Extension of Due Date for Tax Audit Report Filing AY 2013-14, CBDT Order

Would the date for filing of Tax Audit Report for Assessment Year 2013-14 be extended? If yes what is likely date for such notification?

These are the questions that are hunting a lot of businessmen and income tax practictioners. It is well known that from AY 2013-14, Tax Audit Report in Form 3CA, 3CB and 3CD is required to be filed online using utility provided by Income tax Department.

The utility is better known as CA Utility. Income tax Department has repeatedly changed the said utility over last one and half month number of times. The latest Utility PR11 was launched on 16-09-2013.

Each time a new utility is launched, the previous utilities becomes obsolete and new utilities have given rise to new issues.

Tax Payers and Tax Practicioners are challenged almost every week to harness the new version of the utility. With the new born latest utility PR11 which if not revised again will be an infant of just fourteen days on 30th September, 2013 being the due date for furnishing of Tax Audit report.

With only 14 days time given to put a harness and ride the utility, an extension of the due date is certainly inevitable.

It shall not be without resons to believe that the due date shall be extended by not less than 30 days in any case. Alternatively the online filing of tax Audit report can be postponed for one more year or made optional for AY 2013-14.

Now the crucial question, 'When the Income tax department shall come out of its slumber?". Perhaps the ITD is following its typical style of extending the due date in the eleventh hour which is by no means is justified.

16-09-2013 | CA Ashutosh Lohani |

Whats should we do as Professionals?

Truly speaking, it is none of the business of ours to panic or make hue and cry for Income Tax Department is not coming up with a declaration of extension.

Many professionals have expressed a lot of concern over their plight in dealing with CA utility of the department and its frequent revision. However I would like to stress that our job is to help the tax payers to get their accounts audited and to facilitate the uploading of the Tax Audit Report using the utility provided by the Department. If the utility provided by the ITD is faulty or it has been changed frequently, we are not the porters of ITD under any obligation to ensure that reports are delivered and due date is maintained.

Let the department extend the date, else as a professionals we have valid reasons to defend our clients for non furnishing of the reports.

By no means we are supposed to panic or show any desperation over what is between the Income tax department and their loyal tax paying assessees. We should remain as a facilitator and should not become experiment materials.

26-09-2013 | Income Tax Department wakes up finally and the date has been extended to 31-10-2013

Succumbing to their failure in providing the suitable means for implementation of new online filing of Tax Audit Reports, the Income tax department has extended the date for submission of the Tax Audit reports by one month to 31st October 2013. As per order extending the date it has been acknowledged that assessees are finding it difficult to upload Tax Audit Reports. However assessees may also furnish Tax Audit Report manually within due date of 30-09-2013.

Download the copy of order >>

The Order has generated a lot of confusion over the real extension. is it compulsory to file the Tax Audit Reports manually before 30-09-2013? is there any ambiguity in the Order or the confusion has been created by overly cautious interpretations? >>

24-10-2013 : Finally CBDT has come up with order extending the date of ITR and Tax Audit Report Filing to 31-10-2013 without any condition of manual filing of tax audit report. Download the Order dated 24-10-2013 >>