As the deadline for filing the Income Tax Returns (ITR) has passed (July 31), and the government has given no extension, a question that comes to the eligible taxpayers’ minds is that can they still file the returns.

If you are someone who is supposed to be paying taxes but was not able to file returns by the due date, then you need not panic as it is still possible to pay taxes by December 31. This is called a ‘late return’ in the field of taxation or also the ‘Belated Return’.

The belated return can be filed anytime after 31st July but before 31st December, but it also entails a late fee.

What are the fees to be paid for Belated Return?

The penalty for the belated returns depends upon the salary slab you come under. For an individual whose net income exceeds Rs 5 lakh, he/she can file the taxes upon a payment of Rs 5000 as the late fee.

For those individuals whose salary is below Rs 5 lakh, they would be incurring a late fee of Rs 1000.

As per the amendment in Finance Act 2021, from AY 2021-22, taxpayers can submit the belated return either three months before the end of the relevant assessment year or before the completion of the assessment, whichever comes earlier.

For AY 2023-24, the last date for filing the belated return is on or before 31 December 2023, if the income tax authorities do not complete the assessment on their own.

Another disadvantage of late filing is when the ITR is filed before the due date, taxpayers get interest at the rate of 0.5% per month on the refund amount from April 1 till the date of refund. However, in case of a belated return, this interest will be calculated from the date of filing ITR till the date of refund.

How to file the late ITR?

The filing of the Belated Return can be done in two ways: Online and Offline. For Online, taxpayers can go to the Income Tax e-Filing Portal, and fill in the details to complete the process.

Another mode is the Offline where taxpayers can use the Offline ITR Preparation Utility that needs to be uploaded on the e-filing portal.

As per the data shared by the Income Tax Department, over 6.7 crore Income Tax Returns were filed by taxpayers for Assessment Year 2023-24 by July 31.

According to data shared by the Ministry of Finance, over 6.77 crore ITRs were filed for AY 2023-24 till July 31. This is a 16.1% spike in the filing compared to the total ITRs for AY 2022-23 which was at 5.83 crore filed till 31st July 2022.