Income Tax Audit Due Date Extension Nearing its End : File Your ITR Soon or Pay Late Fee Penalty!

The Income Tax department of India has announced that the final Audit Due Date Extension is now Nearing its End. They have also warned that if you fail to file your ITR in time then you will be liable for a late fee penalty.

Many chartered accountants and other related professionals have urged the department to extend the due date because of limited time and struggling businesses due to the pandemic. Although, till now, the department hasn't officially announced any extension so most probably this will be the final date to pay.

Currently, around 5.16 Crore ITRs have been filed as compared to 5.65 Crore in 2019 so people are following the norms and doing it quickly. Besides, the impact of high penalty implementation can also be seen this year.

Normally, the income tax returns are filed in July, but due to the pandemic the government preponed the date to 30th November, 2020. After this, it was rescheduled to 31st December, 2020. Finally, it was slated for the last date to file ITR for 2020-21 i.e. 10th January, 2021. The finance community is still demanding further extension till 31st January, 2021 which seems very unlikely to happen, but you never know because it's India!

Earlier, the penalty for people with less than Rs 5 lakh of income was Rs 1000 and Rs 5,000 for others, but now it has been increased. If you fail to file your ITR before the due date then you have to pay a penalty of upto Rs 10,000. The exact figure is not clear yet, but rumours are that a strict penalty of Rs 10,000 can be levied on defaulters.

Have You Filed Your ITR yet? If not then do it soon to avoid any late fees and other issues. What do you think about the strictness of the Income Tax department? Do share your valuable views via our comments box below. You can also check out our article on Stockal Global Investing - How to Invest in USA Stocks like Facebook, Google, Alibaba, Apple, Starbucks etc from India?