Last Day To File Belated ITR With Less Penalty, E-Verify Return

The income tax department has sent a reminder to all those who were liable to file income tax return for the financial year 2018-19 but could not do so by the due date that was extended by a month to August 31, 2019 to do it at least by December 31, 2019 to avoid extra penalty. Though, belated return for FY 2018-19 can be filed on or before March 31, 2020.

Last Day To File Belated ITR With Less Penalty, E-Verify Return

From the assessment year 2018-19, there is levied a late filing fee for returns filed after the due date. Assessment year is the year following the previous financial year for which the ITR has to be filed. So, for the financial year 2018-19, income tax return will be filed in the assessment year 2019-20.

At the same time, the department via its Twitter handle has been reminding taxpayers to complete the verification process for their filed ITRs as without verification by the taxpayer within the allowed timeline, the filed ITR will not be considered as valid i.e. it would mean that you have not filed your ITR for FY 2018-19. As per income tax laws, once the ITR is filed, taxpayer is given 120 days for verifying his or her ITR from the ITR filing date. For FY 2018-19, the due date for filing return by individuals was extended to August 31, 2019 from July 31, 2019. So, accordingly, the deadline of 120 days ends today i.e. December 31, 2019 is the last date for e-verifying filed ITRs.

And if you still happen to miss the said deadline for verifying your filed ITR, in case of genuine case you would be required to file a request for condonation delay request. This request can be made on the individual taxpayer's e-filing account on the income tax portal. There is no time line specified for placing such a request. Nonetheless tax experts advice on filing the request as soon as the taxpayer comes to know that his or her ITR is not verified as ITR shall not be processed by the department until it is verified.

Further, in a case when the department approves of the condonation delay request, taxpayer will not be required to file the ITR again and can simply e-verify it using the methods allowed such as Aadhaar OTP, net banking etc.

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