ITR filing deadline ends tomorrow; here's what happens if you miss it

The deadline to file an income tax return (ITR) for income earned in the financial year 2019-20 will end tomorrow i.e December 31, 2020. ITR filing, as Income Tax (I-T) law says, is compulsory for individuals earning a specified amount of income in a year.

A person can claim the refund of the excess tax paid/deducted during a financial year by filing an ITR for that year.

Generally, taxpayers are required to file ITR by July 31 of any year (unless extended by the government). This year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the last date for filing ITR for FY2019-20 (AY2020-21) to December 31, 2020 in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Income Tax (I-T) department, an assessee who does not submit a return of income within the deadline is allowed to file a belated return at a later time. However, certain penalty charges are applicable in case of a belated income tax return (ITR).

A belated income tax return attracts a late filing fee under Section 234F of the Income Tax Act. The amount of penalty payable by the assessees filing a late return increases based on the degree of delay.

Income Tax rules state that a fine of Rs 5,000 is applicable if an individual files ITR after the due date but before December 31. The penalty increases to Rs 10,000 if the assessee files the return next year between January 1 and March 31.

Since this year, the original deadline was itself extended to December 31, now if a taxpayer misses it, he/she will need to file belated ITR only with a fine of Rs 10,000.

Those who have an annual income of Rs 5 lakh, however, are required to pay only Rs 1,000 for filing ITR after the due date.

The process of filing an I-T return online is known as e-filing. The I-T department has established an independent portal for e-filing of income tax returns -- incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.

Additionally, there are certain private entities, registered by the Income Tax department that enables the e-filing process through their websites. While filing ITR on the income tax department's platform is entirely free, some of the private websites may charge for certain actions.