Tax audit is mandatory for certain class of taxpayers having business or professional income. It is done by a practicing Chartered Accountant. In this article you will find all relevant information related to year wise Tax Audit Due Date, its Extension, Notifications and Circulars.
Tax Audit Due Date FY 2020-21 / AY 2021-22
Whereas Section 44AB requires certain class of persons to get their accounts audited and provides to file tax audit report within due dates of income tax return.
Section 139 of income tax provided for due of filing of income tax returns.
The due date for Tax Audit Report and Income tax return filing for assessee (being company, firm and other required to get accounts audited under income tax act or other law and partner of such firm) is 31st October of that assessment year.
Section 23 of finance act 2020 made amendment in section 44AB and requires that tax audit report needs to be filed one month prior to due date of filing of income tax return.
So for FY 2020-21, the due date of income tax return (cases where tax audit is required) is 31st October 2021.
However as per section 44AB, as amended by finance act, 2020, the tax audit report need to be furnished one month before 31st October 2021.
So the due date of tax audit report is 30th September 20201.
The requirement to one month prior to due date of income tax return is given to enable pre-filling of income tax return, from data auto populated from tax audit report.
The due date for Tax Audit Report for various financial years is mentioned below:
Financial Year / Assessment Year |
Tax Audit Due dates (Normal) |
Extended Tax Audit Due date, if any. |
FY 2020-21 / AY 2021-22 |
30st September 2020 |
No extension |
FY 2019-20 / AY 2020-21 |
30st September 2020 |
15th February 2021 |
FY 2018-19 / AY 2019-20 |
30th September 2018 |
30th November 2020 |
FY 2017-18 / AY 2018-19 |
30th September 2018 |
31st October 2018 |
FY 2016-17 / AY 2017-18 |
30th September 2017 |
7th November 2017 |
FY 2015-16 / AY 2016-17 |
30th September 2017 |
17th October 2016 |
Till FY 2018-19, the normal due date used to be 30th September of the assessment year, from FY 2019-20 it was permanently extended to 31st November of the assessment year.
As you can see in above table, almost every year the normal due is extended due to various reasons. In FY 2019-20 also it was extended many times due to COVID-19.
Late Fee / Penalty for not filing tax audit within due date?
As per section 271B, if a person fails to get accounts audited, a penalty may be levied, lower of the below amount.
- A sum equal to one-half percent of total sale or gross receipt of previous year.
- 1,50,000
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