New Delhi, In a major relief for taxpayers amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Centre on Wednesday announced the extension of the due date for filing income tax returns for the financial year 2019-20.

Speaking to the media here, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the due date of all income tax returns for FY 2019-20 will be extended from July 31, 2020, October 31, 2020 to November 30, 2020 and tax audit from September 30, 2020 to October 31, 2020.

Further, the government has extended the date of assessments getting barred on September 30, 2020 to December 31, 2020 and those getting barred on March 31, 2021 to September 30, 2021.

In another major move for businesses and charitable trusts, Sitharaman announced that all pending refunds to charitable trusts and non-corporate businesses and professions, including proprietorship, partnership, LLP and co-operatives, shall be issued immediately.

Further, she also announced further extension of the deadline for settling tax disputes under the Vivad se Vishwaas scheme without paying any interest and penalty to December 31, 2020 from June 30, 2020.

This was announced by the Finance Minister while she was giving details of the economic relief package to counter the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

With this, the scheme scheduled to close on June 30, 2020 is now extended for another six months for settlement of any dispute without attracting any penalty or interest.