CA, tax advisors in fix as no time extension given for audit

Aurangabad, Jan 13:

The last date to file the audit report before filing the income tax returns is January 15. The income tax department will recover fines up to Rs 1.5 lakh if the audit report is not submitted on this date. Hence, the Chartered Accounts and the tax advisors are in a fix as no time extension has been given to conduct the audits.

Earlier, the last date to present the audit report of the account holders was December 31, 2020. However, the union government considering various difficulties extended the time limit till January 15. Similarly, the last date of submitting the returns for the general tax payers were January 10. Hence, all the CAs started the work as only five days had remained. It was expected that the government will further extend the time limit. They worked day and night to complete the work. However, the audit work is getting delayed as the documents are not getting in time from the clients. They informed that more than 40 percent audits are pending now. The last date to file the returns is February 15 and the audit report has to be submitted by January 15. Some CAs from Gujarat had approached the court to get the time extension, informed CA Umesh Sharma.

The president of the Institute of Chartered Accounts of India (ICAI), Aurangabad branch, Ganesh Shilwant said, the audit is getting delayed as the bills and other documents are not getting from the tax payers in time. The government should give time extension for auditing, he said.

Former ICAI, Aurangabad branch president, Rohan Anchlia said, only two days have remained for submitting the audit reports. The CAs are working more than 16 hours a day but still more than 40 percent audits are pending, he said.