There are two types of tax duty one is a direct tax, and the other one is an indirect tax.
Income tax is a direct tax that is directly attributable to the income of the taxpayer. Income which is produced from the various head of income viz. Salary, Capital Gain, House Property, Business, and Revenue from other sources.
The taxpayer has to pay Income tax if his total Income after providing Chapter VI-A Deduction is more than the taxable income limit.
Income Tax Return Filing may be an intimidating job for most of us as even the slightest error or mismatch could put us in trouble with the Taxation Department. One has to pay tons of attention while filing Income Tax Returns. Some people ask for professional guidance by approaching Chartered Accountants and Taxation Lawyers, whereas others file their returns.
How to file income tax return online for salaried employee
All resident individuals whose principal source of income is salary are supposed to file the ITR-1 form. This form is also intended to be used for those who have received money through pension, one house property, or income from different sources such as lottery and horse race throughout the financial year. However, the total revenue during the assessment year 2020-21 should not exceed Rs 50 lakh.
Following are the steps to file a tax return online:
Go to the income tax department’s ITR filing website and log in with a user ID and password.
Go to “E-File” and pick the ITR form and assessment year.
Fill in the details of the income from Form 16 like salary break-up details, tax payments, discounts, etc.
Re-check all the details and upload the form.
You need to check it as filing the ITR is not sufficient. Else, your return will not get processed. You can do the verification offline or online. There are online choices like e-verifying returns through net banking and producing a one-time password through Aadhaar.
To make sure that taxpayers suffice the deadlines for all tax-related affairs, the IT department has published the ‘’File-it-Yourself’’ calendar for 2020. The calendar benefits taxpayers from mapping their ITR filing journey and lists all the services and information given by the IT department that can help make the method of filing taxes extremely beneficial for all taxpayers.
With the start of the last month of the year, you have only some days to file your income tax return (ITR).
For filing an ITR for the financial year 2019-20 or assessment year 2020-21, the income tax return last date without having a penalty is December 31.
On various occasions, the Income Tax Department has extended the due date for income taxpayers to file their income tax returns to ease the tax-filing method due to the coronavirus crisis.
Just put, individual taxpayers now have till the end of this month to file their return of income, earned between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020. Usually, the due date for filing ITRs for taxpayers whose accounts are not obliged to be audited is July 31.
As for the due dates, here’s what the calendar has to say:
Deadline/Due Date/Last Date
For
January 15, 30, 31
TDS and TCS deposits for the quarter concluding on December 31, 2019.
March 15
4th and final installment (payment) of advance tax (2020-21).
March 31
For AY 2019-20 with inadequate assessment, filing updated or late return of income.
May 15
Submission of TCS statement for Q4 (Financial Year 2019-20).
May 31
Quarterly statement (TDS deposited in the previous quarter).
June 15
For the assessment year 2021-22, advance tax (first installment) payment.
July 31
Filing of ITR for individuals.
September 15
The second installment (payment) of advance tax.
September 30
Filing of ITR for corporates and to-be-audited accounts.
December 15
The third installment (payment) of advance tax.
How to Check Income Tax Return Status in India
Once you’ve filed your income tax return (ITR) and have reviewed it, the Income Tax (I-T) Department begins processing your tax return. Refund, if any is due, is declared only after processing of ITR is finished. Normally after verifying, your tax return’s ‘status’ would be ‘Successfully Verified’ or ‘Successfully e-Verified’. After processing is finished, the status would be ‘ITR Processed’.
During processing, the tax department investigates if there are any errors between the income stated and the tax paid by you and the data accessible with them.
After processing is complete, the department will usually send you a notice below section 143 (1) notifying you as to whether your return as filed has been acquired .
You verify your ITR status using an acknowledgment number without login credentials
On the homepage of the income tax department’s e-filing website, you’ll find the choice to verify the ITR Status.
Once you click the ITR Status option, you’ll be redirected to a new page where you require to fill out your PAN number, ITR acknowledgment number, and captcha code.
After you fill out your particulars and submit, the status will be displayed on your screen.
As we know, a penalty is a three-tier fee arrangement that has been introduced for not filing income tax returns within the scheduled date.
Now the question arises? How much is the income tax penalty?
So, If a return is recorded past the due date, then fees payable will be Rs. 5,000, else it will be Rs. 10,000.
Although, in the case of taxpayers whose annual income does not surpass Rs. 5,00,000, the fees payable would be confined to Rs. 1,000.
If you are filing an ITR and ending up with an error, there are some rules to follow.
Earlier, taxpayers have 2-years to monitor and resubmit an incorrect ITR, which has now been decreasing to one year from the completion of the financial year.
Hence, as soon as you file, the longer would be the window open with you for analyzing your returns to correct typos if any.
This new tax system has been made optional and continues to co-exist with the old one that comprises three tax rates and several tax exemptions and discounts available to a taxpayer. The new income tax slabs in India and rates have come into force from April 1, 2020, for FY 2020-21.
How to Avoid Income Tax Penalty?
You could avoid paying the penalty by spending at least the same value in taxes as you did the past year if you were self-employed then as well. You can obtain the total taxes you spent on last year’s tax return. Just split last year’s taxes into four equivalent payments and send them all in by the IRS’s quarterly due dates: April 15th, June 15th, September 15th, and January 15th.
You can also use separate accounts for business expenses. It will simplify your life and make it easier to estimate your quarterly taxes if you open a different bank account and a credit card account maintained for business expenses only. These produce records of your business expenses for simple reference come tax time. It’s much more comfortable than wading through a mass of paper receipts when you’re doing your taxes, and it’s much simpler to check back through if expenses come up.
So in case you are likely to file your ITR but fail to meet the latest deadline, severe consequences will follow. For non-filing of your ITR, the tax department can impose penalty a minimum penalty equivalent to 50% of the tax which would have been avoided by you, in addition to the liability to pay the interest till the date you eventually file your online income tax return after getting notices from the tax department.
Moreover, the income tax dep
