Income Tax Return Latest Update: It is advised that the taxpayers must file ITR before the end of the deadline, however if they miss the deadline, they can still do so by paying a late fee or penalty.
Income Tax Return Latest Update: Officially December 31 is the last date to file income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2020-21. As just two days left for the filing of FY 2020-21 Income Tax Return (ITR), it is wise to complete the task before the end of the deadline. The taxpayers must know that due to COVID pandemic, the Centre had extended the due date of filing all Income Tax Return (ITR) for FY 2020-21 to December 31.
It is advised that the taxpayers must file ITR before the end of the deadline, however if they miss the deadline, they can still do so by paying a late fee or penalty.
It must be noted that the filing ITR can be done both online and offline. The taxpayer must note that if they fail to file ITR, it can attract penalty up to Rs 5,000. The penalty has been reduced by half this time as previously late filing of ITR used to attract upto Rs 10,000 penalty.
Another important factor, the taxpayer must know that if their taxable income is less than Rs 5 lakh, then they pay a penalty of Rs 1,000. And if they have an income below the taxable limit, they are not required to pay the penalty in case of missing the ITR filing deadline.
What happens when if you miss the last date?
If the individual taxpayers miss the upcoming due date to file ITR, they can still file it by the last date i.e. March 31, 2022. There is a catch for those who file ITR after the due date. In case of late filing, they will not be able to carry forward any losses for the current year and cannot be set off against the current year’s income.
Any loss incurred under the business income or capital gains or loss beyond Rs 2 lakh under the house property head, cannot be carried forward to the subsequent year. In simple language, the individual taxpayers who miss the upcoming ITR filing due date will not be able to carry forward any losses to next year.
Secondly, the taxpayers need to be aware of the fact that they may not get the benefit of interest if they are entitled to get a refund for the excess taxes paid for the period of delay. This happens because the delay will be attributed to taxpayers if they miss the due date.
Thirdly, if the individual taxpayers fail to file ITR by the extended due date (March 31, 2022), the income tax department can even change a minimum penalty that equals 50 per cent of the tax which would have been avoided by not filing ITR.
The taxpayer must also understand that the present income tax laws allow a minimum sentence of three years of imprisonment and a maximum of seven years in case the amount of tax sought to be avoided exceeds Rs 10,000.
