The due date for filing income tax returns for AY 2021-22 has been extended by three months to December 31, 2021. As per the guidelines from the CBDT, if an individual taxpayer misses the income tax return (ITR) filing deadline of December 31, 2021, then they will have to pay a late fee and file the belated ITR. From this year onwards, the deadline for filing the belated ITR is

An ITR filed after the due date is called a belated return. You can file your belated IT Returns anytime on or before 1 year from the end of the relevant Assessment Year (AY). Check here all you know about the day.

Penalty for late filing of income tax return:

If you file your ITR after the deadline, then a late filing fee will be levied. Till last year, if a taxpayer missed the ITR filing deadline, the maximum penalty he/she would have had to pay was Rs 10, 000. With effect from FY 2020-21, a person filing belated ITR will have to pay a penalty of up to Rs 5,000.

There is a relief given to small taxpayers — the IT department has stated that if the total income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh, the maximum penalty levied for delay will be Rs 1000.On the other hand, if the tax evaded exceeds Rs 25 lakh the punishment could be 6 months to 7 years", as per the website of the Income Tax Department. Until assessment year (AY) 2017-18, there was no penalty for filing belated income tax returns. However, this penalty is applicable from AY 2018-19. A new, section 234F, was inserted by the government into the Income-tax Act, 1961.

How to file an Income Tax Return after the due date:

The process of filing a belated return is the same as filing the return on or before the due date. If a belated return is filed after the income tax due date, the taxpayer would be liable to pay the tax along with interest @ 1% per month (simple interest) under Section 234A.

If, due to any reason, the taxpayer is not able to file his income tax return, he can still submit a belated return before the end of the assessment year, i.e. FY 2020-21.

If you are filing a belated return for FY 2020-21, then you need to fill in the applicable ITRs as notified for this FY, and not for any previous or later FY. The relevant assessment year for a financial year is the immediately succeeding financial year. This means that you can file a belated return for FY2020-21 by March 31, 2022, i.e., before the end of the assessment year (AY)2021-22.