31st July is the due date for filing of return by individuals who are not subject to tax audit or who are not partners of a firm which is subject to tax audit.Therefor large numbers of taxpayers or assessee are those individuals for whom due date is 31st July.
It is common perception if the return is not filed within due date , the A.O will impose penalty or interest or do scrutiny. Therefore many people who can file even after 31st July i.e due date , without any repercussion ,rush to file return by 31st July. Every year there is is great rush to file return by 31st July. So, income tax department makes special arrangement to receive those returns on last two three days. This year also, income tax department kept the office open on 31st July 2010 which falls on Saturday-a holiday – to receive the returns.
So,when can you file return even after 31st July without any repercussion ?
You can file return after 31st July if
- All taxes have been paid by you as advance tax or deducted at source by 31st March.
- You do not have any loss to carry forward. In case of late return , you will not be allowed to carry forward the loss.
- You do not want to revise the return.
In all these cases, you can file return upto 31st March .
For example, if you are a salaried person and all tax has been deducted at source and no tax is outstanding as on 31st March 2010 for income (salary and other income ) earned during FY 2009-10 i.eAsst. Yr 2010-11who are supposed to file return by 31/7/2010 , can file return upto 31/3/2011 without any interest or penalty.
And , if they take risk of paying penalty of Rs 5000 for late filing , they can file return upto 31/3/2012!
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