VK Bothra

My personal & honest opinion: CAs, ICAI and CBDT 1. We should not expect ICAI to keep asking for due-date extensions. From a limited reading of the CA Act, ICAI is a statutory body for regulation of the profession: education, examination, training, entry into practice, professional standards, discipline, quality, and development of accountancy knowledge. That part it does well. No complaints. 2. Chartered Accountants are the professionals "defined" under the Income tax Act for tax audit. The demand for more time is therefore between CAs who take on those audits and CBDT, which administers the law. 3. In roughly two decades of articleship and practice, my sense is that CBDT does not fully grasp ground realities. Even outreach programmes are often shaped by departmental officers and by influencers & politicians in the tax field (who are not necessarily practising CAs). There is a real gap between the official picture and how work actually happens. 4. The tax audit narrative is still built on older “scrutiny” instincts. In much of the SME sector, books are written from an income tax lens rather than as proper accounts with tax computation as a separate exercise. That shifts a heavy load onto CAs, who must certify the same. Given the complexity of the forms and the Act, good work needs time. The present window is not enough. The solution is not simple, and this will keep recurring every year. Extensions are only "arrangements". Tax audit needs a fundamental re-assessment and restructuring. Many people may not like this view. I am not in the race for another #extension. I believe it is the client’s duty to get the audit done on time; if they do not, it is the client who should face the consequences. At the same time, as a member of the fraternity, I feel CBDT should recognize the pressure on CAs who certify compliance, and carry statutory responsibility. A permanent design, not another date, would let CAs do the work properly and discharge that duty better. You can have your own views, different from this. Honest and creative views are welcome.