Two years ago, one was allowed to file income tax returns
for previous 2 years.
The previous year’s budget has reduced this to 1 year. So
beginning from 1st April 2017 anyone will be able to file his/her income tax
return for one year that is for the previous year ended 31st March, 2017 and
that needs to be filed by 31st March 2018.
This year’s Budget 2017 – 2018 has also proposed various changes keeping this
aim of early reporting of income by the taxpayers in mind.
Hitherto the Income Tax Act provided that in case you
were required to file your income tax return under Section 139(1) and failed to
file the same before end of the assessment year, the income tax officer could
levy a penalty of Rs. 5,000 for such failure after giving you adequate notice
to explain your case.
With amendment of law from the last year’s budget anyone can not file his/her income tax return
beyond the end of the assessment year, the penalty provisions became redundant.
So in order to ensure that the taxpayers file their
income tax returns by the due date which is generally 31st July for the average
tax payers, budget 2017-18 has proposed
to levy a mandatory fee for such delay in filing of your income tax returns
beyond the due dates.
The finance minister Mr. Arun Jaitly has proposed to levy
a mandatory fee in case where you are required to file your income tax return
under Section 139(1) due to the income being more than the taxable limit before
allowing deductions under Chapter VIA and capital gains exemption under Section
10(38) of the income tax act. The amount of fee would depend on the quantum of
delay and quantum of your income.
Mandatory fee Delay in Filing of Income Tax returns After
Due Dates
In case your income exceeds Rs. 5 lakh in a year anyone
will have to pay a fee of Rs. 5,000 if anyone file his/her income tax return
beyond 31st July but by 31st December of the assessment year.
For filing the return of income beyond 31t December but
by 31st March any one will have to pay a fee of Rs. 10,000
The amount of fee, however, would be restricted to Rs.
1,000 in case anyone’s taxable income
did not exceed Rs. 5 lakhs for the year.
This mandatory fee has to be paid as self assessment
before filing of the income tax return without having to wait for any
communication from the assessing officer.
It may be interesting to note that the fee is not payable
in case anyone’s income does not exceed the basic exemption limit before giving
the effect of deduction and exemption as explained above as your are not all at
all required to file the return of income but are allowed to file the same.
This will result into additional revenue for the
government in the form of fee instead of penalty which did not bring any
substantial revenue for the government.
Time limit for revisions of the income tax return filed
by you
Prior to the amendment of Section 139 by the Finance Act
2016, you were not allowed to revise your income tax return in case any mistake
or error is noticed later on unless the same was filed before the due date
applicable in your case. So you could file your income tax return even if you
had filed your original return after the due date within a period of one year
from the end of the assessment year or completion of the assessment whichever
is earlier.
The finance minister has proposed to curtail the time limit
available with your for revising the income tax return by one year and now you
are allowed to file your revised return by the end of the year only.
So
practically the time limit for filing and revising your original return remains
the same. This will apply for the income tax returns to be filed for the
assessment year 2018-2019. So for example anyone file original return for the
assessment year 2018-2019 on 31st March 2019 so you can not revise the revise
the same beyond 31st March 2019 itself.
These changes proposed will bring the reporting of the
income closer to the end of the year than what was happening earlier and will
also result into better and timely compliance by the tax payers.
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