Taxpayers can now file ITR, late fee issue resolved on new income tax website
The income tax department has updated its portal to capture the extended deadline of filing returns
Taxpayers can now file the income tax returns (ITR) on the new portal, as the department has updated its website to capture the extended deadline of filing returns. Money9 had earlier reported that tax filers were getting levied a late fee of up to Rs 5,000 due to a technical glitch on the website.
“This year the due date of filing return of income has been extended to September 30 from July 31. The date extension notification was not captured at the e-filing portal, therefore, it started levying the fee under Section 234F on the taxpayers who were filing the ITR after July 31. Now, the department has updated its portal to capture this due date extension change resulting which the portal is not levying the late fee, therefore, taxpayers who wish to file the return of income can now do so,” said Tarun Kumar, a New-Delhi based chartered accountant.
The late filing fee under Section 234F is charged when a person fails to furnish a return of income by the prescribed due date. In general, the late-filing fee under Section 234F is Rs 5,000. However, where the total income of a person does not exceed Rs 5 lakh, the fee payable is Rs 1,000.
Money9 earlier reported how tax filers and chartered accountants across the country flagged the glitch in the new e-filing portal on social media platforms, requesting to resolve the issue. “Penalty is showing for late filing of ITR …change the last date of ITR filing. It is 30th Sep 21 instead of 31st July 21, as announced by Gov,” S S Pandey complained on Twitter.
New income tax website
The new portal, was launched on June 7 with an aim to make it taxpayer-friendly. But since its launch users have been complaining of technical issues. Earlier, chartered accountants complained that taxpayers could not view past e-filed returns and many features continued to be marked coming soon.
Following the inconvenience, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman herself had asked Infosys – the vendor who created the portal – and its chairman Nandan Nilekani to fix the technical glitches.
Following that, Sitharaman took to Twitter and asked Infosys and its chairman to fix the problem. Replying to the tweet, Nilekani had said Infosys is working to fix the glitches.