Everyone who has paid taxes should assume the duty to file an income tax return timely.
If
you are late filing your income tax return or you forget to file it on or
before the due date of filing return then you can face a penalty under section 234F of income tax Act 1961.
Section 234F has
mentioned the brief details of penalty
for late filing if income tax returns.
Provision
under section 234F: Penalty for late filing of income tax return
Under
this section if an assessee is not filing the return on or before the due date
of filing tax return then he is liable to pay the penalty.
The
amount of penalty is different in following two situations:
If file the
late return after the due date but on or before 31st December of the relevant
assessment year.
- Eg. If
return is for fy 2019-20 and its due date of filing return let’s say 30
November 2020 then penalty will be levied if file the late return between 1
November 2020 to 31 Dec 2020 (31st December of relevant assessment year).
If file late
return after 31st December of relevant assessment year
- Eg. If in
the above example, file the late return after 31st Dec, 2020 then also penalty
levied but the amount is different from situation (i).
Let’s understand
from this table:
|
Situation
of late Return |
Income
is less than rupees 5 Lacs |
Income
is more than rupees 5 Lacs |
|
After
due date but on or before 31st December of relevant Assessment year |
Rupees 1000 |
Rupees 5000 |
|
After
31st December of relevant assessment year |
Rupees 1000 |
Rupees 10000 |
Eg. Mr. A
has income less than rupees 5 Lacs and the due date of filing
return is 31 November 2020.
Then
if he files a late return between 1 November’ 2020 to 31 December’ 2020 then
the penalty is rupees 1000.
And
if he files a late return between 1 Jan 2021 to 31st March 2021 then the
penalty is Rupees 1000.
Now
if Mr A has income more than rupees 5
Lacs and he files a late return between 1 November’ 2020 to 31 December’
2020 then the penalty is rupees 5000.
And
if he file return between 1 January 2021 to 31st march 2021 then penalty is
rupees 10000.
Note: Now due date of filing return for FY. 2019-20 is 31 December 2020 and in this case only 2nd situation applies i.e. if late return file after 31 December 2020 penalty would be rupees 1000 ( in case of income less than rupees 5 Lacs) and rupees 10000 ( in case of income more than rupees 5 Lacs) as per section 234F of income tax act 1961.
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