Filing an Income Tax Return (ITR) is a vital part of fulfilling your tax obligations, and one must be well aware of the deadlines for filing ITR. For taxpayers not requiring audit, the due date to file ITR for Financial Year 2023-24 (Assessment Year 2024-25) was July 31, 2024. In case the deadline has passed, one can still submit a belated return, and this deadline is December 31, 2024. The filing needs to be done before that date in order to avoid penalty charges as well as interest accumulation. Stay updated with the rules for filing taxes to prevent any hurdles.

All taxpayers, however, have the same deadline for filing a revised return and a belated return. Many taxpayers are unaware of the penalties they may incur if they fail to file the revised and belated returns for FY 2023-24 by the deadline of December 31, 2024.

Consequences of Missing the ITR Filing Deadline

Fines for filing delayed: There is a Rs 5,000 penalty for taxpayers who file their taxes after the deadline. The fine is Rs 1,000 for anyone whose income is less than Rs 5 lakh. The purpose of this penalty is to incentivise prompt adherence to tax reporting deadlines.

Interest: Under Section 234A, taxpayers who owe unpaid taxes will be charged interest at 1% per month until the tax is paid. This extra expense can add up rapidly, raising the overall amount due.

Loss of exemptions: Under the old tax system, filing a late return resulted in the loss of exemptions. The new tax system will apply to taxpayers filing delayed returns, prohibiting deductions and exemptions under sections 80C and 80D, among other things.

Carrying over losses: Failure to file by the deadline results means the taxpayers will lose the chance to carry over capital losses to subsequent years. This could also affect taxpayers’ ability to deduct their losses from future capital gains.

The default tax regime: The new tax system will be the default tax regime for the fiscal year 2023-24. Late filers will immediately be switched to this regime and will no longer be eligible for deductions offered by the old tax system.

The initiative is part of the implementation of the e-Verification Scheme, 2021.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The income tax department on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) said it is sending SMS and emails to taxpayers and non-filers where it has identified mismatch between transactions reported in Annual Information Statement (AIS) and income disclosed in ITRs for the financial years 2023-24 and 2021-22.

In a statement, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said it has launched an electronic campaign to assist taxpayers in resolving mismatches between the income and transactions reported in the AIS and those disclosed in Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the financial years 2023-24 and 2021-22.

This campaign also targets individuals who have taxable income or significant high-value transactions reported in their AIS but have not filed ITRs for the respective years.

The initiative is part of the implementation of the e-Verification Scheme, 2021.

As part of this campaign, informational messages have been sent via SMS and email to taxpayers and non-filers where mismatches have been identified between transactions reported in AIS and ITRs filed.

Annual Information Statement (AIS) is comprehensive view of information for a taxpayer. Taxpayers can access AIS on the income tax department portal and provide feedback on information displayed in AIS. AIS shows both reported value and modified value (i.e. value after considering taxpayer feedback).

The CBDT said that the purpose of this campaign is to remind and guide individuals who may not have fully disclosed their income in their ITRs to take this opportunity to file revised or belated ITRs for FY 2023-24, the last date of which is December 31.

For cases pertaining to FY 2021-22, taxpayers can file updated ITRs by the limitation date of March 31, 2025.

Taxpayers can also provide their feedback, including disagreeing with the information reported in the AIS, through the AIS portal accessible via the e-filing website.

Last month, the CBDT launched a campaign under which messages were sent to taxpayers who have not disclosed high-value foreign income or assets in their ITRs for AY 2024-25.

These messages were intended for individuals identified through information received under bilateral and multilateral agreements, suggesting that they may hold foreign accounts or assets, or have received income from foreign jurisdictions.

“In FY 2023-24, the percentage of population that files Income Tax Return is 6.68 per cent. (In FY 2023-24, the total number of persons filling income tax return is 8,09,03,315),” Mr. Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Only 6.68 per cent of India’s population filed income tax returns in 2023-24 fiscal, Parliament was informed on Tuesday (December 17, 2024).

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said there is an increase in filing ITR with over 8.09 crore income tax returns were filed in fiscal 2023-24, up from over 7.40 crore in 2022-23. In FY22, the number of ITRs filed was over 6.96 crore, up from over 6.72 crore in FY21 and over 6.48 crore in FY20.

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“In FY 2023-24, the percentage of population that files Income Tax Return is 6.68 per cent. (In FY 2023-24, the total number of persons filling income tax return is 8,09,03,315),” Mr. Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

He further said total number of individuals reporting zero taxable income in their ITRs is 4.90 crore in Assessment Year 2023-24, up from 4.64 lakh in 2022-23.

New Delhi:

The I-T Department has asked income tax return filers to not make bogus claims for expenses, under-report their earnings or exaggerate deductions as this is a punishable offence and causes a delay in issuance of refunds.

The ITR filing season for assessment year 2024-25 will end on July 31 for all categories of taxpayers whose accounts are not supposed to be audited.

According to the Income Tax Department and its administrative body Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), over five crore ITRs have been filed, as of July 26.

In a recent public communication, the Income Tax Department asked taxpayers to file their returns correctly to get timely refunds. “Refund claims are subject to verification checks, which may cause delays. Accurate filing of ITR leads to quicker processing of refunds. Any discrepancies in the claims made will prompt a request for a revised return (to be filed by the taxpayer),” it said.

It cautioned ITR filing taxpayers to not claim “incorrect” Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) amounts, not “under-report” their income or “exaggerate” deductions or submit claims for “bogus” expenses.

The department informed the taxpayers that their claims should be “correct and accurate.” “Filing a false or bogus claim is a punishable offence,” the public communication said.

Taxpayers can claim a variety of deductions and exemptions to lower their tax liability under the old ITR filing regime while those opting for the new regime will get a lower tax rate but cannot avail these benefits.

CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal had recently told PTI during a post-Budget review that more than 66 per cent of ITR filings this time were under the new regime which is being promoted by the government to make the direct tax system better and simpler.

The communication stated that in case due refunds are delayed, taxpayers should check their e-filing account to see if the I-T department has sent them any message in this context and if yes, then it should be responded through the “pending action and worklist section” tab.

CBDT chief Agrawal was also asked about the recent Budget proposal of withholding the refund being extended up to 60 days, from the existing thirty days, from the date on which such assessment or reassessment is made.

He said such cases “would not be very substantial in numbers.” “This is basically in those cases where there is already a demand in the case of the same assessee or the demand is likely to arise,” Agrawal said.

Suppose, he said, the refund has been generated but the assessment proceeding is going on and it is felt that there is a demand that is likely to come.

“The provisions are that once the assessment is completed, then an assessee gets 30 days to pay the demand. So, demand gets due 30 days after the assessment and therefore, to adjust the refund, that 30-day period has to be there, and therefore, this timeline.

“It is just rationalising that effectively. But then those refunds would be not very substantial in number, they would be very minuscule. It is only enablement,” the head of the direct taxes body said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)