The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns to August 31, 2018, for categories of taxpayers who were to file their returns by July 31.

The decision comes days ahead of the July 31 deadline, which several groups had requested the government to push to later.

CBDT had notified the new income tax return forms for assessment year 2018-19 on April 5. Experts said the introduction of new forms was leading to delays in filing of returns.

Further, the CBDT had said non-filing of ITR before the due date from this assessment year would lead to a penalty of Rs 1,000, 5,000 and Rs 10,000, depending on when the returns were filed after the deadline. The fine for taxpayers having income under Rs 5 lakh remained at Rs 1,000.