Last Month was a very busy one for Income tax offices, as Offices were overcrowded bu tax payers due to last date of Filing of income tax returns for non audit cases ,specially persons who has earned salary income ,and department has to open special counter at various places to cop up the rush for filing of returns,Due date to file the return for FY 2007-08 ,for different category are :
- In case of person who are not liable to get their accounts audited is 31.07.2008
- In case of person who liable to get their accounts audit is 30.09.2008
In first case person who has earned income from salary ,pension, interest income ,capital gain , house property and person owning small business and not liable to get their accounts audited are covered.
but are you aware of ,what will be happened if person fails to file the return on time ,what will be the penalty .........
any guesses..........
In fact there is no penalty as such for this fault ,absolutely no penalty But this is the fact .Specific penalty for late filing of return is prescribed u/s 271F which is briefed here under
"if a person failure to furnish return of income as required by section 139 before the end of relevant assessment year ,the assessing officer may impose a penalty of Rs 5000/-"
so this section says end of relevant assessment year ,as for previous year 2007-08 , assessment year is 2008-09 and its end on 31.03.2009 ,means there will be no liability for late filing of income tax return up to 31.03.2009 and after that assessing officer can impose a penalty of 5000,and that is also his power which he may or may not exercise.
Now you would like to know why people are so much worried about the last date ,the reason is that as last date has been linked with various other section of the income tax act ,so it is significant in that manner .
I have given some sections linked with the due date of the Income tax return.
Impact of late filing of Income tax return
- Interest u/s 234A:If there is tax due after deducting advance tax ,TDS and self assessment tax than interest will be applicable @1% per month and part thereof up to the date of filing of the return besides interest applicable u/s 234B or 234C.Means this interest is applicable only if there is any tax payable in your return .
- Loss of Interest on refund:You may loose interest on refund u/s 244A as delay in filing is attributable to assessee for the period by which you have filed late return.
- Audit Report:Person who are liable to get their accounts audited should get the audit report on or before the due date of filing return i.e 30.09.2008.
- Revised return :Late /belated return can not be revised .
- Not able to carry forward the losses under various heads:you are not able to carry forward following type of losses if file return after due date
- Speculation loss
- business loss excluding loss due to unabsorbed depreciation and capital exp on scientific research
- short term capital loss
- long term capital loss
- loss due to owning and maint. of horse races
However there is no impact on following type of losses even if return is furnished after the due date
- loss from house property
- business loss on account of unabsorbed depreciation and capital expenditure on scientific research.
Person who can afford to file late return
If you have
- deposited your all tax or due taxes has been deducted by your employer and nothing is due or
- you are not claiming a Major amount as refund or
- you have no losses to be carried forward
then you can fill return up to the end of the assessment year ie 31.03.2009 without any penalty.
Person who should file return on time.
If you have
- balance tax to be deposited or short fall of tax or
- huge amount of refund due to you or
- you have losses to be carried forwarded as explained above(though delay can be condoned as per circular 8/2001 DT 16.5.2001 on fulfilling of certain condition)
so the persons not able to file the return on time for FY 2007-08 can now file their returns by 31.03.2009 without any penalty,file Now.........
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