The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the deadline for resident individuals to file their belated or revised Income Tax Returns (ITR) for the Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25.
The original deadline of December 31, 2024, has now been pushed to January 15, 2025.
This extension gives taxpayers an additional two weeks to complete or revise their filings.
Sharing its update on X, CBDT wrote, “CBDT extends the last date for furnishing Belated/ Revised return of income for AY 2024-25 in the case of Resident Individuals from December 31, 2024 to January 15, 2025.” The change has been made using the board’s powers under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.”
The extension will benefit individuals who missed the initial deadline of July 31, 2024, to file their ITR and had until December 31 to file a belated return.
Secondly, it will allow taxpayers who need to make corrections to previously filed returns an extended window to submit their revised filings.
Under current rules, taxpayers filing belated returns must pay a late fee. If the taxable income is below Rs 5 lakh, the fee is Rs 1,000. For those with taxable income above Rs 5 lakh, the late fee increases to Rs 5,000.
The extension offers relief to taxpayers and encourages compliance amidst low ITR filing rates, with only 6.68% of India’s population filing returns in FY 2023-24.
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary recently revealed in Parliament that only 6.68% of India’s population filed ITRs in the fiscal year 2023-24.
ALSO READ: Mutual transfer portal to become active from January 1: Assam CM
“In FY 2023-24, the percentage of population that filed Income Tax Return is 6.68%. The total number of persons filing income tax returns is 8,09,03,315,” he informed the Rajya Sabha on December 17.
