ITR Punishment: If ITR is not filed, these taxpayers may have to go to jail.

Belated ITR Punishment: Many times people are careless in filing income tax returns, which is wrong. Many times doing this becomes difficult and one has to go to jail...

The new season of filing income tax returns is going to start soon. Now only two weeks are left in this financial year. The new financial year will start next month i.e. April and with it, the new return season will also begin. Many times people are careless in filing income tax returns. However, doing so can prove costly, as has happened with this woman.

Woman jailed for 6 months

According to a report in the Times of India, a woman has been sentenced to 6 months in jail for not filing income tax returns. This matter is of assessment year 2014-15. The woman had received Rs 2 crore in the relevant period and Rs 2 lakh was deducted in TDS. The woman had not filed ITR for the relevant financial year. Now in that case the court has sentenced 6 months in jail with a fine of Rs 5000.

What does the income tax law say?

In the Income Tax Act, there is a provision for fines and jail in case of not filing returns on time. Every time the department sets a deadline for filing returns. Penalty has to be paid for filing ITR after the deadline. In some circumstances, taxpayers can even be sent to jail for several years. Today we are going to tell you what the income tax rules and regulations say about late filing of ITR…

You get time till 31st December

Taxpayers are the first to get the facility to file belated returns from the Income Tax Department. Under this, the taxpayer can file an income tax return by paying the penalty even after the deadline has passed. Under Section 139 (4) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the income tax return filed after the due date is called a belated return. Belated returns can be filed up to 3 months before the end of the relevant assessment year or completion of the assessment year. That means, for this, taxpayers get time till 31st December every year.

Provision of jail up to 7 years

There are many disadvantages to filing returns late. First of all the penalty has to be paid. If any kind of tax liability is incurred then penal interest also has to be paid. Depending on the type of tax outstanding, penal interest will be charged under sections 234A, 234B and 234C. If any discrepancy is detected after filing the belated return, the taxpayer can revise the belated ITR. If the Income Tax Department still has doubts after that, it can investigate the matter and in such a case the taxpayer can be jailed for up to 7 years.