The Patan High Court on Tuesday extended the deadline for taxpayers to submit their income statements until mid-January, just a day after it lifted the requirement for taxpayers to meet the original deadline. Previously, the Inland Revenue Department had issued a notice stating that the deadline for submitting income statements would not be extended. However, the court issued an interim order on Monday in response to a writ petition filed against this decision.
The department clarified that the decision to extend the deadline for submitting income statements was made on December 8, a day before the court’s order. “It just so happened that the decision to extend the deadline was made the day before, and the court's order came the next day,” said Ram Prasad Acharya, Director General of the department. “We did not argue in court based on our decision; otherwise, the order might have been different.”
The department explained that requests from various professional umbrella organizations and taxpayers to extend the deadline until mid-January influenced its decision. As a result, the deadline has been extended. Acharya also noted that the previous decision not to extend the deadline prompted more than 30,000 people to file their tax statements compared to the same period last year.
The Income Tax Act, 2058 BS, requires every individual to file their income statement within three months of the end of the income year. The Act also allows taxpayers to apply for an extension of the deadline, which can be granted once or multiple times for a maximum of three months.
Earlier, the department announced that the deadline for filing income statements would not be extended for sole proprietorships with an annual turnover of up to Rs 10 million and entities with zero turnover. For entities and taxpayers with an annual turnover of up to Rs 200 million, the deadline was mid-December, while for those with an annual turnover of more than Rs 250 million, the deadline was January 4. The department has now extended the deadline for all taxpayers to mid-January.
The Patan High Court, in its interim order issued on Monday, called both parties for a discussion within 15 days.