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ITR filing 2025: What happens if you miss filing return before deadline?
The late fees or penalty varies based on the individual's income. The penalty for those individuals, whose income exceeds ₹5 lakh per annum is ₹5,000.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has revised the last date for the filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) for the financial year 2024-25 (Assessment Year 2025-26).
The new deadline is September 15, 2025, while the original one was July 31, 2025, according to the CBDT circular.
This means that those individuals who have not yet filed their ITR can do so within the next three weeks. However, it is advisable for the taxpayers to file their ITR ahead of the deadline to avoid a last-minute hassle.
Who has to file Income Tax Return?
Income Tax Return or ITR is a consolidated statement of your income, tax payable, liabilities and tax refunds. The ITR is a form that shows your gross taxable income for a given financial year.
Also Read: Income tax dept extends belated, revised ITR deadline: Details here
All those individuals residing and earning an income in India are not liable to audit must file in Income Tax Return. It includes all those individuals whose income exceeds ₹5 lakh annually.
Therefore, you must file ITR if:
- Your annual income is ₹5 lakh or above
- You are a company or a firm
- You want a tax refund
- You have a financial asset outside the country
- You are an institution, political party, real state investment trust or an infrastructure investment trust.
What happens if you don't file ITR?
Since the last date of filing ITR has been moved to September 15, 2024, the non-audit taxpayers have to file their ITR before the deadline. In case an individual misses the deadline, one can still file a late return by December 31, 2025, along with late fees and interest.
The late fees or penalty varies based on the individual's income. The penalty for those individuals, whose income exceeds ₹5 lakh per annum is ₹5,000. On the other hand, for those under the lower income groups, the penalty is ₹1,000.
The late fine also includes an interest at 1 per cent per month or part of a month on the unpaid tax amount under Section 234A.
Meanwhile, belated or revised returns can be filed till December 31, 2025 and updated returns can be filed till March 31, 2030.
