July 31 was the due date to file income-tax returns (ITRs) for the assessment year 2022-23. Those filing the return after the due date must verify their ITR as soon as possible as the time limit has been reduced for late filers from 1 August. The department issued a notification on July 29 announcing the change in the timeline.
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Why is e-verification of an ITR necessary?
E-verification of an ITR completes the return filing process and if it is not done within the stipulated time, an ITR is treated as invalid.
The Income Tax department has reduced the time limit for e-verification or hard copy submission of the ITR-V, post filing of returns by taxpayers, from the current 120 days to 30 days, beginning August 1.
Time limit for verification of ITRs filed before July 31
For returns filed before July 31, the time limit for verification of ITR is up to 120 days from the date of filing. However, the tax department reduced it to 30 days from the date of filing if the return is filed on or after 1 August.
Till now, the time period to e-verify the ITR or send the ITR-V through post, after filing of an Income Tax Return (ITR), was 120 days from the date of the uploading of the ITR.
How to verify your ITR online and offline
You can e- verify your ITR after filing the return. You can do it offline too.
E-verification of ITR
You can e-verify your ITR through the electronic verification code (EVC) option. You can log on to the e-filing portal, use your Aadhaar number to generate an OTP to complete the process. On successful verification, the return filing acknowledgment can be downloaded from the e-filing portal as proof of completion of the process of filing the income tax return.
Offline verification
Those who wish to send the ITR-V in a hard copy can send it through the usual address through “speed post only” to: Centralised Processing Centre, Income Tax Department, Bengaluru-560500, Karnataka.
“The date of dispatch of speed post of duly verified ITR-V shall be considered for the purpose of determination of the 30 days period, from the date of transmitting the date of Income-tax return electronically,” it said.
The notification clarified that in case the e-verification of the ITR or hard copy ITR-V is sent through post beyond the time-limit of 30 days, the return shall be treated as late or beyond the due date.