ITR filing FY 2020-21: Last day to file your tax return today, know what happens if you miss the deadline

New Delhi: Today is the last day for the filing of FY 2020-21 Income Tax Return (ITR), hence you must prepare all your documents and file it by the end of the day.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had extended the due date of filing all Income Tax Return (ITR) for FY 2020-21 to December 31. This year, taxpayers are required to submit the returns for the FY 2020-21 financial year and the assessment year would be AY 2021-22.

While it is advised that you must file your ITR before the end of the deadline, however if somehow you miss the deadline, you can still do so by paying penalty.

Filing ITR can be done both online and offline. Not filing ITR or late filing can attract penalty up to Rs 5,000. The penalty has been reduced by half this time, as previously late filing of ITR would attract upto Rs 10,000 penalty. If your taxable income is less than Rs 5 lakh, then you pay a penalty of Rs 1,000. Additionally, if you have an income below the taxable limit, you are not even required to pay the penalty incase you miss the ITR filing deadline. However, this is subject to certain exceptions.

In a big relief to millions of taxpayers, the government had extended the last day for filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) for the FY 2020-21 period couple of times. The Income Tax Department had also issued advertisement guiding taxpayers over their ITR filing on multiple occasion.

In a related news, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has announced that it has provided one-time relaxation for verification of e-filed ITRs for AY 2020-21 which are pending for verification due to non-submission of ITR-V form or pending e-Verification.

The CBDT has extends ITR Refund filing for AY 20-21 till 28 February 2022.