Missed ITR filing – Still you can file income tax return of previous years

Missed IT filing - Still you can file income tax return of previous yearsMissed ITR filing – Still you can file income tax return of previous years

We all were under severe pressure to close the income tax returns filing. Servers were not working and Form-16’s were delayed. Several individuals would have missed to file IT returns. Do you know that you can still file IT returns of previous years?

Also Read: How to file income tax rectification online

What is the normal deadline to file ITR?

Generally Income tax return (ITR) should be filed by 31st July every year. This year it was extended up to 5th August, 2013 due to technical issues and several tax payers were not able to access income tax site.

Missed IT filing – Can we still file income tax returns of previous years?

Yes you can still file the IT returns up to 2 financial years i.e. you can file IT return even after the expiry date of the IT Return. Means for Financial year ending Mar-2013 which is FY 2012-13 (Assessment year 2013-14), you can file IT returns up to Mar-2015 with certain conditions.

Things to know before filing income tax returns of previous years

  1. Capital losses cannot be carry forwarded unless they are specified by 31-Jul and filed income tax return. Exemption to this is you can still carry forward the loss on sale of house property.
  2. You can file IT Return within one financial year without any fine or penalty
  3. You can file IT return after one year, but within two financial years, with a fine of Rs 5,000
  4. Penalty interest of 1% per month (simple interest) would be applicable on tax dues and not paid before due date (31-Jul normally, but this year, it is 5-Aug).
  5. Interest of 1% per month needs to be paid for non-payment of advance tax (due of over Rs 10,000 TDS)
  6. You can still claim income tax refund even after late filing. Delay in IT filing would delay your income tax refund and there would not be any interest on such refund.

What precautions should be taken before filing IT returns for previous years?

Since you have already delayed filing IT returns of previous years, it is better to take some precautions before you proceed for filing IT returns.

  • Get Form-16 and TRACES (Form 26AS) documents ready
  • Generally we tend to ignore Bank FD interest. Approach your bank and get all interest paid for your bank FD or RD. Any TDS deducted would anyhow include in your TRACES document. Compute the interest payable on Bank FD as it would be based on your income tax slab and bank would have deducted only 10% of interest paid as TDS.
  • Review your last year IT Return so that any carry forward of losses can be easily off-set.
  • Consider all deductions about 80C or any donations etc.
  • The process to file ITR for previous year is same as normal ITR filing. (How to file ITR online in India)
  • Make the balance tax payment along with interest (if any) and proceed for ITR filing.
  • It would be better to take a tax professional help in filing such previous year IT Return so that you would not miss or mess anything.

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Suresh
Missed IT filing – Still you can file income tax return of previous years

Suresh KP

12 comments

  1. Hi Sir,

    There are 2 senario with me:

    1. I have not filed my ITR since 2009 FY. Today in Sept 2014 I saw all my Form 26AS(2009 Onwards) where TAX has been deducted on my FD’s or land purchase. There is no income as I am retired since 2010. As per my calculation I can retrieve about 2-3 thousand in ITR since 2010. Please let me know if it is advisable to claim from 2010 onwards? Or I just do for last 2 yrs and forget the past?

    2. My friend runs a very small trust NGO which has yearly FD and minor transactions which never comes in taxable range since 2006.
    A. Unlike individual there are form 15H and 15A, which make the TAX deduct once a year and not on maturaty, is there any form for trust also?
    B. Every year the TAX cut is max 2000 since 2006. Please let me know if it is avisable to have the itr claimed since 2006 or last 2 yrs will be fine only?

    Regards
    Rishu

  2. Hi , 

        What should be the gap for filing multiple years ITR in same year – came to know from p.loan dept of hdfc that there should be 6 months to a year – is it true ? 

      regards, 

     

      Mukesh.

      

     

     

      

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