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What if I Missed the due date of filling income tax return

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If you missed the deadline of filling your income tax return then don’t be panic. You can still file your IT return before 31st march of the assessment year. That means, if you are filling your ITR for the income earned in the year of 2012-2013 (i.e. from 1st April 2012 to 31st march 2013) then the last date of filling your ITR is 31st March 2014.

But you have to be ready for the consequence of not filling your IT return before the due date of the year. Followings are the consequence of not filling IT return before the due date; 

  • Your ITR can not be revised. That means if any mistake (like wrong calculation of tax or mistake in the total income figure) found after filling your ITR then such mistakes can not be revised.
  • If you have a business loss then you will not be allowed to carry forward such losses to next year.
  • For delay in filling, you have to pay a penal interest of 1% per month on your outstanding tax liability. If you have paid the entire tax liability then such interest will not be charged to you.
  • If you failed to file it before 31st march of the assessment year, then the assessing officer may charge penalty of INR 5, 000 under section 217F of the IT act, 1961. If you are filling your ITR for the income generated between 1st April 2012 to 31st march 2013 then penalty amount of INR 5, 000 may be charged if return has not been filled before 31st march 2014.
filling income tax return after the due date

As discussed above, the ITR filled after the due date can not be revised so we suggest filling the correct IT return after a complete check. Even though the losses can not be carried forward to next year the benefit of claiming your adjustment within the year in some other head is allowed. One can take this benefit before filling his IT return.

While filling your income tax return, you should mention that the IT return filled is a belated one. You can find this option in your ITR Form.

In the case of a salaried person from whom the entire amount of tax has been deducted by the employer and deposited with the IT department may not be require paying penal interest as the entire tax liability has already been deducted. If the salary individual has some other source of income which has not been disclosed to the employer and tax has not been deducted and paid to IT department then in such cases they may be charged with the penal interest and other liabilities.

Refund in the case of late filling of your IT return will not get affected and it will be processed as if the IT return has been filled in time.

You should ensure that, you file your ITR before the due date of 31st July or within such extended time to avoid all these penal provisions of IT act. You also have to make sure that the income tax including the penal interest has been paid before filling your ITR. As per the recent changes to the IT act, if you have not paid your income tax and penal interest before filling your return then such ITR may be treated as a defective return.