In case you are a salaried or non-auditable taxpayer and have missed the deadline for filing of income tax return for the financial year 2012-13, there is still a way out for you of belated filing of tax return.
The taxpayers are allowed by IT Department to file their return even after last date. As such, the tax return may be filed on or before the completion of two years beginning from the end of specified financial year i.e in the year when the income was realized. For example, individuals can file their tax returns for the Financial year 2012-2013 till 31st March’ 2015.
Although, tax authorities do allow taxpayers to file income tax returns even after the due date but with several major disadvantages few of them are like
1. You may not be able to file the revised income tax returns in ase of any discrepancy. Moreover, your rights to carry forward losses will not be available for future set-off .
2. Provision of penalty and Interest levied for late filing is charged @ 1% on a monthly basis on the unpaid tax amount. Penalty, however, is imposed considering the tax status of the taxpayer.
3. For taxpayers, who has already paid their due taxes before the due date and files belated return before the end of the relevant assessment year, no penalty or interest is levied by authority. In case where income tax return filing is done even after the last date, a penalty upto Rs. 5000 is charged at their discretion.
4. For taxpayers, who have not paid the due tax payable, an interest @ 1% per month is levied on net tax payable amount.
5. For taxpayers, where tax is due for refund, taxpayers may file the return after the due date however delayed filing will also delay their refund process also. Moreover, you may not be able to file the revised return also.
As such it is always advantageous to file the return on time however if you are not able to complete it on time due to some unavoidable reasons, there is a way to be compliant.
