ITR Filing 2024: Over 5 crore taxpayers have already filed income tax returns (ITRs) for the assessment year 2024-25 and millions are queuing up to get their tax returns filed before the due date of July 31. The Income Tax Department has been reminding taxpayers to not miss the last date else they will be liable to pay penalty and face other consequences.

Income Tax Department warns taxpayers against bogus claims

The tax department has also warned taxpayers against making bogus claims for expenses, under-reporting income or exaggerating deductions, according to a report by news agency PTI. The I-T Department has termed these activities illegal that will amount to punishable offence. It may also cause delays in the issuance of refunds, the report said.

The ITR filing session for the assessment year 2024-25 is underway for taxpayers whose accounts are not supposed to be audited.

Nearly 5.5 crore taxpayers have filed ITRs

According to data available on the Income Tax Department’s portal, nearly 5.5 crore ITRs have been filed until July 29 and nearly 2.5 crore ITRs have been processed by the department. The Income Tax Department has asked people to file their returns accurately to get timely refunds.

Also read: ITR Due Date: If you fail to meet July 31 tax return filing deadline, you will lose all Old Tax Regime benefits!

“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),” said the IT department, reported the agency.

Filing a false or bogus claim is a punishable offence

ITR filing taxpayers have also been instructed to not claim “incorrect” tax deducted at source (TDS). Taxpayers should not “under-report” their income or “exaggerate” tax deductions or even submit such “bogus” claims for expenses. The Income Tax Department also said that the taxpayers’ claims should be “correct and accurate”, as per the report. “Filing a false or bogus claim is a punishable offence,” the I-T Department said, as per the report.

Taxpayers must note that these deductions and exemptions mentioned are available only under the Old Tax Regime and not the New Tax Regime. Taxpayers can avail a string of Deductions under Section 80C, 80D, Standard Deduction benefits and others. In the recent budget, FM Nirmala Sitharaman has hiked the Standard Deduction limit to Rs 75,000 from the existing Rs 50,000. The FM also announced changes in the tax slabs under the new regime.

Also read: How to file ITR online? Step-by-step guide

More than 66% of the ITR filing this time was under the new tax regime provided by the Indian government to make the direct tax system simple and better, Ravi Agrawal the Chairman of CBDT told PTI.

In case the ITR refund is delayed, the taxpayers need to check their e-filing account to see if the Income Tax Department has sent any communication, if yes, then they need to respond to it through the “pending action and worklist section” tab, said the report.