Pay a penalty of Rs 1.5 lakh or 0.5% of total sales if you fail to upload tax audit report within next 3 days

Income tax audit report submission deadline is September 30, 2024, for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25). If you miss this deadline then you can submit the tax audit report, however, it involves payment of a penalty. If you do not upload the tax audit report even after the deadline by paying a penalty then your income tax return will be considered defective.

Penalty to be paid for submitting tax audit report after the deadline

According to CA (Dr.) Suresh Surana, “If a taxpayer fails to submit the tax audit report by the prescribed deadline of 30 September 2024, the Assessing Officer may impose a penalty. The penalty amount is equal to 0.5% of the total sales, turnover, or gross receipts for the relevant financial year, or Rs 1,50,000, whichever is lower.

According to CA Abhishek Soni, Co-founder, of Tax2Win, “If there is a reasonable cause for the delay, no penalty shall be levied. The reasonable causes that are usually accepted by tribunals/courts for any delay in filing tax audit reports include:

• Natural calamities
• Delay due to the resignation of the tax auditor
• Resignation of accountant or key employees
• Labour problems like strikes or lock-outs for an extended period
• Loss of accounts because of situations beyond the assessee’s control.
• Physical inability or death of the partner in charge of the accounts.”

Who is required to conduct an income tax audit and submit its report on e-filing ITR portal by September 30?

Can you file a tax audit report after September 30, 2024?

According to Surana, “The taxpayer can still