The Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) has extended the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) to 31st August, 2018.  Earlier, the due date for filing of ITR for Assessment Year 2018-19 was July 31.
CBDT stated in a circular issued today, “The due date for filing of Income Tax Returns for Assessment Year 2018-19 is 31.07.2018 for certain categories of taxpayers. Upon consideration of the matter, the Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) extends the ‘due date’ for filing of Income Tax Returns from 31st July, 2018 to 31st August, 2018 in respect of the said categories of taxpayers.
Archit Gupta, founder and CEO, ClearTax, said, “While return filing due date has been extended, taxpayers are still unsure about how penalty applies to them if they cannot file by 31st August. To dispel any confusions, the return extension has been done for taxpayers who had a due date of 31st July. All of them can now file by 31st August.”
Generally, the income tax department extends the deadline by only a few days, but this year the deadline has been extended by full one month. The reason for an extension of the deadline was not stated in the press release.
Kuldip Kumar, partner and leader, personal tax, PwC India, said, “Although due date extended.. those who have taxes to pay should pay before July 31 to save additional one month interest under section 234B.”
So, now if you don’t file ITR by the end of July then it won’t be treated as a belated return,  as the new deadline is August 31, 2018.  But if you miss the deadline of August 31, then according to the Income Tax Act, for returns pertaining to any financial year the last date for late return would be the end of the relevant assessment year. For example: For Finacial Year 2017-18 (AY 2018-19), the last date would be 31 March 2019, and it would be your last opportunity to file the return.
The Income tax is a percentage of income which you pay back to the government for the development of the country. Based on the income of a person it is categorised into Tax Slab. The tax rate for individuals in the lowest income tax slab– Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh – is 5 per cent. The tax is calculated on your gross total income. The tax slabs are announced every year during the Budget Session in the month of February.  There is a surcharge also of 10 per cent of income tax, where the total income exceeds Rs 50 lakh up to Rs 1 crore. Surcharge of 15 per cent of income tax is levied where the total income exceeds Rs 1 crore.