Dr Hasmukh Adhia, Revenue Secretary, Government of India, has tendered a public apology for the harassment meted out to taxpayers owing to the CBDT’s adamant stand in not extending the due date for filing the return of income despite the department being clearly at fault for delay in preparing the forms.

The issue of extension of last date for e-filing returns of income and audit reports u/s 44AB due by 30th September, 2015 has been the subject matter of litigation in various High Courts across the country. While some High Courts have ruled in favour of the extension of due date, some others have ruled otherwise. In order to avoid discrimination between taxpayers residing in different jurisdictions and to be fair to all, and also in view of paucity of time to approach the Hon’ble Supreme Court by way of Special Leave Petition (SLP), the Government has decided that across the country, all the returns of income and audit reports u/s 44AB which were due for e-filing by 30th September, 2015, may now be filed by 31st October, 2015

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, in compliance to the orders of Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court dated 28.09.2015 in case of Vishal Garg & Ors. vs. Union of India & Anr.; CWP 19770-2015 and order of Hon’ble Gujarat High Court dated 29.09 .2015 in case of All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants vs. CBDT; Special Civil Application No. 15075 of 2015 and in exercise of powers conferred under section 119 of the Income-tax Act , 1961 (‘Act’), hereby orders that the returns of income due to be E-filed by 30th September, 2015 may be filed by 31st October, 2015 in cases of Income-tax assessees of the State(s) of Punjab and Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh and the State of Gujarat. This order shall be subject to the outcome of any further appeal/SLP which the CBDT may file against the said judgment

It is clarified the order is fraudulent. The Government has not extended the due date for filing of returns and audit report due by 30th September 2015. Tax payer and practitioners are advised not to give any credence to the fraudulent order purportedly signed by one Upmanyu Reddy

Vide Order No. 171 of 2015 dated 16.09.2015 of the CBDT, several officers in the grade of Additional Commissioner/ Additional Director of Income Tax have been promoted to the grade of Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT) in the Pay Band-4 – Rs. 37,400-67,000 + Grade Pay of Rs. 10,000/- with immediate effect and actually from the date of assumption of charge of the post until further orders.

The CBDT has issued Instruction No. 10/2015 dated 16.09.2015 stating that in view of the very large number of Dossier cases (about 1,55,000) requiring periodic reporting and review by various Income Tax Authorities and the fact that the monetary threshold for classification of a case of outstanding demand as a Dossier case has not been revised in last about 30 years, it has been decided to raise the primary threshold for Dossier cases from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs.30 lakh and re-adjust intermediate thresholds for focused monitoring and rationalization of workload

According to a report in livelaw.in, the Bar Council of India has resolved to extend the date for filing of application for verification throughout the country under the ‘Certificate and Place of Practice (Verification) Rules, 2015’ to 31st December, 2015. The notification says that the Council took note of the letter dated July 21, 2015 received from the Secretary, Bar Council of Maharashtra that the process of verification is not likely to be completed by 30th September 2015.

The Ministry of Finance has issued a press release dated 09.09.2015 stating that there will be no extension of the date for filing of returns due by 30th September for Assessment Year 2015-16. The Ministry has advised taxpayers to file their returns well in time to avoid last minute rush