the ITRs by taxpayers.
This time, linking of Aadhaar number with the Permanent Account Number (PAN) is mandatory for filing Income Tax return, beginning July 1.
The Ministry of Finance has now said that actual linking of PAN with Aadhaar can be done before August 31. The returns, however, will not be processed until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN.
But, the situation changed today and the extension was declared.
This time, the linking of the Aadhaar number with the PAN (Permanent Account Number) of a taxpayer has been made mandatory for filing of an ITR, beginning July 1.
The department has also asked taxpayers to declare cash deposits made in bank accounts aggregating to Rs 2 lakh or more, post demonetisation between November 9-December 30 last year, in the ITRs.
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