The government today announced that the income tax return (ITR) filing deadline for FY 2019-20 has been extended to November 30, 2020 from July 31, 2020. "Due date for all income-tax return for FY 2019-20 will be extended from July 31 2020 and 31 October 31, 2020 to November 30, 2020 and tax audit from September 30, 2020 to 31st October 2020," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said during a press briefing.

This was part of the Rs 20 lakh crore relief package. Along with the extension of the ITR filing deadline, there were other direct tax-related relief measures announced.

The extension in the tax filing deadline comes a relief for taxpayers as the government had earlier extended the deadline for receiving Form-16 from June 10, 2020 to June 30, 2020 via an ordinance dated March 31, 2020. The extension had left only one month for individual taxpayers to file their tax returns before the deadline, i.e., July 31, 2020. Chartered accountants and other tax experts were anticipating such an extension in the ITR filing deadline for FY 2019-20.

Other direct tax measures
The government has also reduced the TDS rates applicable for non-salaried payments. As per the announcement, to provide more funds to taxpayers, TDS for non-salaried specified payments made to residents and rates of TCS for specified receipts shall be reduced by 25%. The reduced TDS and TCS rates will remain valid till March 31, 2021. Teh reduced rates will be applicable on payments such as TDs on rent exceeding Rs 50,000 per month, dividend payments from mutual funds and companies, TDS on fixed deposits etc.

In addition to that the date of making payments without interest and penalty under Vivad se Vishwas scheme has been extended to December 31, 2020. This is the second extension of the scheme. Earlier the government in the press conference dated March 24, 2020 has announced the extension of Vivad se Vishwas scheme to June 30, 2020.