Fake Circular Viral as Last Date of Filing ITR Extended to 30 September

The extended date of filing the ITR was 16 September, as per a notice by the Ministry of Finance.

Fact-Check: This notice is fake and not released by the Ministry of Finance or Tax Department. 

(Source: The Quint) 

A notification dated 14 September attributed to the Ministry of Finance and the Central Board of Direct Taxes has gone viral on social media.

The notice claimed that the last date of filing the income tax returns has been extended to 30 September, which was initially due on 15 September.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false as this notification is fake.

• The Income Tax department debunked this claim and noted that the notification was fake.

• The last date of filing the ITR was 16 September.

What we found: At first, we ran a reverse image search on the image which led us to a press release by the Ministry of Finance dated 15 September.

• It noted that the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) was originally due on 31 July and was extended to 15 September.

• It read that the Central Board of Direct Taxes had decided to further extend the due date for filing these ITRs from 15 September to 16 September.

Here is a preview of the press release. 

(Source: Ministry of Finance)

• We, then, checked the social media handles of the Income Tax department and found that it had debunked the viral claim on 14 September.

• It shared the image of the viral notification and noted that it was 'fake.'

• Additionally, the viral notice falsely claimed that the ITR filing was due on 15 September, however, it was extended from 31 July (the original date of filing.)

At the time of writing this article, the IT department has not announced any further extension of the ITR filing deadline beyond 16 September.

Conclusion: A fake notice has gone viral on social media with users falsely claiming that the deadline for filing the ITR has been extended to 30 September.

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