Completing Income Tax Return without Completing Tax Audit Report

The extension of date for obtaining and submitting the Tax Audit Report till 30th November 2014 for the Assessment Year 2014-15 without extending the due date to file the Return of Income has created many concerns in the minds of Chartered Accountants.

The Income Tax Return formats also now modified to include the new row asking “if liable for Tax Audit u/s 44AB is YES, whether the accounts have been audited by the Accountant ? If YES, furnish the following information” clearly indicating that the return of income needs to be filed before 30th September, 2014 and can be filed without filing of Audit Report.

Various concerns are raised regarding how to complete the Income Tax Return without completing the Audit Report. If we analysis the Tax Audit Report Format, we can divide the clauses under main four categories comprising of Basic Information, Information regarding Accounts and Accounting Policies, Information relating to Income Computation and Other Information.

To finalise the Income Tax Return, we need to concentrate mainly on the 3rd category which ask for information relating to Income Computation.

Once the information on above clauses are confirmed and audited, there will be no need to revise the return after finalizing of the Audit Report. We should concentrate on compilation of the information required by these clauses and need not waste time in filling up the actual report.  A Sample format of the details required for each clause is made available on http://www.meraconsultant.com

Everybody is required to suggest ways and methodology to complete the filing of income tax return without completing Audit Report which will help all to do work efficiently as well as smoothly and will not put us in a panic situation.