Paying taxes on time to the government is the responsibility of taxpayers. It is better to be focused to evade any punishments in case of delay in filing income tax every year. The last date for filing belated or revised ITR for AY20 has just been extended several times this year in the wake of the Coronavirus induced lockdown. The Income Tax Return Department has again delayed the ITR filing due dates for AY 2020-21 (FY 2019-20) from November 30 to December 31, 2020, for those taxpayers where tax audit isn’t applicable. For Individual taxpayers who need to get their accounts audited, the last date of return filing has been extended from October 31, 2020, to January 31, 2021.
Reasons for Filing ITR before December 31, 2020
Given below are the reasons for filing ITR before December 31, 2020:
Delay in ITR Filing by the taxpayers translates to delay in claiming tax refunds
Taxpayers who are expecting refunds should file their ITR right on time for their refunds to be processed earlier. ITR filings that are done earlier get verified earlier, thus resulting in faster tax refunds. Income Tax Department usually takes around one month to process refunds. On the off chance that a citizen needs a refund of excess tax, TDS or TCS, an early filing of ITR empowers early processing of the return. Filing ITR after the due date is additionally permitted up to a specific period. However, citizens are required to pay a penalty in this case. Not filing returns at all could pull in punishment under the Income Tax Act as tax avoidance is a criminal offense.
Pay higher interest under Section 234A
A person whose tax obligation surpasses Rs.1 lakh and who isn’t needed to get the accounts audited ought not to wait till the last date to file ITR to limit the interest outgo under segment 234A of the Income Tax Act.
“Those individuals whose are not required to get their accounts audited but whose self-assessment tax liability exceeds the limit of Rs1 lakh should not wait until extended due dates December 31, 2020, because the interest under section 234A shall be charged from the due date July 31, 2020, to the actual date of filing the Income-tax return in this case. Therefore such a taxpayer should file his income tax return as early as possible to minimize the interest under section 234A,” says Kapil Rana, founder, and Chairman, HostBooks.
For more information, visit the website of All India ITR
