ITR filing FY 2017-18: Pay up to Rs 10,000 penalty for late filing this year

New Delhi: Filing Income Tax Return (ITR) is an annual ritual by individuals and other category of taxpayers. This year's income tax return will be filed for the financial year 2017-18 or Assessment Year 2018-19.

The new fiscal has just kicked in and you would be keen to know all about your Income Tax slab, due date of filing your ITR etc. The ITR this year is applicable for income earned between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018.

Penalty on late filing

A very important note that you must make while filing for this year's ITR is the late filing penalty. As per the Income Tax rule, with effect from assessment year 2018-19, if an Assessee fails to furnish return of income within due date as prescribed under section 139(1) then as per section 234F, he will be required to pay fee of:

a) Rs 5000 if return is furnished on or before 31 December of assessment year

b) Rs 10,000 in any other case

However, the new rule says that if total income of the person does not exceed Rs 5 lakh then fee payable shall be Rs 1000.

"In order to ensure that return is filed within due date, it is proposed to insert a new section 234F in the Act (I-T Act) to provide that a fee for delay in furnishing of return shall be levied for assessment year 2018-19 and onwards in a case where the return is not filed within the due dates specified for filing of return under sub-section (1) of section 139," the memorandum for the Finance Bill 2017 had said.

All about due date of filing income tax return

For individual taxpayers, the due date of filing income tax return for FY 2017-18 (AY 2018-19) is on July 31, 2018.

For Businesses requiring audit the due date of filing income tax return for FY 2017-18 (AY 2018-19) is on September 30, 2018.

Meanwhile, Central Board of Direct Taxes last week notified the new Income Tax Return (ITRs) forms for the assessment year 2018-19. The policy-making body of the tax department said some fields have been "rationalised" in the latest forms and that there is no change in the manner of filing of the ITRs as compared to last year.

All the seven ITRs are to be filed electronically except for some category of taxpayers.