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CA Chirag Chauhan

Most of tax payers comply with 31st July (Income Tax Return Due Date extended to 31/08/2018 for A.y 2018-19) deadline for filing Income tax returns. However many miss out due to other commitment in professional and personal life. Missing the deadline does not mean you cannot file your return. Infact if you have missed to file your return for last year ended March 2018, you can still file the return however there are some catch. Read the article to know in detail importance of filing of return by 31 August and and methods to file return after due date.

What Section 139(1) Says?
Every person,-

a. being a company or a firm; or

b. being a person other than a company or a firm, if his total income or the total income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous year exceeded the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax ,shall, on or before the due date, furnish a return of his income or the income of such other person during the previous year, in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed

31st August  is the last date to file tax returns for individuals and those whose accounts are not subject to any audit. The assessee can do himself or call on his chartered accountant who can file the tax returns by just asking for few information.

What Section 139(4) says?

Any person who has not furnished a return within the time allowed to him under sub-section (1), may furnish the return for any previous year at any time before the end of the relevant assessment year or before the completion of the assessment, whichever is earlier

What if you have not filed your return by due date?Don’t feel dejected.

You can still file the returns until March 31, 2019 but  you will have to pay late filing fees u/s 234F. The structure of late filing fees have been explained below:

Serial No. Date of Filing Return Amount of late filing fees u/s 234F (Rs)
1. If the return is filed after the due date but on or before 31st December of the assessment year 5,000
2. If the return is filed after 31st December of the assessment year 10,000

However if the total total income does not exceeds Rs 5 lakhs the amount of late filing fees shall not exceed Rs 1,000.

Apart from late filing fees there are few other consequences as mentioned below:

  • Failure to file Returns within the due date attracts interest @ 1% p.m. on the balance tax payable from the due date to the actual date of filling.
  • Many a time, tax-payers make mistakes while filing returns and notice the errors much later. In such cases, the option to file revised returns helps. However, this won’t be the case if you miss the deadline. You are not allowed to file a revised return if you complete the filing after August 31. However wef A.y 207-18 Belated Return u/s 139(4) can also be revised u/s 139(5).
  • if you fail to file returns before the due date, you will have to forgo the benefit of carrying forward losses incurred under the head `Capital Gains’ and `Business Losses
  • Delay in filing could mean having to let go of interest due on tax refund if any
  • Not filing of Income tax returns on time can land you in jail. This can happen if the I-T authorities feel the assessee wilfully failed to furnish returns on time and the tax due is more than Rs 3,000. Under section 276CC of the I-T Act, if the amount of tax exceeds Rs 25 lakh, the assessee can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for anywhere between six months to seven years, and fined. In other cases, imprisonment can be between three months and two years, with fine.However, these penalties are levied in a very rare case. In most of the cases, the taxpayer is only required to pay interest @ 1% for late deposit of income tax.

Importance of filing Income Tax return for various reasons:

  • While processing for VISA, the embassy of the respective country insists the Income Tax returns for the last 3 years as one of the documents for eligibility.
  • For applying bank loan (be it personal loan, housing loan or car loan), Income Tax papers are one of the necessary requirements for eligibility.
  • For individuals who are currently employed and would like to become an entrepreneur in the future must file their IT returns regularly. This is because when a company / Partner applies for a bank loan, the IT papers of its directors / Partners are also required

For any query you can write to Chirag@cachauhan.in . Before making any decisions do consult your Professional / tax advisor.  Author does not take any responsibility for misrepresentation or interpretation of act or rules. Neither the author nor the firm accepts any liability neither for the loss or damage of any kind arising out of information in this document nor for any action taken in reliance there on.

Read Other Articles from CA Chirag Chauhan

Also Read:

How costly can the delay in filing tax returns be?

How to File Revised Income Tax Return in case of e-filed I-T Return

Penalty / Consequence of Late Income Tax Return Filing

Guide to know ITR applicable: Which ITR Applicable to whom?

Master Guide on filing of income Tax Return for A.Y. 2018-19

Filing of Income Tax Return -Documents required

What Is Income Tax Return?

(Republished With Amendments)

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12 Comments

  1. S R Maniyar says:

    Trust has first given PAN by treating AOP and got registration u/s 12A and 80G also not mistake was noticed and PAN for Trust indicating in PAN T was allotted by IT Dept now how to shift Reg 12A and 80G from old PAN to New PAN because I T Dept has issued after making all enquiriesI please guide and show procedure

  2. A Raut says:

    Sir,
    I m a central gov employee. My income chargeable under head salary is 3776666 for fy 14-15 as per form 16.but from this amount, there is 33600 exempt income ( high altitude area allowance ) which is included in it.Should I fill ITR 1? If yes,then what amount should I fill in col 1.income from salary and col 26.income under salary in TDS1 of itr 1 .As per me in col1 -: 343066 (376666-33600) and in col26 -: 376666.sir please guide and help.Thanks

  3. Tajinder Singh says:

    Sir,

    I would like to know about the treatment of amount which are deposited in bank by any other person or relative for special purpose.

    E.g. My brother’bike installments are debited from my bank account.for this he is deposited the loan amount in my bank account on every month.Is it considered in my income while computating the income.

  4. AK Bhargava says:

    Good article.

    When Penal provisions such as Penalty Interest are there on late filer of Tax return at least for inadvertent error or bonafide mistakes under Principal of natural justice there should be an opportunity for rectification or revision in the return so as to avoid perpetuation of any error and its long/short terms effect/consequences in common interest.

    AK Bhargava

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