The Buyt Desk
The Income Tax Department informed that as many as 3.97 crore taxpayers have filed their IT return for assessment year (AY) 2020-21. We are now very close to the deadline, and the IT department tweeted “Over 3.97 crore Income Tax Returns have already been filed till December 24, 2020. Have you filed yours as yet? If not, please do it TODAY! File your Return of Income Tax & ….Relax!.” Out of 3.97 filed IT return, 2.27 crore taxpayers used ITR -1, 28.74 lakh filed their return on ITR-2, 46.78 lakh used ITR 3 and around 85.20 lakh used ITR-4.
The Coronavirus pandemic has pushed the IT return deadline twice. The very initial deadline was July 31, 2020, for AY -2020-21 (FY-2019-20) which extended to October 31 2020. And the extended deadline was further extended to December 31 2020. You must file your return on time to avoid consequences that may range from a late filing fee to imprisonment.
Here is what you can face if you don’t file your return on time:
1)Late Filing Fee
According to the section 234F of the Income Tax Act, a late fee will be charged when you file your IT return after the deadline. One has to pay a late fee of Rs 5000 till December 31. Late filing fee amount increases to Rs 10,000 when the return is filed between January to March 31. But since this time the last date is December 31 so there are chances that late fee of Rs 10,000 will be applicable for missing the deadline.
2)Prosecution
Apart from the late fee, there is a provision of prosecution too. There could be a term of three months to two years if you don’t file your IT return on time. If the tax liability is more than Rs 25 lakh, the jail term can increase to 7 years. But if your tax liability is less than Rs 3000, then IT rules will spare you from prosecution. In under-reporting of income, the tax officer can impose a penalty of up to 50% of the tax due.
3)Interest on due tax
The section 234A of the IT Act, impose interest of 1% per month on the due tax till its paid.
4)Can’t set off losses
If IT return is not filed within the due date, the taxpayer will be unable to carry forward any of his loss to the subsequent years.
However, if you do miss the last date, you have the option of filing a belated return. The belated return can be filed anytime on or before one year from the end of the relevant assessment year. For the FY 2019-20, the last date for the belated return would be 31 March 2021.
