You burnt the midnight oil and filed your tax return within the extended September 7, 2015 deadline.

But to your dismay, you now find that you have forgotten to add interest income from some of the fixed deposits you hold; or, you forgot to claim deduction for certain donations you made; or you entered the details of self-assessment tax paid wrongly. Don’t panic.

To correct any omissions or errors that may have crept in during the last minute rush, tax laws have a provision to revise your IT returns.

Revision If you abided by the law and filed the original return before the deadline, you can revise your return anytime before the end of the assessment year.

This means that for returns related to the financial year 2014-15, you have time till March 31, 2016, to file a revised return, provided you filed your original return before the September 7, 2015 deadline.

There is no specific return form or a separate procedure to file a revised return. You just have to re-file your return with the corrected data through the department’s website www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in .

The only change to be made is a mention in the first page that the return is a revised one. The e-filing acknowledgement number of the original return and the date of filing of the original return also need to be mentioned alongside.

Caveats There is no ceiling on the number of times a return can be revised. The latest one will be considered by the department for processing. But when taking a call on revising the return, you must keep in mind a few things.

One, if you miss the deadline for the original filing and file belated returns, you cannot revise it. Secondly, if the revisions lead to big changes in taxes, the chances of your return being picked up for scrutiny may be higher.

Third, returns are open for revision only until you receive intimation from the tax department under Section 143(1) about the processing of your return. The Centralized Processing Centre at Bangalore sends out this intimation to your e-mail address a few months after filing.

This intimation juxtaposes income and tax calculations as per your return and as per the department’s records.

For instance, if the department finds that you have missed out on any income or claimed more deductions than allowable, it may point these out in this intimation and raise a demand. If you agree with it, you need to pay the additional dues within 30 days of receipt of the intimation. Otherwise, if you find any mistakes in the department’s assessment, you can request for ‘rectification’.

Rectification If you think there are mistakes in what has been considered as income or in tax liability calculations in the intimation, you can file an online rectification request on the IT department’s website. Once you log into your account using your PAN and password, you raise a rectification request (option available under ‘My Account’ section), giving details of the CPC intimation reference number.

To help you with the process, a video detailing the procedure for filing rectification request under different circumstances, such as tax credit mismatch, wrongful consideration of, say, income from other sources or deduction details is available in the home page of the department’s e-filing website mentioned earlier ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcTOZionV3U&feature=youtu.be ).

A request for rectification can be filed within four years from the end of the financial year in which the order sought to be rectified is received. According to the website, rectification request can also be withdrawn online within three days of filing. The website is user-friendly.

But if you have filed your return using an e-return intermediary website or taken the services of a chartered accountant, they can also help you with the rectification process for a fee.

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