According to income tax laws, a taxpayer gets 120 days from the date of filing an income tax return (ITR) to verify his/her tax return. The deadline to file ITR for FY 2018-19 was August 31, 2019, makes December 31, deadline to verify the ITR.

The income tax department on its Twitter handle has reminding those taxpayers who are yet to verify their income tax return (ITR) to do it as soon as possible. According to income tax laws, once the ITR is filed, a taxpayer gets 120 days to verify his/her ITR from the date of filing. The deadline to file ITR by individuals for FY 2018-19 was extended by the income tax department this year from July 31 to August 31, 2019.

This makes December 31, 2019 last date to verify filed ITRs. It is mandatory to verify your ITR to complete the process of ITR filing. If the filed ITR is not verified by the taxpayer within the specified timeline, then it will not be considered valid, i.e., it would mean that you have not filed your ITR for FY 2018-19. This in turn would mean that when you file your return after December 31, you might have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000.

Ways to verify your ITR

There are six ways to verify your ITR. Out of this, 5 are electronic methods and one is physical.

Electronic methods to verify your ITR are - Aadhaar OTP, Generating EVC via Net-banking, Generating EVC via bank account, Verifying ITR via Demat Account and Generating EVC through bank's ATM.

You can physically verify your return by sending the signed ITR-V to CPC, Bengaluru. Remember ITR-V can only be sent via ordinary post or speed post. You cannot send ITR-V via courier.

What if you miss the deadline to verify ITR?

If you miss or have missed the deadline to verify your ITR, then in case of genuine hardships, you can file a request for condonation delay request.

This request can be filed by the taxpayer on his/her e-filing account on the income tax website. According to income tax laws, there is no time limit to file a condonation delay request. However, chartered accountants advise that you should file such requests once you notice ITR is not verified as your filed ITR will not be taken by processing till the time it is verified.

If your request is accepted by the income tax department, then you will not have to file your ITR again. You just have to verify your ITR using the options mentioned above.

What if your condonation request is rejected?

If your request is rejected by the income tax department, then in such case, you will be required to file ITR once again. Remember the ITR filed in such a case will be treated as belated return.

Since a belated return will be filed between January and March 2020, you will be liable to pay penalty of Rs 10,000. However, for small taxpayers whose income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh, the penalty amount will not exceed Rs 1,000.

According to income tax laws, the last date to file belated ITR is March 31, 2020. If this deadline of filing ITR is also missed, then you will be not able to file ITR unless asked by the tax department.