Late fee/penalty is levied for delayed filing of ITR under Section 234F of the Income Tax Act, 1961. As per the law, a late fee of Rs 5,000 will be levied on persons filing ITR late. However, as a relief for small taxpayers, the late filing fee will not exceed Rs 1,000 if the total income does not exceed Rs 5 lakh.
It is important to note that Last date to file late ITR It is December 31, 2022. Thus, a person can file a belated ITR any time between August 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022, by paying a penalty. If a person misses this deadline as well, he will not be able to file ITR until the Income Tax Department sends the tax notice.
Late filing fee payment
Before you start filing late ITR, an individual is required to deposit the late filing fee as applicable. Late fee/penalty for late filing of ITR is payable using Challan No. 280. The payment can be made online on the NSDL website or by visiting the bank branch.
When was late filing fee introduced?
Late filing fee for late filing of ITR was effective from FY 2017-18. As per the law, there was a two tier structure for filing penalty/ late fee. If a person filed ITR at any time after the expiry of the ITR filing deadline, i.e. on or before July 31, a penalty of Rs 5,000 was applicable. However, if the late ITR was filed between January 1 and March 31, a penalty of Rs 10,000 was applicable.
The penalty was revised due to the government reducing the deadline for late ITR filing. In Budget 2021, the government reduced the deadline for late filing of ITR by three months. As per the reduced deadline, the last date for filing delayed ITR has been revised from March 31 to December 31. Due to reduction in the time limit for filing delayed ITR, a consequent amendment was made in section 234F.