August 5, 2017, is the last date for filing your income tax returns for the financial year FY 2016-2017 and assessment year AY 2017-2018. The Income Tax Department of India has made it clear that there will be no extension to this deadline. Although the government has decided not to put any harsh penalties on the individuals who are not able to file ITR by August 5 however there are financial losses involved like you will not be able to claim refunds from your TDS or TCS and will be liable to pay interest. The filing of ITR FY16-17 is crucial if you’ve done any cash transactions of or exceeding ₹2 Lakhs post demonetization drive in November last year.
Recent changes in the government policies like Linkage of Aadhaar with PAN has been made mandatory for filing income tax returns, disclosure of all bank accounts, etc., sure are working wonders. In a statement released by the Income Tax Department it revealed that it received approximately ₹58,783 Crores as advance tax which is an increment of 11.9% as compared to last year. The increase under Personal Income Tax (PIT) which includes the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) was 12.9% out of which ₹2 Crores of tax has been filed electronically.
Let’s take a look at the penalties and financial losses that you will attract if you fail to file your Income Tax Return even today:–
- You won’t be able to claim refunds payable to you by the I-T Department on any advance taxes paid by you or the TDS.
- You won’t be able to carry forward your losses. Even if you have paid the taxes but not filed the returns even then your losses won’t be carried forward. However, house property has been excluded from this which means that apart from losses from house property you won’t be able to carry forward any losses.
- In addition to this you will have to pay a 1% penal interest per month starting from the due date of filing the income tax returns up till the date when you actually file it. You can also face a prosecution in addition to this penal interest if you file your ITR which exceeds ₹3000, later than the assessment year for which it is being filed.
- In case you file the ITR by the end of the assessment year i.e. 2017-2018, even if you have discharged all your tax liabilities, the IT Department will impose a penalty of ₹5,000 unless you convince them that the delay caused was due to unavoidable circumstances.
However if you fail to file your ITR by August 5, 2017, the penalties for the same won't be applicable until the next year.
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