Late filing fee charged despite ITR date extension? File rectification request

Several individuals who filed their returns after 31 July have been charged a late filing fee of RS. 5,000 under Section 234F of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The penalty has been charged erroneously since the due date for filing returns for individuals has been extended to 30 September.

Multiple technical faults have emerged in the new income tax portal launched on 7 June including the erroneous penalty. For such individuals, experts recommend filing a rectification request online. However this should be done after such requests are enabled by the new income tax portal, they added.

“The due date for individuals not subject to audit has been extended from 31st July to 30th September 2021. If due to an error in the system, you have been charged a late filing fee of RS. 5,000 under Section 234F, you should file a rectification request for the return online. This can be filed up to 4 years from the date of the assessment order or intimation. On a practical level, the new portal is not currently accepting rectification requests. Hence you should wait until the glitch is fixed and then file the rectification application,” said Gautam Nayak, Partner, CNK & Associates LLP

However, taxpayers should note that though the due date for filing returns has been extended, the date for payment of taxes has not been extended. For individuals liable to advance tax (generally those with a tax liability of more than RS. 10,000), tax has to be paid before 15 March in four instalments. Any balance tax left to be paid after these dates must be paid before the due date of filing the income tax return. Hence, you should calculate and pay all taxes due at the earliest. Failure to do so can attract interest as well as penalty.

Source: Economic Times