ITR Filing: Here’s why salaried taxpayers should wait till June 15

The Income Tax Return (ITR) filing process has started and taxpayers can file their ITR for the financial year ended March 31, 2024, on the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department. While the option is available to all taxpayers, it is suggested that salaried taxpayers should wait till June 15 to file their ITR 2024.

The reason behind waiting for June 15 to file your ITR is that by doing so can avoid the error of filing a return based on incomplete information. The update of Annual Information Statements (AIS) and Form 26AS are generally completed by May 31, subsequently salaried taxpayers get their TDS certificates (Form 16) 15 days after the update. Before the 15-day period, some information might reflect in the AIS and Form 26AS, however, the data for the last quarter of the previous financial year is only updated by May 31.

Filing ITRs with incomplete information can cause taxpayers to pay a penalty if the income is underreported owing to missing information. An assessing officer can term an ITR filed on incomplete information as misreporting or under-reporting of income. The penalty for doing so ranges between 50% and 200% of the tax payable on such income. The penalty levied comes under the ambit of the Section 270A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. It is to be noted that salaried individuals can file their ITR till July 31, 2024.

The Income Tax Department also provides recourse for incorrectly filed income tax returns as individuals have the option of filing ‘Revised ITR’. If a taxpayer realises that they have made an error in filing ITR, they can file a revised ITR by December 31, 2024. It is better to avoid errors and file ITR with correct and complete information regarding your income.

If TDS has not been deducted, TCS has not been collected and the taxpayer has complete information regarding his or her total income during FY 2023-24, then he or she can file the ITR before June 15 as well, since they won’t need the TDS Certificates (Form 16, Form 16A).

What is Form 16?

Form 16 is a TDS certificate which shows the salary earned along with the TDS deducted from it. The TDS certificates are issued by the employer after June 15. The TDS certificate is divided into Part A and Part B. Part A shows the tax deducted during the financial year. Part B shows the total salary income paid by an employer.

On the other hand, Form 16A carries the details of TDS deductions for income from other sources. If you have incomes or receipts from other sources apart from your salary, then you may need Form 16A to file the ITR.