Almost 36 hours before the deadline, Income Tax Returns (ITR) filing has exceeded 6 crore, much higher than 5.83 crore July 31, 2022. As of now, there is no indication from the government that due date will be extended.

Monday is the last date for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) by individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) for Assessment Year 2023-24 (Fiscal Year 2022-23), which have the largest share in total filers. Now, for non-filers, filing returns from August 1 till December 31 will attract late fee up to ₹5,000 beside losing many privileges.

In a tweet on Sunday, Income Tax Department said that more than 6 crore ITRs have been filed so far (30th July), out of which about 26.76 lakh ITRs have been filed today till 6.30 pm. “We have witnessed more than 1.30 crore successful logins on the e-filing portal till 6.30 pm, today,” it said.

Those who fail to file return by 1159 pm on July 31 can file belated return by December 31, 2023 but with a fine of ₹1000 (if income is between ₹2.5 lakh and ₹ five lakh). This amount will go to ₹5000, if income is more than ₹ five lakh. Not only this, if you file a loss return after the due date, many losses, like business and capital losses, cannot be carried forward for set off in the subsequent years. However, an exception is available for losses from house property that can be carried forward even if you file your returns late.

In case of late filing, if such a person has to pay tax, then penal interest will be levied. Additionally, over and above the tax, the interest of one per cent per month or part thereof for late filing of ITR and an additional one per cent on default in payment of advance tax shall be charged till the date of filing belated ITR.

Income Tax Department claims, return processing has been much quicker now, the average processing time for returns is now just 16 days, with more than 42 per cent of ITRs having been processed in one day in the last fiscal. Quicker processing has also resulted in quicker issue of refunds, which is reflected in the fact that in the last year, refunds issued aggregated to ₹3.07 lakh crore, being higher by 37 per cent over the previous year. 

During FY23, the total number of returns (individual and businesses together) of income filed rose to 7.78 crores whereas during FY22 it was 7.3 crores. The total number of returns processed electronically in CPC was 7.04 crores when compared with 6.86 crore returns processed in FY22. Now, in the  Central Action Plan for FY24, the target for adding new filers is fixed at 10 per cent (of the filer base at the end of year 2022-23) as compared to 10.60 per cent in FY20, 10.18 per cent in FY21, eight per cent achieved in FY22 and over 6.5 per cent achieved in FY23.

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