I work for a limited company. My employer has deducted the tax from my salary. However, I could not file my income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2025-26 by July 31, 2026. What should I do now?
Under the provisions of Income-tax Act, 1961 which is applicable for the financial year 2025-2026, there are two dates for filing ITR. One is the due date and the other is the last date. July 31, 2026 was the due date by which you should have filed your ITR for FY 25-26. If you fail to do so there are a few consequences. For instance, you are not allowed to carry forward any loss which cannot be set off during the same year for set off against your income in future if you fail to file your ITR by the due date
The last date is the date beyond which you cannot file your ITR in the regular course. December 31, 2026 is the last date by which you can still file your ITR for financial year 2025-2026 which you could not do by the due date.
Though one can file an Updated return even after the last date, not everyone is eligible to do so and you have to pay additional tax in addition to the regular tax and interest for filing an Updated ITR.
Now, you may have to pay interest for the delay in filing your ITR if you file your ITR after the due date, but before the last date. You will also have to mandatorily pay a late filing fee of Rs 5,000 while filing the ITR by the last date if your taxable income exceeds Rs 5 lakh. In case your taxable income does not exceed Rs 1 lakh, the mandatory late filing fee is restricted to Rs 1,000 only.
We wish to dissolve our Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). I am the karta along with six coparceners. The HUF has investment in equity-linked savings scheme (ELSS) which are under lock-in presently. Can we distribute the assets excluding the ELSS investment without dissolving the HUF now? The HUF will be dissolved once the lock-in of the ELSS is over.
An HUF can be partitioned fully or partially. For effecting full partition, all of its assets have to be distributed amongst its members. If only some of the assets are being distributed, it is treated as partial partition. What you are planning to do is a partial partition of the assets of the HUF leaving ELSS investments to be distributed later on.
There is no restriction on partial partition of an HUF either under the Hindu law or tax laws, but the income tax law does not recognise a partial partition. Since partial partition is not recognised under the income tax laws, the income in respect of distributed assets under such partition will continue to be taxed in the hands of the HUF though received by the members.
For a partition of an HUF to be recognised under the income tax laws, all the assets of the HUF have to be distributed. The distribution of assets among the members may be even or uneven or even be executed with a few members not getting anything under the dissolution of the HUF with consent of all the members of the HUF. Moreover, for a partition to be recognised by the income tax department, you have to make an application to the jurisdictional officer for passing an order recognising full partition of the HUF.
The author is a tax and investment expert and can be reached at jainbalwant@gmail.com
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