ITR ALERT: All You MUST Know Ahead of July 31 Deadline

ITR Alert: As the last date for filing income-tax returns, July 31, is about here you simply cannot afford to miss the deadline to file Income Tax Return (ITR) for the financial year 2021-22. Missing the last date for filing ITR is not advisable as it could incur a penalty and demand for interest payment from the income tax department. Also if a person files an income tax return and later realises that they failed to record any income, they have up to two years from the end of the relevant assessment year to revise their return, as per tax rules. While there are many important factors to keep in mind while completing a proper income tax return in India, here we will concentrate on a few major ones.

ITR update: Things You MUST Know Ahead of July 31 Deadline

1. The penalty for not filing your income tax return is ₹5,000 under Section 234F of the Income Tax Act. However, if your total income is below ₹5 lakh, then you have to pay ₹1,000 only.
2. The income tax department can also charge you a penalty of 50 per cent of tax payable and you could, in extreme cases, face a jail term of three years.
3. In addition to paying penalties you may also have to pay interest – 1 per cent per month or part of the month for tax left unpaid.
4. This is one of the most important tasks to perform before filing for your return. You need to link your permanent account number (PAN) with your Aadhaar. The last date for PAN-Aadhaar linking too has been extended by three months to September 30, 2021.
5. If you fail to file your return as prescribed you will also lose any refund due from TDS collection.
6. An individual must select the appropriate income tax return form, or ITR form, depending on the kind of income, the amount of income, and other relevant factors (i.e., ITR 1, ITR 2, etc).
7. Link PAN and Bank account: Link your bank account with your PAN. The income tax department will only transfer refunds online to your bank account. In case you have forgotten to link your PAN with your bank account then you won’t get the refund.
8. Income declaration in case of new job: If you have changed job/ jobs during the financial year, it is important that you declare your income for the previous employer to the current employer. If not, then your employers may calculate your tax liability after accounting for the deductions again.
9. Be careful of minor errors while filing ITR as it can result in your return being considered invalid. These errors could be as simple as not choosing the right assessment year. Remember, you will be filing ITR for the financial year 2021-22 and, thus, assessment year 2022-23.

The total number of income tax returns filed for AY 2022-23 is 4.09 crores as on 28th July, according to the latest data available on the official Income Tax e-filing website. As many as 3.15 crore returns have been verified by filers while the Tax Department has processed 2.41 crores of verified ITRs.