With the issuance of Form 16 getting delayed, updation of Form 26AS has also been delayed, resulting in non-filing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) by taxpayers at end of July 2020, which, in a normal year, would be the last day of filing for salaried and other assessees, whose income needn’t be audited. Foreseeing the problem the taxpayers may face due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has already extended the due date of filing return till November 30, 2020.
Although people needn’t get panicked for not filing the return yet, but due to the yearly ritual of ITR filing before the normal due date of July 31, many taxpayers start getting worried.
However, out of the return-filing anxiety, if you want to partially fill your ITR Form with whatever information you have, you may face various problems that may leave you even more worried.
For example, if you don’t have the Form 16, updated Form 26AS or other sources to calculate the total income for the Financial Year (FY) 2019-20, and try to enter the amounts of tax-saving investments to instruments like Public Provident Fund (PPF), Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY), National Savings Certificate (NSC), 5-year term deposits, Equity Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS), premiums paid for health insurance, life insurance, Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) etc, or interest paid or principal repaid on home loan, tuition fees paid to school of your children, interest paid on education loan, contributions to National Pension System (NPS) amount of donations made to PM CARE fund or other funds eligible for deductions u/s 80G etc, you may face the following problems.
Problem: Deduction under chapter VI-A is not allowing even after entering figures u/s 80C investments / expenses (like PPF, SSY, NSC, ELSS, ULIP, life insurance premium, tuition fee etc), health insurance premium (u/s 80D), voluntary contributions made to Tier-1 Account of NPS (u/s 80CCD(1B)).
Reason: Deduction under chapter VI-A is allowed up to the Gross Total Income. If you have not entered any income due to unavailability of Form 16, updated Form 26AS or other sources of information, no deductions will be allowed. The deductions under chapter VI-A will automatically appear, once you enter your income figures.
Problem: Unable to claim deduction on interest on savings bank account / interest on deposits (for senior citizens) u/s 80 TTA/TTB.
Reason: Deductions u/s 80 TTA and 80 TTB are allowed out of the amount(s) of “Interest from Savings Bank” and/or “Interest from Deposits (Bank/Post Office/Co-Operative Society) entered in the Income From Other Sources (Schedule OS) section of the ITR Form. If you have not any interest income in the Schedule OS, no deductions will be allowed even if you enter the figures u/s 80TTA/TTB. Depending on your DOB/Residential status entered in the Personal Information sheet, the deduction will appear once you enter the interests earned in Schedule OS.
Problem: Unable to claim deductions on donations u/s 80G.
Reason: Depending on the status of Donees, deductions are allowed either 100 per cent of donation made or 50 per cent of donation. In some cases, donations are allowed only up to 10 per cent of the income. If you have not entered any income figures, any per cent of deductions allowed will be zero. Deduction figures will automatically appear when you enter your incomes. However, in case of donations in cash, only up to Rs 2,000 will be allowed as deduction.
