No proposal to extend ITR filing due date: Govt

New Delhi, Dec 31: The central government on Friday said there is no proposal to extend the deadline for filing income tax returns beyond its current deadline of December 31.

"No proposal to extend deadline to file income tax returns; the date of 31 December 2021 remains the official deadline," Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj told reporters.

"More than 5.5 crore ITRs for AY 2021-22 filed till 11:30 am today! This includes 2.15 lakh ITRs filed in the last one hour," IT department tweeted.

According to the Income Tax (I-T) department, an assessee who does not submit a return of income within the deadline is allowed to file a belated return at a later time. However, certain penalty charges are applicable in case of a belated income tax return (ITR).

For lower taxes paid by you, other than the interest payment, you will also have to be paying interest for the delay in filing the ITR. This is even if you have clear the shortfall after the fiscal year ended March 2021.

Late fee payable after missing the due date of filing ITR by Fy 2021/ Ay 2022 For taxable income over Rs. 5 lakh, you will be mandatorily required to pay a late fee of Rs. 5000 in case you miss the due date. And in case it is below Rs. 5 lakh then Rs. 1000 will be charged as late fee.

The late fee is chargeable even in a case when there is no tax liability. This is typically in a case when the gross income exceeds the specified limit but is not over Rs. 5 lakh and hence no tax is payable owing to the section 87 A rebate.

The said penalty may even apply in case the taxpayer has been spending on electricity or foreign travel beyond the stated limits.