ITR: Missed verifying your income tax return? Here's what you can do now

The last day to file Income Tax Returns (ITR) for FY 2022-23 (AY 2023-24) was July 31, 2023. Even if you filed ITR before the deadline the process did not end there. After filing the tax return, verification is an important and mandatory step to complete the ITR filing process. Failure to verify your tax return will render your ITR filing invalid and it would attract a penalty for late filing.    

Taxpayers had 30 more days to verify ITR after the July 31 deadline of filing. Ahead of the impending deadline of August 30 for verification, notifications were also sent by the Income Tax Department to the taxpayers.

In scenarios where one has submitted his ITR form within the deadline and also completed the verification within the next 30 days, the submission date will be considered as the actual ITR filing date. However, if someone fails to complete the verification step, the date of e-verification will be considered as the date of return submission.

This is indeed a tricky situation and there are not many options to get out of it. If you have also missed the 30-day deadline to complete the e-verification step, here’s what you can do next.

What to do if failed to verify ITR?

If income tax returns are not filed on time, they will be treated as invalid and will attract the consequences of not filing ITR under the Income Tax Act, 1961.

According to the Income Tax Department, anyone failing to verify the ITR within the stipulated timeline will have to pay a fine of Rs 5,000. However, if the taxpayer’s income is less than Rs 5 lakh in the financial year, then the late fine will be Rs 1,000.

Apart from this, taxpayers willing to verify their returns after the due date can also request condonation of delay in verification by giving an appropriate reason. After submitting the request, taxpayers can e-verify their return only once it is approved by the competent Income Tax authority.

How to request a condonation of delay in ITR verification?

If someone has missed the due date for verifying their Income Tax Returns within 30 days of filing, they can submit a condonation request through the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department.

1. Go to the e-filing website at https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/ and login with your credentials

2. On the 'Dashboard', select 'Services' and click on 'Condonation Request'

3. On the Condonation Request page, select the 'Delay in submission of ITR-V' option.

4. Click on Continue

5. As the page loads, click on 'Create Condonation Request' and a new page will appear on the screen.

6. On the 'Select ITR' page, choose the particular record for which you want to request a condonation and press 'Continue'

7. Enter your reason for delay and press Submit.

Lastly, you will receive a confirmation message along with the Transaction ID on the screen.