Penalty for Late Filing of Income Tax Return for FY 2024-25 – 234F of Income Tax Act
Penalty for Late Filing u/s 234F
As per the changed rules notified under section 234F of the Income Tax Act, filing your ITR post the deadline, can make you liable to pay a maximum penalty of Rs.5,000.
From the financial year 2021 onwards, the income tax department has reduced the maximum amount of penalty for late filing of returns to Rs 5,000 from Rs.10,000.
To break this down for FY 2024-25; if you file your ITR before 31st July 2025 (30th September 2025 for audit and 31st October 2025 for transfer pricing cases), no penalty will be levied.
For returns filed after 31st July 2025, the penalty limit will be increased to Rs.5,000. However, as a relief to small taxpayers, the IT department has stated that if your total income is not more than Rs 5 lakh, the maximum penalty levied for delay will only be Rs.1,000.
Late Filing Fee Details
| e-Filing Date | Total income below Rs 5 lakh | Total income above Rs 5 lakh |
| 31st July 2025 | Rs 0 | Rs 0 |
| Between 1st August 2025 to 31st December 2025 | Rs 1,000 | Rs 5,000 |
Reduced Time for Revising Your Return
Let’s say you are filing your ITR, and you end up making a mistake. Under the changed rules, you only have time till 31st December of the assessment year to make the change (for ITRs from FY 2017-18). Earlier, taxpayers had a 2-year long window to revise and resubmit an erroneous ITR. This has now been decreased to 9 months from the end of the financial year. Therefore, the earlier you file, the longer would be the window available to you for revising your returns to rectify errors, if any.
Payment of Interest
If you do not file income tax returns on or before the due date, you would be required to pay interest at the rate of 1% for every month, or part of a month, on the amount of tax remaining unpaid as per section 234A. It’s important to note that one’s ITR cannot be filed if one hasn’t paid the taxes. The calculation of the penalty will start from the date immediately after the due date, which is usually 31 July of the relevant assessment year. So, the longer you wait the more you will have to pay.
Carry Forward of Losses is Not Permitted
If you have incurred any losses during the year say a loss under the head capital gains or any loss in your business, make sure you file your return within the due date. Not doing so will deprive you of carrying forward these losses to the next years for set off against income in future years. However, if you have losses from house property, it will be allowed to carry forward to future years, even if you file after the due date.
Delay in Receiving Refunds
In case you’re entitled to receive a refund from the government for excess taxes you have paid, you must file your return before the due date to receive the refund at the earliest
Reasons Why the Refund is Delayed and How to Handle it?
There can be many reasons for your refund not reaching you. Here is a table of reasons and the action plans you need to follow in each of those cases.
| Reasons why the refund not received | Action Plans |
| Refund request rejected. As per the IT department, you owe them taxes. | The department will compute the tax liability and compare it to the calculations you provided in your tax return. If they find any differences and it turns out you still owe taxes, you might get a notice from the department stating the amount you need to pay. If this happens, take a look at all your documents and double-check the taxes you owe and the refund you’re supposed to get. – If the numbers you entered in your tax return are right, you can file a rectification return under Section 139(4) to explain your case. – If your tax return was incorrect, you should pay the outstanding demand that the department is asking for within the timeframe given in the notice. |
| Wrong Bank Account number | Reconfirm the bank details you have entered while filing your taxes |
| Bank Account not pre-validated | Refunds are credited only to a pre-validated bank account. make sure to pre-validate your bank account on the income tax e-filing portal. Check the steps here. |
| Incorrect name in Bank Account: | The name on your bank account needs to be exactly the same as the name on your tax return. If the names don’t match, your tax refund will not get credited to your bank account. |
| Bank account details provided to the IT department while filing returns have changed. | If the refund could not get credited to the bank account then to resolve the issue, raise the grievance in the income tax portal. In certain cases, the income tax department may ask you to raise a refund reissue request. Otherwise, it may ask you to attach the latest bank details along with other required information to e-mail at orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in. Attach the below-required information:- • Scanned copy of PAN • Contact Details (Name, DOB/DOI, Contact Number) • Scanned copy of any one Government identity such as Passport/Voter Card/Driving License/Aadhaar card • Screenshot of the error message • Helpdesk Ticket Number (grievance acknowledgement number. |
| Refund request under process. The delay could be the IT department is taking time to process your request. | Due to huge volume of returns, it may take some time to process your return. You can check the status of you refund here. 1. Make sure that you have e-verified your return within 30 days from the date of filing your return. 2. Also, check whether the IFSC code is valid. A bank might have undergone a merger and there has been a change in the IFSC code. In case you have failed to update the same, update it and pre-validate your bank details. |
| Return Under Scrutiny | The Income Tax Department selects some returns for scrutiny to ensure accuracy and compliance. If your return gets picked for scrutiny, it could slightly slow down the refund process until they finish the assessment. |
| Mismatch in Form 26AS | Form 26AS is a summary of all the taxes you’ve paid under your PAN number. If the TDS information in your tax return doesn’t match with what’s in Form 26AS, it might lead to a delay in getting your refund. |
| Filing returns through offline and not online. | Processing physical filing forms takes time. Wait for the IT department to reconcile the paperwork. |