How to File for Revised Income Tax Return: Most people often end up making minor mistakes while filing their income tax return or ITR. Since it is a vital job, they have to make corrections and make sure that there are no errors while filing the ITR. The tax department has set up a method through which people can change any mistakes they could have made. People can rectify it as per Section 139 (5) of the Income-tax Act of 1961. They can revise their return if there are any.
One, therefore, should file a revised ITR on or before they complete the applicable assessment year. The assessment year is also known as the year that immediately follows the financial year for which they filed their return.
People should note that filing a revised ITR means that they have filed a new ITR with the corrections under Section 139 (5) of the Income Tax Act. It also means that people have filed their return again, but with all the correct pieces of information. When they file for corrections, they also have to mention what details they had submitted in the original return.
What is a Revised Income Tax Return?
As the name suggests, a revised income tax return is the process through which an assessment goes through refilling of an ITR if they find any mistakes, omissions, or any wrong statements they had made in the original tax return.
It is not difficult to file the revised return under Section 139 (5) of the Income Tax Act. For instance, if you have forgotten to declare that you had earned some interest from a bank account or that you have dialed to claim a deduction from the premium you had paid for a health insurance policy. You can fix it and file a revised return to declare the interest amount or to claim its deduction.
All taxpayers can file for a revision of the ITR before the completion of the assessment year (AY) or before the completion of the assessment year, whichever arrives first. Taxpayers have to re-verify their revised ITR to complete the entire filing process.
Within What Time Limit Is It Possible To File A Revised Income Tax Return?
It is possible to revise the information you had provided in the original document but, they allow it within a selected time. You can apply to make changes before the end of the assessment year or AY. You can also do it before the assessment completes or whichever is earlier.
For example, if you have filed your return for the assessment year of 2020 to 2021, but you want to revise it, you can do it till the end of the AY, i.e., before the end of 2022 to 2021 or before March 31st, 2021. You can do it before the tax department checks your tax return if it comes earlier than the former.
Are There Any Charges For Filing A Revised Return for Income Tax?
There are no charges of fees you have to pay to file a revised tax return. Even if you had filed your original income tax return before it was due, you don’t have to pay a delayed penalty if you decide you want to file a revised return after the due date.
In that case, a late filing fee becomes payable when there is a delay in the filing of the original return that is way beyond the due date. A revised return is a substitute for the initial return that you filed.
Even in cases where people filed the original return after the due date, a taxpayer does not have to pay the late penalty every time they revise the same return. Once taxpayers have paid the late filing fee with the original return, they don’t need to pay any late filing fee with that revised return.
What Are The Consequences Of Filing A Revised Return?
If you must make minor changes in your revised return, such as change your bank account details, personal details, etc., then you can do so without any impending consequences for filing a revised return.
On the other hand, the tax department has the authority to pick up the change if you have some undeclared source of income or further such crucial details that you have missed or wrongly inserted.
Things To Remember While Filing A Revised Income Tax Return
We have made a checklist for the time when you are filing a revised income tax return.
- The revised version of the ITR is the substitute for the original ITR entirely.
- Once you have filed the return, then they consider it to be the final income tax return for you.
- If the authorities have already processed your income tax return and have availed for a refund, you can file a revised return in case only within the specific due date.
- You can register a revised tax return as many times as you need to as long as you provide the complete details correctly in the end.
- If the income tax officers have completed assessing your income tax returns under the provisions of Section 143 (3) of the ITA, 1961, you cannot file a revised return.
Step By Step Guide On How To File Revised Income Tax Returns
If you have already filed an original return, then you already know how to file a revised tax return since both processes are similar. However, you have to remember two things. The first time you fill it up, you click on the revised return box. You can remember that you have to mention the ‘Acknowledgement number’ of the original or the previous return in your form.
It will also help if you remember that a revised return should ideally be filed in the same mode as the original was. Hence, if you had filed the original return in hardcopy format, in papers, or manually, you can submit the revision documents manually only and not electronically. Similarly, if you had filed the original return online, you have to do it the second time online too.
The steps that you can follow to file the revised version of the document are as follows.
- Step one: Visit the income tax website and log in to the income tax e-filing portal. Enter the user ID or PAN number and input the captcha code to log in.
- Step two: As soon as you log in, you can click the e-filing menu, and then you can select the income tax return link.
- Step three: Once you click on that link, a new page will open. You can see your PAN number auto-populated, you can then select the assessment year. There are a few more points you can choose, such as ITR form number, filing type, etc. The filing types are of two types- original and revised return. You can then select the submission mode by clicking on the ‘prepare and submit online’ link.
- Step four: In the online ITR form under the ‘general information tab, you can choose the return filing section as a revised return under Section 139 (5) and ‘return filing’ type as revised.’
- Step five: The next step is entering the acknowledgement number and date of filing the original return. It is always compulsory to enter the fifteen-digit acknowledgement number after you have filed the revised ITR to complete the transaction.
- Step six: Next, you can fill in or correct the relevant details of the online ITR form and finally submit it.
- Step seven: At the end, you have to e-verify the returns to process the information quickly and get a quicker refund.
How Many Times Is It Possible To Revise My Return?
People who have made mistakes in the original and the rectified version as well don’t have to worry since they can revise it as many times as they require. There is no limit to the number of times a person and revise their tax returns. You can change it any number of times as long as it is within the proper time frame, i.e. within the financial year of assessment (AY). It is best to take the utmost care and patience to fill in the required details in the tax return.
Kindly don’t do it in a hurry. Take time and some assistance if you need to do it perfectly for the first time itself. You can also take the help of a tax expert and a chartered accountant for professional service. Moreover, if you discover a mistake in the tax return document, you can file a revised return without further delay to avoid complications.
You don’t need to show the refund amount in the revised income tax return. You only require to file the ITR as usual, and the authorities at the tax department will check it automatically while processing the refunds. They will refund it and later adjust the amount with the return claim in the ITR.