Tax date gone, but you can still seal it August 31, the extended cut-off line to pay taxes, has passed. For those of you who have been sitting on it, Nupur Anand has a simple answer: file it before March 31, but of course at a cost

Tax date gone, but you can still seal it

August 31, the extended cut-off line to pay taxes, has passed. For those of you who have been sitting on it, Nupur Anand has a simple answer: file it before March 31, but of course at a cost

Are you sweating over the missed opportunity to file taxes for one last time, that just went by on August 31? Well, take heart, not all seems to be lost. For all practical purposes, you have as many as 7 more months, that’s till March 31 next year, to honour your commitment. Here are a couple of issues that are worth a look before you actually start off. Tax liability First thing first. It’s the liability that’s serves as a broad indicator of your tax status. You will be better off if tax has been deducted at source or any advance tax, for that matter, has been filed. This makes the task easier as you can now afford to file returns before March 31 without, of course, paying any penalty. “However, if you idle around and even miss this deadline, get ready to pay a penalty of up to `5,000,” warns Balwant Jain, chief financial officer of Apnapaisa. Let’s consider the second scenario where no taxes have been paid. There’s a little bit of math that kicks in here, that is you will have to cough up a penalty at the rate of 1% every month for the period of non-payment. If the liability is upwards of `10,000, then an advance tax is due. Any non-compliance will attract an interest that will be charged from the date the tax has not been paid. A simple error in Form 16 can create complications too. That’s why you must bring it to the notice of your employer and get it sorted out immediately. “In this scenario, people should not wait for the rectification to come, instead they should go ahead and file returns. What is essential is the information being keyed in should remain authentic,” adds Jain. The no-go zone There may be some room to file taxes even after the extended cut-off, but as they say there’s no free lunch — you are up against certain restrictions if you fail to measure up. Ravindra Jain, principal consultant-corporate advisory and taxation services, RSM Astute Consulting, points out that no revision of returns is allowed under these circumstances. This means one has to be extremely cautious while filing returns and any margin of error is just not acceptable once the deadline is over. There’s more, you can not carry forward any losses while filing taxes. In general scheme of things, if you suffer loss while investing in mutual funds or stocks, the tax department allows you to carry forward the same for eight years. But in the case of missed deadlines, this window of exemption gets severely restricted. And it shows in refunds too as a delay in all probability can upset all your calculations. Your tax discipline has a ripple effect as well —for instance, it determines your chances of securing a loan in future. The ITR form for the last three assessment years gives the authorities a fair idea of your track record, which helps in disbursement of a loan. So, it definitely works to your advantage if you make sure not to overshoot the line. Ignore these at your own peril Most instances of breach, experts feel, come in from those who fall in the lower tax bracket and have a lesser tax outgo. This year, the extended opportunity for tax payers followed a blackout of a massive scale in North India on July 31. The key takeaway, thus, is when it comes to return filing, any procrastination can ultimately prove pricey. But as in life, there’s always a second chance.