The government is considering a proposal to extend the deadline for filing personal income tax returns to September 30 from July 31 because of the lockdown.

The last date for paying advance tax has already been extended till June 30 from March 31.

A senior finance ministry official said the CBDT was considering an extension of the last date to file personal income tax returns to September 30 from July 31.

Besides the date for advance tax, the government has extended the deadline for employers to issue TDS (tax deduction at source) certificates, or Form 16, to June 30.

Tax practioners said it would be difficult for employees to file their income tax returns by July 31 — the normal deadline for most individuals to file ITRs — if they get their salary TDS certificates as late as June 30. So, it is likely that the deadline of July 31 to file ITRs would also be extended.

According to the income tax laws, the last date for filing TDS returns for an employer is May 31 and Form 16 has to be issued latest by June 15, unless the date is extended by the government.

Last year the government had extended the date for filing TDS returns for 2018-19 to June 30, 2019 and deadline to issue Form 16 to July 10, 2019. An extension of these deadlines last year led to the extension of the ITR filing deadline for 2018-19 to August 31, 2019.

The deadline for making investments or payments for claiming deduction under Section 80C (LIC, PPF, NSC, ELSS mutual funds), 80D (mediclaim), 80G (donations) for 2019-20 has been extended till June 30. Besides, the dates for making investment, construction or purchase for claiming roll ver benefit for capital gains have also been extended till June 30.

Meanwhile, the income tax department on Monday deferred for the third time the requirement for companies to include in their I-T audit report the details of GST and General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) till March 2021.

To enable income taxpayers to avail full benefits of various timeline extensions granted by the government due to Covid-19 pandemic situations, the CBDT is revising the return forms for FY 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21) which shall be notified in the coming days, the official added.

ITR forms are generally notified immediately after closure of relevant financial year in March, so that taxpayers can file their ITRs before the due date of 31 July. After making some changes related to disclosures, this year the income tax department had released ITR-1 (Sahaj) and ITR-4 (Sugam) forms in January itself.

Once the revised forms are notified, the income tax department will further necessitate the consequential changes in the software and return filing utility. The return filing utility after incorporating necessary changes shall be made available by May 31, they said.