Due Date for E-Filing of Tax Audit Report Should be Extended Immediately

The last date of E-filing of tax audit report Is 30th Sept. 2013 and it is coming very near but as per our talks with chartered Accountants from various areas in the country most of them have not touched 50% mark of their targeted work. The reason is very simple, the per (or per assessee ) audit work as compared to the previous year is increased manifold and further there was initial confusions on various points which also have their added role in the delay.

 As per the previous experience, the department will extend the date on last day i.e. on 30th Sept. 2013 and they have their own valid reasons for the extension of date on that day because the speed of work in the last days is very fast and in that case lot of work is completed up to that date and only genuine cases of delay will get the benefit of extension of date. This is a valid point in normal situation but this year with respect to the E-filing of audit report is not a normal situation hence the extension of date should be announced immediately.

Here in the case of audit, quality of the work is also important hence if per audit and/or per assessee work is increased then to maintain the quality of the audit more time is required and the quality work cannot be done when one is working in a situation where the work is being done in a manner which can be called “race against the time”.

Here the reasons for Extension of date are not required to be elaborated because we are discussing the problems of the professionals in this respect since beginning of the process of e-filing of audit report and since these problems the pointed out by the professionals and experts and reported from various platforms and the department has also taken them into consideration but the corrections are made “One by One” so most of the time the professionals were confused and waiting for the another correction so the last one is introduced on 12/09/2013 in the name of PR-8  and made effective from 13/09/2013. Since most of the professionals are working with some or other software and all the software provider will take their own time to update the software and this  is also a valid reason seeking the extension.

Since most of the corrections are made and we can hope that we will get a perfect E-filing Utility and ITRs on 1st April 2014 for assessment year 2014-15 and in that case we will not need any extension of time but this year the situation is not normal hence an immediate declaration of extension of time will solve the problem of the professionals.