What if you forget to verify your Income Tax Return?
Have you filed your ITR and forget to verify it? Not a big issue, “it’s never too late”. You still have a time to get it verified and complete your ITR filing.
Filing of Income Tax returns on time is not only a moral and financial obligation but also a way to ensure optimum financial health. And Filing Income Tax return contains two basic components of ITR filing and ITR verification. Filing of the ITR must be done within the time frame as per the prescribed procedure each year. For example, for the Assessment Year (AY) 2017-18, the last date for filing ITR was 31st July, 2017 which was later extended till 5th August, 2017.
However, even if you have filed your ITR on time within the stipulated date but have not sent the same for verification, your ITR filing process remains incomplete. All filed ITRs must be verified within 120 days of filing, failing which the ITR is considered to be invalid.
What if you failed to file your ITR completely on due date?
If you missed the ITR filing deadline completely, you can still file a belated ITR before 31st March, 2018 for the A.Y. 2017-18 by choosing “ return filed under section 139(4)” option for a belated ITR. Once submitted you can either opt for e-verification or for physical verification process by sending a copy of your ITR to Central Processing Centre (CPC) at Bengaluru within 120 days of filing your belated return.
What if you filed your ITR but failed to verify the ITR?
If you have filed your ITR on time but have not been able to verify the same, either through e-verification or by physical mode, it is considered as invalid by the income tax department. But, don’t worry, there is still a hope. You can either choose to submit a belated ITR or request the ITR department for e-verification using “Condonation delay request”.
Condonation delay request will work only if you have genuine reason for not being able to verify your submitted ITR within 120 days post submission. Another pre-requisite for filing Condonation delay request is that the income for which the ITR is filed must not be assessable in the hands of any another individual.
Steps involved in filing a Condonation delay request:
Step-1: Login to e-filing website of income tax department http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in
Step-2: Under ‘My Account’ tab, select ‘Service Request’ option from the drop down menu.
Step-3: In the ‘Request Type’ tab choose a new request. And in the request category choose ‘Condonation delay request’ from the drop down menu.
Step-4: Choose the relevant ITR and AY and choose the reason for delay from the menu.
Step-5: After submitting the Condonation delay request, you need to check the status of your request periodically. In order to know the acceptance or denial of your service request.
So, being a responsible citizen, file your ITR on time. And do send for verification and contribute your hands in Nation Building.
-SHIVANI KHANDELWAL
About Author
Name: Shivani Khandelwal
Author is a CA Final student, now currently associated with M/s SSRPN. & Co., As Article Assistant.
