NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday extended the last date for corporates filing of income-tax (IT) and fringe benefits tax (FBT) returns by a month to November 30 in response to representations from various quarters.

This excludes assessees located in Gujarat for whom the deadline has already been extended from October 31 to December 31 this year in view of the havoc caused by floods in the State.

According to an official statement here, it is now mandatory for corporates to file the I-T and FBT returns online, which obviates the need for attaching annexures. The deadline for filing the returns, the statement said, had been extended following representations from certain sections of taxpayers and professionals pointing out that they might not be able to complete the filing process by October 31.

This was primarily because there were many holidays in October as a result of which some of them faced certain difficulties in adapting to the new format and new procedure for filing returns, the statement said, while declaring that no further extension would be granted beyond November 30.

A number of professional bodies such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, industry associations and other taxpayers had pleaded for extension of the last date for filing I-T returns. Till date, about 19,000 companies, including TCS, Hero Honda, HDFC and Morgan Stanley Investment Management Ltd., have filed their returns electronically, it said.

By and large, the response to electronic filing of returns from corporate taxpayers and professionals had been positive and encouraging, the statement said. "The [Income-Tax] Department has received several suggestions for improving the software and many of them have been accepted and integrated," it said.

The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, launched the system of electronic filing of returns on October 13 this year.

At the launch function, Mr. Chidambaram had announced that corporates filing their returns through digital signatures would not be required to furnish the tax return papers, while those doing so through intermediates or not using digital signatures would have to supplement this through paper returns.

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