December 31st Is Last Date For Filing ITR: Know Returns Filed Till Date

New Delhi: The Income Tax (IT) department has informed that over 5 crore income tax returns were filed to date and the filing of returns is only for those individuals, whose accounts do not require an audit as a pre-requisite.

According to a tweet by the IT department, the total of returns filings so far stood at 4,86,34,306 with around 18,89,057 filed till Tuesday i.e. December 28.

The taxpayers, who have not yet electronically verified their returns for the financial year 2019-20 can verify them after the IT department provides one-time relaxation for verification. They can complete the verification process by 28 February 2022.

Taking to the micro-blogging site Twitter, the Income Tax Department has informed that more than 5 crore returns for Assessment year 2021-22 filed till 5: 25 pm today i.e. on Thursday. It has also requested the people, who have not yet filed the returns to do so by midnight of 31st December 2021 which is declared as the deadline.

Earlier, the deadline regarding the filing of returns for the financial year was extended two times once from 31 July 2021 to 30 September 2021 in view of the rise of COVID-19 infection in India at the beginning of the second covid wave.

But after several complaints regarding the malfunctioning of technical parts in the new IT portal the last date was later set as December 31 to file the income tax returns.

Failing to file the income tax returns before the given deadline may lead to penalties of up to Rupees 5,000 along with late filing fees and will be deprived of other benefits that the taxpayers might be eligible for. Until the year 2019, the maximum penalty amount was Rupees 10,000 which was later reduced to 5,000.

So amidst the celebration of New Year, it's also important to take note that December 31st is the last date to submit their returns for the assessment year 2021-22 and financial year 2020-21.

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