The deadline is 31 July, Big news for Income Taxpayers

Income Tax: Big news for income taxpayers. The new financial year has started from 1 April. The process of filing income tax returns will start soon. You need to know some things before filing the return. This will prevent you from facing any problem later. If your income is more than the basic exemption limit, then it is necessary for you to file income tax returns. You can use either the new or the old regime of income tax. Individual taxpayers can also change their regime at the time of filing income tax returns.

Regime can be changed at the time of return filing

If you are employed and you had informed your employer last year that you were using the old regime of income tax, you can still change your regime while filing your return. The Income Tax Department allows individual taxpayers to change their regime once in a financial year. If you feel that using the new income tax regime will save you taxes, you can change your regime while filing your return.

Form 16 is required for filing return

The Income Tax Department usually issues ITR forms and uploads utilities at the end of April. After this, the way is open for taxpayers to file returns. But, it has to be kept in mind that employed people will be able to file returns only when Form 16 is in their hands. It is mandatory for companies to issue Form 16 to their employees by June 15. It contains information about the total income and tax deducted (TDS) from the taxpayer’s salary.

The deadline for filing returns is 31 July

The last date for filing income tax returns is 31 July. Sometimes, if needed, the Income Tax Department extends this deadline. It had extended the deadline during the Covid pandemic. Experts say that taxpayers should not wait for the deadline to file returns. Filing returns at the last moment increases the chances of mistakes. Therefore, one should try to file returns before the deadline.

Belated return can be filed till 31 December

If for some reason the taxpayer is unable to file the income tax return by the deadline, then he need not panic. He can file belated return till 31 December. However, for this he will have to pay penalty and interest on tax. If the annual income is less than 5 lakhs, the penalty is Rs 1,000. If the annual income is more than Rs 5 lakhs, the penalty is Rs 5,000.