New Delhi: Now that the deadline (31 July 2021) to file Income Tax Return (ITR) for the financial year 2021-22 is over, those who have failed to file their tax returns must be thinking that What should they do now? Well, December 31 (tomorrow) is the last date for them to file their belated tax returns for Assessment Year 2022-2023 or FY 2021-22. Delayed ITR is applicable to most individuals whose income is from salary, small businesses and professionals.
Income tax return filed after the due date is called belated return. It is filed under section 139(4) of the Income Tax Act.
How to file belated income tax return?
The procedure for filing belated return is similar to filing regular income tax return. All you need to do is select the ITR form that is applicable to you. You can fill the form in the same way as you had filed the return on time. You need to select the assessment year for which you are filing the late return.
Though it is always advised that you must file your ITR before the deadline expires, however if you somehow miss the deadline, you can still do so by paying a penalty.
ITR filing can be done both online and offline. Non-filing or late filing of ITR can attract a penalty of up to Rs 5,000. This time the penalty has been reduced to half, as earlier late filing of ITR used to attract a penalty of up to Rs 10,000. If your taxable income is less than Rs 5 lakh, you pay a penalty of Rs 1,000. Additionally, if your income is below the taxable limit, you do not even need to pay the penalty for missing the ITR filing deadline. However, this is subject to some exceptions.