Income tax audit report submission deadline is September 30, 2024, for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25). If you miss this deadline then you can submit the tax audit report, however, it involves payment of a penalty. If you do not upload the tax audit report even after the deadline by paying a penalty then your income tax return will be considered defective.
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Penalty to be paid for submitting tax audit report after the deadline
According to CA (Dr.) Suresh Surana, “If a taxpayer fails to submit the tax audit report by the prescribed deadline of 30 September 2024, the Assessing Officer may impose a penalty. The penalty amount is equal to 0.5% of the total sales, turnover, or gross receipts for the relevant financial year, or Rs 1,50,000, whichever is lower.
According to CA Abhishek Soni, Co-founder, of Tax2Win, “If there is a reasonable cause for the delay, no penalty shall be levied. The reasonable causes that are usually accepted by tribunals/courts for any delay in filing tax audit reports include:
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- Natural calamities
- Delay due to the resignation of the tax auditor
- Resignation of accountant or key employees
- Labour problems like strikes or lock-outs for an extended period
- Loss of accounts because of situations beyond the assessee’s control.
- Physical inability or death of the partner in charge of the accounts.”
Can you file a tax audit report after September 30, 2024?
According to Surana, “The taxpayer can still file the tax audit report even after the expiration of the prescribed deadline by paying the penalty.”
According to Yogesh Kale, Executive Director, Nangia Andersen India, you can even revise the already filed tax audit report. “As per Rule 6G, a tax audit report can be revised and can be furnished any time before the end of the relevant assessment year,” he says.
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What is the ITR filing deadline for taxpayers liable to conduct income tax audits?
For FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) the income tax return (ITR) filing deadline for taxpayers liable to conduct an income tax audit is October 31, 2024. However, if you miss filing an ITR along with an audit report on or before October 31, 2024 then you can only file a belated ITR by paying a penalty.
What is the maximum time limit for filing a belated ITR for those liable to conduct a tax audit?
A belated ITR must be submitted within three months before the end of the relevant assessment year. “For the financial year 2023-24 (AY 2024-25), the belated ITR can be filed by December 31, 2024, with a late filing fee,” says Kale.
Surana explains that in such cases, the taxpayer under section 234F has to pay a fee of Rs 5,000. If the total income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh, then the fee payable is Rs 1000. “Additionally, the taxpayer has also to pay simple interest at a rate of 1% per month from 1 November 2024, until the time belated ITR is filed,” he says.
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When asked about whether the tax audit deadline needs to be extended or not and whether the tax portal is working fine or not, Surana says, “For Assessment Year 2024-25, based on our experience there are no issues related to the Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) that would impede the uploading of tax audit reports. All necessary protocols and systems are functioning effectively to facilitate the submission process without any hindrance.”
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