How to file income tax return for last 3 years

Simply put, filing your income tax return (ITR) is a process of informing the government about the income you have earned during the fiscal year in question (1 April to 31 March of every year). The ITR is a consolidated document, which consists of your income, total tax payable, liabilities and tax refunds for the financial year. ITR should be filed before the deadline in July every year.

For example, for the financial year 1 April 2020 – 31 march 2021, a taxpayer should file their ITR by July 2021. Similarly, there are different ITR forms and one should know which ITR they should file. To know which ITR form is applicable to you, get in touch with our tax advisors.

As you know that filing of income tax return is very important and according to rules and regulation of income tax act you have to file your income tax return for every financial year. In case if you fails in filing of income tax return then don’t worry you can file your income tax return for previous 2 years in current year for which you have to follow the procedure of income tax department.

Can I File My ITR for the Previous 3 Years in One Year?

No, you cannot file an ITR for the last three years together, that is, in one year. Before diving into this topic let us clarify the difference between a financial year and an assessment year. For instance, if the financial year we are taking into consideration is  1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021, the Income tax calculator earned during this financial year becomes taxable in the assessment year which ranges between 1 April 2021 – 31 March 2022. Here the deadline is 31 July 2021 for salaried/self-employed/contract employees and 30 September for companies, working partners etc. This is the structure prescribed by the income tax department that must be followed by every taxpayer while filing the tax return.

But this structure is not a rigid one and is subject to a few exemptions. Usually, the government will extend the deadline for some months as multiple problems can be faced by the taxpayers while filing the tax returns. In case you have missed the extended deadline fixed for filing your ITR, you can still file your ITR with a penalty through a ‘Belated Return’ which was first introduced in the Finance Act of 2017.

Belated Income Tax Return

• As per section 139(4) of the income-tax act, 1961, if any individual fails to file the income tax returns within the due date, he can file a belated return with the penalty prescribed by the income tax department.
• This belated return can be filed at any time before the end of the corresponding assessment year or before the completion of assessment by the tax authorities whichever is earlier. This scheme has been made applicable from the assessment year of 2017-2018. (i.e.) from the financial year of 2016-17.
• This can be explained further with an example: the income tax return due date for the fiscal year 2017-2018 was 31 July 2018 and 30 September 2018. If a taxpayer fails to file the ITR on time for any reason, he has the option of filing a belated tax return before the end of the corresponding assessment year, i.e. before 31 March 2019.

Points to Be Noted

• Under section 234A of the Income Tax Act, if the assessee has filed a belated ITR, then he is liable to pay the tax along with 1% interest per month
• Similarly, the taxpayer should pay the prescribed penalty with the belated ITR
• If the return filed is after the assessment which later gets canceled, then the return will be considered valid
• As per the Finance Act, the belated ITR can also be revised, which means that any mistakes made while filing the income tax return can be fixed
• If a taxpayer is not liable to pay any taxes, then he is exempted from paying the interest and penalty for belated ITR but only if he files it before the end of the corresponding assessment year.

This article talks about the filing of income tax return for last 3 years so you will get an idea about the filing of income tax return.

Procedure to file Income Tax Return (ITR) for previous years

Income tax return for previous years can be filed through offline and online mode. For offline mode, you have to visit the office of income tax department of your city and have to manually fill income tax return form. In the form, you have to mention the all required details like your name, income, liability, financial year and other details which required. If you want to file your income tax return through e-filing then you have to follow the steps of e-filing.

• Firstly you have to visit the official website of e-filing of Income tax return that is incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in or you can click on the link https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/
• After clicking on the website of e-filing of income tax return, you have to register yourself with your permanent account number and this will be your user id for future references.
• Then you have to select on Income Tax return Forms in ‘Download’ menu and have to choose the financial year. Then you have to choose the Income tax return which is applicable to you. You can also complete the portal yourself by clicking on the Quick e-fill ITR link.
• Then you have to fill that form or you can click on the Quick e-fill ITR link this will fill your form automatically.
• Then you have to select on the button of “Calculate Tax” and then you can check how much tax you have to pay or you are liable to pay. Then you have to pay your income tax return and have to complete the challan details.
• Then you have to click on ‘Validate’ and then check all the information filled. Then you have to save that file and then you have to upload that file. You can save the file for future references.
• Then you have to sing that form, you will be asked to sign that form digitally, then you can select the ‘Yes’ if you have to your digital signature and No if not. Once this process is completed you can download the Income tax return verification (ITR-V). Then you have to take out a print of the ITR-V form and have to sign with blue ink and send to Income Tax Department address within 120 days.

Conclusion

As you can see in the above article that filing of income tax return is very important and in case if you fail to file your income tax return for previous financial year 20116-17 and last two financial years which are AY 2014-15 and AY 2015-16 then you have to pay penalty or have to interest on it. As you can see that you can file your previous years return in the current year and for filing of previous year’s income tax return, you have to pay penalty or interest. If there is no tax liability on you then you can file your previous years return without paying penalty or interest. As you can see in the above article that filing of income tax return is very simple and easy you can file your income tax through online mode.

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