Income Tax Return for FY20: A taxpayer has to file revised income tax return under Section 139(5) of the Income Tax Act.
In light of COVID-19 pandemic in India, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the deadline for filing Income Tax Return for the assessment year 2020-21. “The filing of belated return under sub-section (4) and revised return under sub-section (5) of Section 139 of the Income Tax Act, for Assessment Year 2020-21, which was required to be filed on or before March 31, 2021, may be filed on or before May 31, 2021,” CBDT said in a statement.
What it means for taxpayers
Those who have not filed the income tax returns for the financial year 2019-20 yet, will get time till May 31 to submit returns, according to the new circular. Moreover, this extension will be beneficial for those who want to make changes in their income time tax returns filed for FY20. If any individual has made a mistake while filing ITR, he or she will be able to revise it, CBDT said.
We take utmost care while filing our income tax returns. However, we make mistake at times. Section 139(5) of the Income-Tax Act allows taxpayers to rectify their mistake by filing a revised income tax return.
What is a revised income tax return?
If a taxpayer discovers any omission or any wrong statement in the original income tax return (ITR), it can be corrected by filing a revised return. It must be noted that an individual has to mention the details of the original return while filing the revised return.
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Who can file a revised ITR?
Every taxpayer who has filed income tax return is permitted to revise or correct it. “Generally, a revised tax return filing is pursued on account of different reasons such as wrong information furnished in ITR or not furnishing some figures in the returns. It would therefore be important for the tax payer to maintain adequate documentation in support of the revisions carried out, just in case of a audit by the tax authorities at a later point in time,” Sudhakar Sethuraman, Partner, Deloitte India.
However, revision can be done only by those who have filed their original tax return within the due date,” he added.
How to file a revised ITR
A taxpayer has to file revised income tax return under Section 139(5) of the Income Tax Act.
1) Log in to e-filing portal www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.
2) Then, click on the e-File menu and click on Income Tax Return link
3) On Income Tax Return Page, the PAN will be auto-populated. Then, select ‘Assessment Year’ and ITR Form number. Filing Type will be ‘Original/Revised Return’.
4) Then select ‘Submission Mode’ as ‘Prepare and Submit Online’
5) In the online ITR form under ‘General Information Tab’, choose ‘Return Filing Section’ as ‘Revised return under section 139(5)’ and ‘Return filing type’ as Revised.
6) Then, enter the Acknowledgement Number’ and ‘Date of Filing’ of the original return filed. It is mandatory to enter a 15 digit Acknowledgment Number while filing the revised return online.
7) Fill the relevant details and submit the ITR form.
8) It must be mentioned that verifying Income Tax Return is mandatory after filing revised ITR form. Income Tax department will not accept your return unless it is verified.
There is no limit for the number of times one can file a revised return. But, once the scrutiny assessment of your return is completed under Section 143(3) of the Income-tax Act, then an individual cannot file a revised return.
Last date to file a revised ITR
Individuals can file revised income tax return till May 31, according to the latest notification by CBDT. “CBDT stated that it had received requests from many stakeholders for extension and clarified that they had extended the timelines considering the fact that the country is witnessing challenging times due to a severe second wave of COVID. The extension in time limit was the need of the hour and will offer much-needed relief to the return filers, with many states observing full or partial lockdowns,” said Archit Gupta, founder and chief executive officer, ClearTax.
