File your Income Tax Return before 31st July

Don't worry if you couldn't file return in time

I am sure most of you must be spending a lot of time arranging your documents related to computation of Income Tax and trying to meet the Deadline of 31st July,2008 for filing of return of Income. Here are some tips which would be beneficial for you in filing the return without having unreasonable worries of implications.

Deadline of 31st July for whom ?

All individuals and business entities , other than companies, who are not liable to get their accounts audited are required to submit their return of Income by 31st July. For companies, the due date is 31st October. So all individuals, who have income from salaries, interest, house properties, capital gain tax or business income where the books of accounts are not required to be audited , are covered under this.

Benefits of Submitting Return in time

Well, the biggest benefit is that you get peace of mind and get rid of botheration of the implications. So Ideally I would recommend that one should submit one's return in time. The other benefit of submitting the return in time are

  • You would be allowed to file a Revised return of Income in case such need arises. Returns filed after due date are not allowed to be Revised.
  • You would be entitled to carry forward the losses under Capital gains. Later return filers lose this benefit.
  • You will save on interest charges on late payment of taxes. This applies if you have some tax payable in addition to what has already been deducted at source. In that case you need to pay interest @1% per month.

Delay in submission of Return, Don't worry !

Yes, 31st July is the due date for filing the return of Income, but it is not the last date of filing the return. You can file your return by 31st of March 2009 for assessment year 2008-09 without paying any penalty. Another good thing is that if you do not have any liability of paying tax in addition to what had already been deducted, you will not incur even the interest charges. So if your return does not show self assessment tax to be paid, you can safely deposit your return by 31st March, provided you don't get the need to revise your return.

File your tax online and get 15 days more to submit ITRV

Yes, this is a bonus for those who are filing the return online. What you need to do is file your return online and then you will get 15 days to get the acknowledgement submitted to your nearest IT office irrespective of the deadline of 31st July. So if I submit my online return on 31st July, I can deposit the acknowledgement form till 15th August and will still qualify for in-time submission. But remember to upload your return online before 31st July. It's a very easy and user friendly procedure. You can log on to Income tax department website to get step by step procedure of filing online return.
Related post

Guidelines for filing Income Tax Returns

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