Finance Ministry confident of 'good number' of income tax returns filing before July 31 deadline

With the last date for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) for the current assessment year fast approaching, Finance Ministry officials say they are hopeful of a good number of submissions. The department officials also said that the Income Tax department website for ITR filing (incometaxindia.gov.in) is under review to ensure efficiency in the filing process.

 “We are confident of a good number of IT return submissions before July 31,” a finance ministry official told Business Today. The last date to file the annual ITR for salaried taxpayers and non-auditable cases is July 31.

Although ITR might be filed after the deadline passes, a late filing fee could be imposed on tax-filers after the designated date. If the individual’s yearly income is above Rs 5 lakh per annum, the late fees will be Rs 5,000. If the income is below Rs 5 lakh per annum, the late fee is Rs 1,000.

The department recently acknowledged that taxpayers were facing issues in the e-filing portal. On July 2, 2022, the income tax department on its official Twitter handle said that software provider Infosys is taking "proactive measures" to deal with the 'irregular traffic' on the portal.

"It has been noticed that taxpayers are facing issues in accessing ITD e-filing portal. As informed by Infosys, they have observed some irregular traffic on the portal for which proactive measures are being taken. Some users may be inconvenienced, which is regretted," the IT department tweeted.

Last year, the deadline for filing ITR was extended by two times due to technical glitches on ITD e-filing portal. Taxpayers were given time until December 31 to file their taxes.