ITR Filing FY 2023-24 Last Date Highlights: The Income Tax Department may decide whether or not to extend the deadline for filing income tax returns for the Assessment Year 2024-25 or the financial year 2023-24. As of now, the last date to file ITR for AY 2024-25 is July 31. The Income Tax Department and the Union Finance Ministry have been sending reminders to taxpayers through emails and SMS to file their ITR on time to avoid penalties and other repercussions. Taxpayers are hoping that the Income Tax Department will extend the ITR filing deadline, especially given the severe glitches on the e-filing portal for several days, which prompted tax professionals to write to the government about the issue. As of July 30, over 5.70 crore taxpayers have filed their ITRs, and around 2.42 crore ITRs have been processed. Now, taxpayers are curious to know when their income tax refunds will be issued by the tax department.
Taxpayers should note that the July 31 deadline applies to those whose accounts do not require an audit. Individuals and entities whose accounts do require an audit can file their ITR until October 31, 2024. This extension aims to provide them time to complete their audit process before filing ITR. The Income Tax Department grants such taxpayers an additional 90 days to get their accounts audited by a certified chartered accountant before filing their ITR.
Failure to file an income tax return (ITR) or not paying your taxes when due can lead to imprisonment under income tax laws. The law has a provision of jail term for actions like failing to file a return, hiding income, or making bogus claims. If your tax liability exceeds Rs 25,000, you could face rigorous imprisonment for 6 months to 7 years, along with a fine. For tax liabilities under Rs 25,000, the punishment includes rigorous imprisonment for 3 months to 2 years, plus a penalty.
Incorrect ITR Forms: Before you start filing tax returns, make sure that you are using the correct ITR form applicable to you, covering all taxable and tax-exempt income sources.
Not checking Form 26AS: Review Form 26AS for a comprehensive view of your income, TDS, self-assessed tax, and tax paid.
Failure to report income from other sources: Report all income from other sources, such as interest and dividends, under Section 56 of the Income Tax Act.
Not mentioning exempted income: Make sure that you report exempted income, like capital gains reinvested in another house under Section 54, in the ITR filing.
Wrong bank account details: Provide accurate bank details, including name, IFSC code, and account number, to avoid refund delays.
Failure to e-verify ITR-V: Verify your ITR within 30 days of filing to avoid it being considered invalid and to prevent penalties.
Are you among those taxpayers whose accounts require an audit by a certified accountant? Under the income tax laws, individuals or entities that have obligation to get their accounts audited before filing tax returns are given additional time by the Income Tax Department to comply with the regulation. Such taxpayers will have time till October 31 to file their ITR for Assessment Year 2024-25, provided their accounts are due for an audit by a CA or a certified tax expert.
If you are among those taxpayers who have preferred to stay under the old tax regime and paid taxes for the last financial year using deduction and exemption benefits available under the old regime, you should not miss the income tax return (ITR) deadline of July 31. If you miss this ITR deadline, you will be automatically shifted to the new tax regime, which will take away most of the benefits provided. On top of that you will not be able to file the belated ITR under the old tax regime from August 1. So overall, this will lead to snatching away your option to claim deductions and exemptions under the old tax regime, resulting in higher tax outgo.
As a taxpayer, you might commit some mistakes unknowingly and that may lead to the Income Tax Department serving you a notice. You may be served a notice either due to under-reporting or hiding of income or filing of a wrong ITR. Especially if you file a wrong ITR and are served an income tax notice, it is advised never ignore it. Ignoring a tax notification can result in penalties, fines, and legal action. Tax experts advise that it is better to reply income tax notice promptly and provide all required information in order to avoid any action by the Income Tax Department.
If there is a mismatch with the information in the AIS and Form 26AS, you can address it by providing online feedback. You can select one of the following responses: “Information is correct,” “Information is not taxable,” “Information is not fully correct,” “Information relates to another PAN/year,” “Information is duplicate/included in other information,” or “Information is denied.” This feedback helps in resolving discrepancies and ensuring that your tax records are accurate.
In case of a mismatch in Form 26AS, you must inform the tax deductor and request a revision of the TDS return to correct the error.
It is also advisable to keep necessary documents related to the transactions, such as bank statements and demat statements, to support any corrections and ensure accurate reporting.
AIS is the extension of Form 26AS. Form 26AS displays details of property purchases, high-value investments, and TDS/TCS transactions carried out during the financial year. AIS additionally includes savings account interest, dividend, rent received, purchase and sale transactions of securities/immovable properties, foreign remittances, interest on deposits, GST turnover etc.
AIS also provides the taxpayer the option to give feedback on the transactions reported. Further, the aggregation of transactions on information source level is also reported in TIS.
Individual taxpayers who have earnings from salary and additional sources like freelancing or part-time business can also use the ITR-3 form to file income tax returns. Individuals or a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) with income under the head’s ‘profits or gains of business or profession’ and who are not eligible to file Form ITR-1 (Sahaj), ITR-2 or ITR-4 (Sugam) can file ITR-3 form.
Are you filing income tax return? Make sure that your Form 26AS data match with that of AIS (Annual Information Statement) otherwise you will receive a notice from the Income Tax Department. With just a day to go before the ITR deadline ends, taxpayers are advised to file their tax returns in time but before that they must ensure there is no mismatch between AIS and 26AS data.
Salaried individuals can file ITR 1 (Sahaj) provided they meet these conditions: Total income is less than Rs 50 lakh in a FY; income is from salary, one house property, family pension income, agricultural income (up to Rs 5,000).
Remember, salaried individuals are not supposed to file ITR-1 if they are a non-resident or having income from capital gains and foreign income, etc.
With just a day to go before the income tax return due date ends, taxpayers and professionals have continuously been raising voices for extending the ITR deadline by at least a month. The All-India Federation of Tax Practitioners (AIFTP) has urged the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to extend the ITR deadline to August 31 for the assessment year 2024-25.
Form 15G and 15H are submitted by taxpayers as a self-declaration to banks that your total annual income is within the basic exemption limit and you are not liable to pay TDS on interest income. Form 15G is applicable to citizens below 60 years of age and Form 15H is supposed to be submitted by senior citizens, age 60 years and above.
Banks deduct TDS when your interest income on deposits crosses Rs 40,000 in a financial year. For senior citizens, the limit is Rs 50,000 under section 194A of the Income Tax Act. Your bank may total the interest on deposits held across branches to calculate this limit.
Once you have filed your income tax return (ITR) and it is processed by the Income Tax Department, you should expected your tax refunds to get credited in about 10 days. As a taxpayer, you should be alert, keeping an eye out for communications from the Income Tax Department. You can also monitor refund status through the e-filing portal.
As per the Income Tax Act, 1961, filing income tax return (ITR) can help you in several ways. Tax experts are of the view that you should file your income tax return even your income is not taxable because it falls under basic exemption limit. If you file an ITR, you are allowed to carry forward losses to next fiscal years and claim a tax refund. ITR filing can also help you in obtaining a visa, getting loans from banks, and buying a term insurance.
The income tax return (ITR) you are filing now is applicable to your income for the financial year 2023-24, the previous fiscal. While the announcements regarding tax changes made by Sitharaman in the Union Budget are for the current financial year (April 1, 2024-March 31, 2025) or the Assessment Year 2025-26. So you can take the benefits of all the changes like tax slab tweaks, hike in Standard Deduction and updated capital gains rates, announced in the Budget presented on July 23, in the ITR for Assessment Year 2025-26, which you will file next year.
Those who filed their income tax returns early this have received their tax refunds within 7-10 days of ITR processing, say tax professionals. They, however, add that ITR processing takes longer as the income tax return filing deadline nears due to the heavy rush of taxpayers on e-filing portal.
Senior citizens of age 75 years and above are exempt from filing income tax returns (ITRs). Under Section 194P of the Income Tax Act, 1961, provides conditions for exempting senior citizens from filing income tax returns aged 75 years and above.
Over 5.5 crore taxpayers have filed their income tax returns (ITRs) for FY 2023-24 and of these, around 2.42 crore ITRs have been processed by the Income Tax Department. Now taxpayers are awaiting tax refunds. Here’s how they can check their refund status using PAN cards on e-filing portal:
– Go to income tax e-filing portal – https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/
– Login to your account using ID/PAN No. and Password
– Go to ‘My Account’ section
– Find ‘Refund/Demand Status’ button on the page.
If you miss the current ITR deadline of July 31, you still have a chance to file a belated tax return by December 31. If you miss that deadline too you will be given one more opportunity. After December 31, you can file an updated return with penalty and interest on tax due.
You can file an updated return within 24 months from the end of the relevant assessment year.
While filing an updated return, the taxpayer needs to pay 25% extra tax on top of the total tax payable along with interest owed, if the return is submitted after the deadline for filing a late or revised return but before the end of the 12-month period from the relevant assessment year.
Filing delayed income tax returns, missing the July 31 deadline, will lead to a late filing fee of up to Rs 5,000 and interest on outstanding tax amount. Under the Income Tax (I-T) Act, a taxpayer has to pay a late filing fee of Rs 5,000 if his or her annual income is more than Rs 5 lakh. However, if the individual’s income in that particular financial year comes to less than Rs 5 lakh, this fee is lower at Rs 1,000.
Besides late filing fee, interest charges are also levied. As per Section 234A of the Income Tax Act, one has to pay an interest rate of 1% per month on the outstanding tax amount from the due date. This means that the longer a taxpayer delays ITR filing, the more interest accumulates, pushing overall tax liability.
If you have paid your taxes under the old tax regime after getting all the deduction and exemption benefits applicable under the Income Tax ACT and now you miss the ITR filing deadline, you will be automatically shifted to the new income tax regime, which is the default option in case a taxpayer doesn’t declare his or her preference. It means that there will be higher taxes to be borne by you on account of losing all the benefits you enjoyed under the old tax regime. The new tax regime gives you slabs with low tax rates but takes away deduction and exemption benefits.
The last date to file ITR for the fiscal year 2023-24 is July 31 and if you miss this deadline, you can file a belated return till December 31, 2024. If you miss the belated return deadline also, you still have an option to file an updated tax return. Under the Income Tax provisions, you can file an updated tax return within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year.
You can check you income tax refund status on the Income Tax Department’s portal – https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/
Steps to check your income tax refund status online:
– Login to the income tax e-filing portal incometax.gov.in using your ID and password
– Go to ‘e-File’ tab,
– Select ‘Income Tax Returns’
– Click on ‘View Filed Returns’
– Check the refund status for Assessment Year 2024-25.
If you miss the ITR filing deadline of July 31, you are liable to pay a penalty. If your total income is more than Rs 5 lakh per annum, you will have to pay a penalty of Rs 5,000 when you file your belated return. If the total income is less than Rs 5 lakh, the penalty amount is kept at Rs 1,000. In case you own an income tax to the government, you will be charged an interest on the tax due along with the penalty.
The Income Tax Department may not extend the last date for ITR filing this year because data shows that the number of people who have filed their income tax returns so far is way ahead than what was seen last year. So despite calls from individual taxpayers and tax professionals to extend the deadline to file ITR by at least a month, it is very unlikely that the Finance Ministry and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will decide to stretch this return filing due date.
The Income Tax Department allows a section of taxpayers to file their income tax returns (ITRs) till October 31. Actually, the ITR deadline of July 31 is meant for only those taxpayers whose accounts do not need any audit. On the other hand, individuals and entities whose accounts need to be audited get addition three months to comply with ITR filing requirement.
According to data available on the Income Tax Department portal till 11 AM, as many as 5,72,48,622 taxpayers have filed their income tax return. Of these, 5,13,82,550 ITRs have been verified and 2,41,79,115 income tax returns have been processed. Last year, the Income Tax Department said there were 6.77 crore income tax returns filed by July 31, 2023.
Once you have filed your income tax return and e-verified your ITR, it might take the Income Tax Department four to five weeks to process the refund. Failure to file an ITR by the due date of July 31 might cost you dearly as under the income tax provisions, you are liable to pay the penalty and interest on tax dues, if any, when you file the belated tax return.
Individuals and businesses whose accounts are due for audit are not required to file their income tax returns (ITRs) in July. For such taxpayers, the last date for filing ITR is October 31. Individuals whose accounts do not need to be audited are mandated to file their tax returns by July 31 to avoid late fee and other penalties.
The deadline to file your Income Tax Return (ITR) for the Assessment Year is July 31, 2024. The Income Tax Department has not yet announced any plans to extend the due date for filing ITR, despite requests from individual taxpayers and tax professionals. Taxpayers have encountered severe technical glitches on the e-filing portal for several days, leading to expectations that the finance ministry might extend the deadline. If the deadline is not extended and you fail to file your tax return by July 31, you may incur a penalty, which varies based on your income level.