Income Tax Return for year ended 31st March 2020 to be filed by 31st December 2020

All individuals who don’t require their books of accounts to be audited have to file their return by December 31, 2020.

The Income Tax Department has introduced a new feature which allows handling of the returns filed online on a real-time basis and providing taxpayers with an instant acknowledgement. This feature is called as ‘Jhatpat Processing’ with the tagline “File Karo jhat se, processing hogi pat se” and can be utilized by taxpayers whose ITR is verified, the bank account is pre-validated, and there are no arrears, income discrepancy, TDS, or challan mismatch. Users need to log on to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in to kickstart the process.

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This new return also has provision for several disclosures like the stock wise details of the sale for those long term capital gains that are eligible for exemption. Additionally, tax-saving investments for FY20 made between 31 March and 31 July, deposits of more than Rs 1 crore in one or more current account/s in the year, etc.

Many professionals and taxpayers across the country have been demanding for yet another extension of the return filing deadline citing issues like shortage of manpower and technical glitches on the income tax website which is making it difficult for them to meet the 31st December deadline.

Failure to file your income tax return could lead to missing out on any eligible income tax refund, inability to carry forward any business or trading losses for set off against gains, levying penalties that could go as high as Rs 10,000 and prosecution.