File your ITR by Jan 10, 2021, to avoid penalties | Fusion - WeRIndia

Income Tax department extended the deadline to file income tax returns for the financial year 2019-20 to January 10, 2021, from December 31, 2020. While the normal due date to file ITR is July 31 of the subsequent financial year, it has been extended several times this year and now to January 10, 2021, due to COVID-19.

Hence, all taxpayers have to file their ITR by the deadline else they have to pay penalties. That means even if you do not file your ITR before by the due date, you can file it before the last date with penalties. There are two relevant dates for filing ITR. One is the due date by which you can file your ITR normally without any fine. Another is the last date by which you can submit your ITR with prescribed penalties.

While the due date to file ITR for FY 2019-20 is January 10, 2021, the last date is March 31, 2021.  That means if you miss the due date, you can still have the chance of submitting your ITR by the last date.

However, you will have to bear certain consequences if you file your ITR after the due date:

The first and foremost thing is that you have to pay a late fee if you fail to file your ITR before the due date. The late fee depends on the taxable income. If your taxable income is below ₹5 lakhs, the late fee is ₹1,000 and if your income is above ₹5 lakhs, you will have to pay ₹10,000.

You will get a refund within a stipulated time if you pay excess taxes. You will receive interest on that amount from the IT department after that period. However, you will not receive any interest if you file your ITR after the due date. At the same time, if your tax liability is more than what you actually paid, you will have to pay interest for the period of delay. In addition to that, you will have to pay interest on the difference amount between the actual tax payable on your income and the tax paid by you.

If you miss the deadline, you won’t be able to carry forward losses if any to set off against the income of the following years.

For all these reasons, it is better to submit your ITR before the due date.

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Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/tax-taxes-government-refund-word-1351881/