Extend date of filing Tax Audit report beyond Jan 15: Anand

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 10: National vice-president, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Chamber of Traders Federation (CTF-Jammu) president, Neeraj Anand has appealed to the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman for extension of the date of filing Tax Audit report u/s 44 AB of Income Tax Act 1961 for the assessment year 2021-22.
At present, January 15 has been kept as the last filing date by the Government.
Anand said that in view of unprecedented surge in Covid-19 across India including Jammu & Kashmir, extension in time limit will not lead to any loss of revenue to the Government and taxpayers will make perfect compliances as far as audit report and return is concerned.
CTF president said that India is facing acute third wave of Covid-19 and has witnessed substantial growth of Corona-19 cases from active cases of 77002 with positivity rate of 0.79 per cent on December 29, 2021 to current active cases of 590611 with positivity rate of 10.21 per cent on January 9. Jammu & Kashmir is also witnessing a daily surge in cases which has affected every sector.
“Such exponential increase is a matter of concern for all of us. Several State Governments including Union Territory of J&K have imposed partial or weekend curfew to contain the growth of Covid-19 cases in the last one week. The present compliance anxiety among the SMEs & SMPs Tax Auditor could expose them and our country to Covid-19 virus”, Anand said.
Praising the efforts of the Government, Anand said that the motto of the Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been “Ease of Doing Business” specifically for Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) and in this regard but Government needs to hear the plea of  trade sector.
“Tax compliance of furnishing of Income tax audit report u/s 44 AB of Income Tax Act 1961 (Commonly known as Tax Audit Report). The tax audit report if not furnished within the prescribed due date, then SMEs may be subjected to penal consequences under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Government needs to take a decision as Coronavirus 19 has already affected the trade and business sector”, Anand said.