Income Tax Return Filing AY 2022-23: December 31 Is Last Date For Filing Revised, Belated ITR

Deadline For Revised and Belated ITRs: Now that 2022 is ending and the new year 2023 is going to start in about a week, the window for filing the revised or belated ITR (income tax return) is also going to be closed on December 31. So, if you could not file your income tax return by July 1, 2022, or had filed the ITR but made some mistake in that, you can correct the course by filing a belated or revised ITR by December 31, 2022.

The original deadline for filing the income tax returns for the assessment year 2022-23 was July 31, and the last date was not extended this year. A record 72.42 lakh income tax returns were filed on the last day of such filing on July 31, taking the cumulative returns to 5.83 crore, near to the same levels of last year. While, initially, income tax return (ITR) filing was slow, the pace picked up as the deadline neared.

Belated ITR

Under Section 139(4) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, there is a provision for filing a belated ITR in case you have missed the original deadline. However, as per Section 234F, a penalty of Rs 5,000 needs to be paid if one files a belated ITR after July 31 by taxpayers with a total income of Rs 5 lakh and above. For taxpayers with less than Rs 5 lakh total income, the fine amount is Rs 1,000 while those who are exempt from paying income tax do not have to pay any penalty.

For filing the belated ITR, filers must select Section 139(4) in the tax return form. The last date for filing the belated ITR is December 31. If someone misses this deadline, he or she will not be able to file the ITR unless the income tax department sends a notice.

Revised ITR

If you filed the ITR within the original deadline of July 31 but made a mistake, you can correct that and file a revised ITR by December 31. The provision for this is given under Section 139(5) of the Income Tax Act. The process to file a revised ITR is the same as original ITR. However, you need to select Section 139(5) in the income tax return form and must have the original ITR as the figures put in the original ITR will also be needed in the process.

Sumit Mangal, partner at Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India, said, “The revised return can be filed multiple times within the statutory time limits. However, if a return is revised multiple times, the said return may be selected for a detailed assessment to assess the reasons for multiple revisions in the tax return. There is nothing specific that should be considered while filing the revised return.”

He added that since the revised return substitutes the original return and multiple revised returns could result in detailed scrutiny of the matter, it should be ensured that the revised return reflects the correct data and information. “Further, the revised return should be in line with the disclosures made in the tax audit report.”

Maneet Pal Singh, partner at I.P. Pasricha & Co, said, “Even those who file belated ITR (the return that is filed after the due date) are allowed to file a revised return. Previously, only those taxpayers who had filed ITR before the expiry of the deadline were allowed to revise their returns.”

Singh added that if your income tax return has been processed and you have availed a refund, a revised return can be filed if it is filed within the specified due date. If the ITR form has to be changed, a revised return can be filed.

“The process of filing a revised ITR is the same as filing an original one. However, while filing revised ITR, you are required to file it under section 139(5) of the Income-tax Act. You are required to select the option ‘ Revised u/s 139(5)’ in the ‘return filed under’ column. The ITR form will additionally ask you for details of the original ITR, i.e., receipt number and date of filing of original ITR,” he said.

In October, the government extended the deadline for filing income tax returns by businesses till November 7 for the assessment year 2022-23, from the original last date of October 31. Before this, the CBDT had also extended the deadline for filing audit reports.

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