The deadline for Financial Year (FY) 2019-20 was earlier extended from July 31 to November 30, 2020 and then to December 31, 2020 and finally to March 31, 2021 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. But despite several extensions, if you still did not manage to file your ITR, here are your options in case you want to file your ITR post the deadline.

Starting Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19 a penalty is applicable under Section 234F of the Income Tax Act 1961. An individual would have to pay a fee of up to Rs 10,000 for filing ITR after the due dates specified in section 139(1) of the Act. Earlier, there was no penalty for filing belated income tax returns until the assessment year 2017-18.

According to the amendments in the Finance Act 2017, taxpayers are liable to pay a fee of Rs 5,000 if returns are filed after the deadline, which usually is July 31 but before December 31 of the AY. The fee increases to Rs 10,000 if the return is filed between January 1 and March 31 of the relevant AY. If the total income of the taxpayer is less than Rs 5 lakhs, then the fee shall not exceed Rs 1000.

In order to avoid paying a big penalty, it is advisable to file the return at the earliest. The process of filing a belated return is similar to filing the return on or before the due date. You will be required to select ‘Return filed under section 139(4)’ in the drop-down menu in the relevant box in the form.

It is important to note that if you are filing a belated return for FY 2019-20, then you need to fill the applicable ITRs as notified for FY 2019-20 only and not for any previous or later FY.

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