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The income tax department has extended the deadline for online filing of returns for the 2015-16 assessment year by seven days (till September 7), as e-filing services went slow on the earlier deadline of August 31. However, sources said servers at Bengaluru's Central Processing Centre (CPC), where the e-filing forms are being processed, were working fine that day.
An official statement said, “The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the due date for e-filing of returns of the income tax from August 31 to September 7.”
Some of those filing returns on August 31 said “system error” was showing up on the screen of their computers when they tried to file the returns.
The government has received representations from tax payers, saying they had faced difficulties in e-filing of returns due to slowing of certain e-services.
Taking these complaints into account, CBDT has extended the deadline.
Sources said the system had slowed down due to heavy traffic on the last day of filing on the front-end of the department. However, back-end at Bengaluru is working quite fine.
The department has notified a new set of ITR forms, including a three-page simplified one. The tax-payer base in the country is just over forty million. From the assessment year 2015-16, any assessee filing ITR 1, 2, 2A having a refund claim or having total income of more than Rs 5 lakh is required to file returns.
