Late fee to be charged in case of delay in filing ITR for year ended 31st march 2018

Late fee to be charged in case of delay in filing ITR for year ended 31st march 2018 (Assessment Year : 2018-19) Under Section 234F:

Finance Act 2017 Inserted Section 234F of Income Tax Act 1951 which reads as follows:

Fee for default in furnishing return of income.

234F.(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of this Act, where a person required to furnish a return of income undersection 139, fails to do so within the time prescribed in sub-section (1) of the said section, he shall pay, by way of fee, a sum of,

(a) five thousand rupees, if the return is furnished on or before the 31st day of December of the assessment year;

(b) ten thousand rupees in any other case:

Providedthat if the total income of the person does not exceed five lakh rupees, the fee payable under this section shall not exceed one thousand rupees.

(2) The provisions of this section shall apply in respect of return of income required to be furnished for the assessment year commencing on or after the 1st day of April, 2018.

Late fee to be charged in case of delay in filing ITR for year ended 31st march 2018

• This means that if Income Tax return is filed within due dates prescribed in Income Tax Act, thenLate Fee will be nil.
• If Return filed after due date but before 31/12/2018 then Late fee will be Rs. 5000 (Five Thousand).
• If Return filed after due date then Late Fee Rs.10000 (Ten Thousand)would be levied.
• Also if total income does not exceed Rs.5 Lakhs then this Late fee will be restricted to Rs.1000 only

Also Section 139(4) of Income Tax Act [Belated return] reads as under:

139 (4) Any person who has not furnished a return within the time allowed to him under sub-section (1), may furnish the return for any previous year at any time before the end of the relevant assessment year or before the completion of the assessment, whichever is earlier.

• This means for Financial Year 17-18, the last date of filing Income Tax Return would be 31/03/2019.
• It’s better for assesses to Get their ITR filed within due date to avoid last moment panic due to any technical problem such as AADHAR mismatch, server problem, personal problems, etc.