Important tax provisions and the Budget 2025-26 proposals related to the salaried employees were explained at an outreach programme organised by the Income Tax Department at the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) complex on Thursday.
About 1,000 employees and drawing and disbursing officers of BHEL, Ordnance Factory, Tiruchi, High Energy Projectile Factory, Tangedco, Railways and other Central and State Government organisations attended the event.
Speaking at the programme, T.Vasanthan, Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Madurai, emphasised the importance of compliance by filing of returns, paying the applicable tax and claiming the correct amount of refund, a press release from the Income Tax Department said .
The release said that it was observed that in certain cases, subsequent to the deduction of TDS by the employers, employees were filing their return of income with wrongful claim of deduction/ exemption without any requisite documentary evidence. As a result, total income and consequent tax liability are being reduced and the TDS deducted by the employer is being wrongfully claimed as refund. It is an illegal way to reduce tax liability and liable for additional taxes, interest, penalty and also prosecution.
In case of such wrongful claim of refunds, updated returns can be filed to undo the same. If the updated return was filed within 12 months from the end of the relevant assessment year, an additional income tax of 25% with interest shall be payable. If the updated return is filed within 24 months, an additional income tax of 50% and interest should be paid.
If the department issued applicable notice, the assessee would not be entitled to file updated return, and therefore, it was advised that such assesses should voluntarily come forward to file updated return at the earliest.
With a view to encourage voluntary compliance, it has been proposed in the Union Budget to extend the time-limit to file the updated return from 24 to 48 months. The rate of additional income-tax payable for Updated Return filed after 24 months and up to 36 months from the end of the relevant assessment year shall be 60% of aggregate of tax and interest payable. The additional income-tax payable for Updated Return filed after expiry of 36 months and up to 48 months shall be 70% of aggregate of tax and interest payable.
The taxpayers were sensitised to make use of the facility for filing Updated Return on or before March 2025, in case if they had mistakenly claimed any incorrect refunds in their Income Tax Return. By filing the Updated Return they may avoid penal proceedings, the press release said.
A detailed presentation was made by D. Nithya, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, explaining aspects of income tax for salaried class.
Karuppasamy Pandian, Joint Commissioner, and Sweetha, Deputy Director, Income tax, spoke.
Published – February 07, 2025 07:17 pm IST