If you are an individual taxpayer, the chances are that you must have already filed your income tax return. As per the Income Tax Department, the about 5.83 crore ITRs were filed for the assessment year 2022-23 till 31st July, 2022.
Moreover, a new record for Income Tax Department was made as over 72.42 lakh ITRs were filed on a single day i.e., on July 31.
The deadline to file income tax for salaried individuals was July 31. It is as important to verify the return as filing the return — failing which your return can be rejected and can lead to a fine.
A taxpayer is likely to pay up to ₹5,000 penalty in case they miss the deadline for verifying your income tax return unless you are filing belated ITR and have to pay the penalty in any case.
Change of rule
It is vital to note that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has cut down the time limit for ITR verification for taxpayers who have failed to meet the July 31 deadline.
Taxpayers who were able to meet the deadline of July 31, 2022 for filing ITR have 120 days after the filing of their return to verify it. On the other hand, those tax payers who have filed their tax return after the deadline has passed will only have 30 days to verify the same. The rule comes into force with effect from August 1, 2022.
The notification also elaborates that when return is e-verified beyond the time limit of 30 days of transmission of data, in such cases the date of e-verification will be treated as the date of furnishing the return of income.
Return deemed invalid
The income tax (I-T) department has made in amply clear that without verification within the given time, the return is treated invalid. In other words, the tax department will assume that the taxpayer didn’t file his return for that assessment year in case of non-verification.
And in case taxpayer has failed to e- verify the return, he can make a condonation request and give a reason for the same.
After the request is made, taxpayer can e- verify the return subject to the approval of the condonation of request.
Different ways to verify
For the unversed, there are several ways to verify the income tax return. These include via a Digital Signature Certificate, bank account EVC or demat account EVC, one-time password (OTP) on the mobile number registered with Aadhaar, net banking, at a bank ATM, and by sending a signed ITR-V.
Out of these methods, the most popular one is to use one time password (OTP) generated through Aadhaar.
