Today, August 31, is the last day to file your income tax returns for the assessment year 2018-19 for salaried individuals and people with professional income. Since the government has already given a one-month extension to the original deadline of July 31 for filing ITR, there may not be any further extension in the timeline. The only exception to this, however, is Kerala, where the due date to file IT returns has been extended to September 15 after devastating floods that led to destruction of life and property in the state.
Here are top 5 things to remember on the last day to file Income Tax return:
ITR filing after the due date will attract penalties from the income tax department. If your income is less than Rs 5 lakh, the penalty would be Rs 1,000. For people with an income of more than Rs 5 lakh, the penalty would be Rs 5,000. The penalties will further increase if the income tax is filed after December 31. The amount of money charged as penalty or fine for a belated ITR increases will be based on the degree of delay.
Another important thing to remember in ITR filing is that you must verify the income tax return after submitting it. This can be done in 5 ways - through Aadhaar OTP (One-Time Passcode), bank ATM, bank account, demat account, net banking or by sending a signed ITR-V form to the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) in Bengaluru.
If you make a mistake while filing your Income Tax Return, you can still make changes to it till March 2019.
According to Income tax laws in India, you can carry forward your business loss or any unabsorbed loss under house property and capital loss for up to 8 years. But if you miss today's deadline of ITR filing, you will not be eligible to carry forward the business loss. So don't miss today's deadline to file income tax return.
You can simply file income tax return online by visiting this website: http://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in or any other agent websites. Keep basic details and documents like PAN card number, bank account details, Form 16 handy before filing the return. You should have breakup of salary, last year's tax returns, bank statements, TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) certificates and profit and loss account statement, if applicable.
