To beat the last minute rush, some taxpayers start filing ITRs early

To beat the last minute rush, at least some taxpayers have started filing their income tax returns for assessment year 2024-25 after the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) enabled functionalities for commonly used income tax returns from April 1 this year.

According to data with the income tax department, as many as 119,000 income tax returns for assessment year 2024-25 had been filed by April 10 and 109,000 returns had also been verified. As many as 2,940 returns for AY24-25 had also been verified.

To help taxpayers file their returns for AY24-25, the CBDT had made ITR-1, ITR-2 and ITR-4, which are commonly used by taxpayers, available on the e-filing portal from April 1. Companies can also to file their ITRs through ITR-6 from April 1 onwards.

Experts noted that this is the latest in a series of initiatives taken by the CBDT to facilitate the tax return compliance. It had earlier started initiatives such as prefilled tax return forms, or the expeditious processing of the tax returns, or quick issue of refunds particularly to the small taxpayers.

“This will help the taxpayers, who do not expect any deduction of tax at source (TDS) in the last quarter of FY 2023-24 and are not subject to any audit, in filing their returns immediately. Such taxpayers may consider filing their returns forthwith without waiting more and getting the tax refund, if any, sooner,” an expert said.

However, the taxpayers, who expect deduction of TDS in the last quarter – which are typically, the salaried taxpayers and the taxpayers expecting interest income in the last quarter, would be required to wait till June 2024 to file their tax returns, he noted.

The due date of deposit of TDS in the government kitty for the last quarter of FY 2023-24 is April 30, 2024, and the due date of filing the TDS return for the quarter is May 31, 2024. Considering this, the TDS deducted in the last quarter may not reflect in the taxpayers’ tax credit statement (Form 26AS) before June 1, 2024. Consequently, the returns filed before this may be processed with demands and taxpayers may have to file rectifications applications / revised returns later.

He noted that corporate taxpayers would be required to wait for completion of their statutory audit, followed by tax audit (if applicable), amongst others. Non-corporate taxpayers subject to tax audit would also be required to wait, unless they are able to get the tax audit done much before the due date for the same, he further said.