Income Tax filing: Today is the last day, check what needs to be done

New Delhi, August 5: The last date to file income tax return (ITR) for 2016-17 fiscal or assessment year 2017-18 is coming to end on Saturday. The extended deadline for the Financial Year 2016-17 is today, August 5, 2017.

Returns filed after the due date are referred to as 'Belated Returns'. If an individual fails to file the income tax return by the due date, then as per section 139(4) of the income tax he can file a belated return. The only difference is that instead of filing your ITR under section 139(1), you will be required to file ITR under section 139(4).

A belated return can be filed at any time before the end of the relevant assessment year or before completion of assessment, whichever is earlier. This means that you can file belated return for FY2016-17 by March 31, 2018 i.e. before the end of of the current assessment year (AY2017-18).

However, you can still file your ITR if you miss the deadline. Missing the deadline does not mean you cannot file ITR for Financial Year 2016-17. But, the person will not be able to avail some tax benefits like carrying forward of capital losses over next assessment years.

Things to remember

In case you miss the deadline of filing ITR, you can still file a belated tax return. The process remains the same, more or less, only you will have to select Return filed under Section 139(4) in the drop down menu.

Missing the deadline will also keep you from revising your income tax return or carry forward your losses.

E-filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) is mandatory for all individuals except those whose income is less than Rs 5 lakh per annum and who are above 80 years of age.

It is mandatory to link your Aadhaar and PAN card for filing income tax returns through incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in where 'Link Aadhar' option.

The ministry has extended the deadline of linking PAN card with Aadhaar card. It can now be done before August 31. The returns, however, will not be processed until the linkage of Aadhaar with PAN.

Mandatory disclosures

There are some mandatory disclosures that the (respective) forms warrant for FY-17. Some of the noteworthy ones are:

• Cash deposits exceeding Rs 2 lakh made between November 9 and December 30 of 2016 have to be disclosed. Make sure you have checked all your bank statements to get this number right
• A separate section 10 (38) has been inserted to mention exempt Long-term Capital Gains Tax.
• Section 10 (34) needs to be used for exempt dividend disclosure from Indian companies.
• Section 19 C has been introduced to mention the PAN of the buyer of the immovable property exceeding Rs 50 lakh.

OneIndia News (with agency inputs)