Filing income tax returns is an important task in one’s financial life. Mistakes when filing an ITR are common which can lead to many hardships, running around, audits and even penalties. In this video, ETMONEY’s Shankar Nath looks at 14 common income tax filing mistakes as we look to offer our viewers a checklist on the tricky areas in the ITR process and how best to handle them What’s covered in this video? 00:00 Introduction 01:03 Missing the Due Date 01:56 Not Filing an Income Tax Return 02:42 Using the Wrong Form 03:48 Entering Incorrect Personal Information 05:01 Selecting the Wrong Assessment Year 06:08 Non Disclosure of Multiple Bank Accounts 06:50 Failure to Mention All Sources of Income 08:07 Non Disclosure of Capital Gains and Losses 09:17 Not Declaring Income Earned by Minors 10:28 Ignoring Interest Earned from Savings Account 11:24 Not Paying Attention to Form 26AS and TDS Certificate 12:19 Missing Out on Refunds 12:56 Forgetting to Verify Your Tax Returns 13:55 Not Caring to File a Revised ITR 1. MISSING THE DUE DATE Missing the tax filing deadline is not ideal and any delays on your part can and probably will lead to a number of unwanted consequences. These include penalties going up to ₹10,000, unable to set-off any other losses against future gains, interest of 1% per month and no refunds until returns are filed 2. NOT FILING A TAX RETURN Per existing rules, the tax department can launch legal proceedings against individuals who have not filed their income tax returns. And the consequences can include interest, a minimum penalty of 50% and even prison time 3. USING THE WRONG FORM This is one of the most common mistakes and it is confusing as ITR forms are based on different sources or combinations of incomes. Use the many DIY portals or consult your tax advisor to get this right 4. INCORRECT PERSONAL INFORMATION The common ITR mistakes on personal details include quoting the incorrect PAN or, writing the wrong email ID or date of birth or, entering the incorrect bank account number or IFSC code 5. SELECTING THE WRONG ASSESSMENT YEAR Quite simply, a financial year is the year or time period within which the income is earned. And, an assessment year is the year that follows the financial year and is the period in which the tax returns are filed. 6. NON DISCLOSURE OF MULTIPLE BANK ACCOUNTS Ignoring to mention all bank accounts is against the income tax rules whether these are in India or abroad. 7. FAILURE TO MENTION ALL SOURCES OF INCOME Most individuals have multiple sources of income like salary, interest from your fixed deposits, dividends from shares, capital gains from purchase and sale of assets etc. All these incomes need to be mentioned in your income tax returns irrespective of whether they are taxable or exempt from tax 8. NON-DISCLOSURE OF CAPITAL GAINS & LOSSES Per the income tax laws, any and all capital gains or losses have to be need compulsorily disclosed in one’s income tax filing. 9. NOT DECLARING INCOME EARNED BY MINORS The tax laws require that any investment income earned by a minor have to be clubbed with the parent’s income when computing the taxable income. In other words, the parent is taxed as if the child’s investment income were the parent’s own income 10. IGNORING INTEREST EARNED FROM SAVINGS ACCOUNT Per the current tax laws, any interest earned from your savings accounts above 10,000 rupees is taxable. 11. NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO FORM 26AS AND TDS CERTIFICATE It is quite possible that there might be some mismatches in your calculations which is why it is highly recommended to cross verify the Form 26AS details with the employer issued Form 16 12. MISSING OUT ON REFUNDS At the time of filing your income tax returns always make it a point to pre-validate your bank account because that’s where your tax refunds will be sent to 13. FORGETTING TO VERIFY YOUR TAX RETURNS A tax filing process is incomplete until one verifies the tax return which needs to be within 120 days of completing the forms. This verification can be done in many ways. 14. NOT CARING TO FILE A REVISED ITR The tax authorities allow assesses to rectify mistakes made in the original returns by filing a revised IT return so don’t forget to use this provision in cases of