ITR 2024: Normal tax return filing deadline for the Assessment Year 2024-25 ended on July 31 with over 7 crore income tax returns (ITRs) being filed by the specified due date. Taxpayers now have time until December 31, 2024 to file a belated tax return with a penalty and interest on outstanding tax amount.
As of August 23, over 7.43 crore ITRs have been filed and of them, 5.34 crore tax returns have been processed by the Income Tax Department. As per data available on the I-T Department’s website, more than 2 crore ITRs, which are verified, are yet to be processed. Reports suggest that the tax department has sent more ‘Defective ITR’ notices to taxpayers this year than previous years, which could be one of the reasons behind tax refunds being held up for many ITR filers.
What is ‘defective ITR’?
An income tax return is treated as defective on account of providing an incomplete or inconsistent information in the ITR form or in the schedules or for any other reason.
How do you know if your return is defective?
If your return is found defective, the Income Tax Department will send you a defective notice under section 139(9) of the Income Tax Act via an email on your registered email id or post and the same can be viewed by logging in on the e-filing portal.
What are the remedies available for you after receiving a ‘defective ITR’ notice?
A taxpayer ha two options – file the return as a fresh or revise the return if there is still time left for filing the return in a particular assessment year. Alternatively, the taxpayer who receives ‘defective ITR’ notice can also choose to respond to the notice u/s 139. However, once the time provided for filing the return for a particular assessment year has lapsed, he or she will not be able file the return as a fresh/ revised return and the individual will have to respond to notice u/s 139(9).
What happens if the taxpayer doesn’t reply to ‘defective ITR’ notice?
If the taxpayer fails to respond to the notice, the income tax return will be treated as invalid or not filed for the assessment year 2024-25.
What is the time limit within which the taxpayer can respond to a ‘defective ITR’ notice sent by Income Tax Department?
If the ITR is found defective, the return filer will get 15 days of time from the date of receiving the notice or as the time duration specified in the notice to rectify the defect in the return filed. However, the individual may seek adjournment and request for an extension.