In order to avoid the last minute rush, the government has urged the taxpayers to file their income tax returns before July 31, 2023.
No extension In ITR Filing Deadline This Year
To be specific, there is no possibility of any extension of the deadline this year.
The taxpayers should file their returns as soon as possible as unlike last year, there is no likelihood of the July 31 deadline getting extended, according to sources from the Ministry of Finance.
For the unawares, the taxpayers have to file the returns for 2022-23 with the assessment year being 2023-24.
More than 2 crore returns had already been filed till July 11 so far, compared to 2 crore returns filed till July 20 last year, as per the information provided by the Income Tax Department.
In a tweet on July 11, Income Tax Department said, “Our taxpayers have helped us reach the 2 crore milestone 9 days early this year, compared to the corresponding period in the preceding year, and we appreciate the effort! We urge those who haven’t filed ITR for AY 2023-24, to file their ITR at the earliest to avoid last minute rush.”
A total of 5.8 crore returns were filed last year and this year, the government expects that the tally could be much higher.
In case, the taxpayer fails to file the income tax returns and files after the deadline of July 31, 2023, then a fine of Rs 5,000 will have to be paid by the taxpayer.
Using AI In ITR Scrutiny
This year the Income Tax Department has also gone high-tech With the advancement of technology.
Now, it is using Artificial Intelligence to track and match data even from sources you cannot imagine.
The income tax department will conduct the strictest scrutiny of tax returns, starting this year.
It holds a significance as this year they have implemented a specially designed, automated and enhanced artificial intelligence software program (AI) for scrutinizing income tax returns (ITR).
This will commence with the gathering of data associated with your PAN card and subsequently navigating through the connected information linked to your Aadhar card.
Then the AI will cross-reference the transactions associated with your Aadhaar and PAN with the bank accounts you have linked, as per the reports.
Afterworld, it will compile the comprehensive information regarding fixed deposits, quarterly interest credits, share dividends, share transactions, mutual fund investments, as well as long-term and short-term gains from all the bank accounts that you have declared and attached to your income tax ITR returns.
With the help of the AI system, it will commence the process of matching undeclared bank accounts registered under your name, including joint bank accounts where you are listed as the second or third holder.
Not only this, the reports also talked about the AI system conducting searches for postal accounts and bank accounts held with cooperative banks, and local credit institutions, as well as postal fixed deposits, interests, recurring deposits (RDs), Monthly Income Schemes (MIS), and senior citizen saving schemes.
Besides this, the PAN card details will be verified against the government registry office to identify any transactions related to land and immovable properties within the current year and the preceding three years.
