I got PAN card (Income Tax) 4 years back and i have not filed any income tax returns till now.?

Did you miss your deadline of filing the tax return by 31st July ? Most of us pay the taxes before the deadline of 31st Mar , but when it comes to filing the return we are lazy people and many times we make mistakes in hurry. However very less people know that even If you have missed the deadline to file your Income Tax Returns, there is no need to panic, as when it comes to filing of your income tax returns, tax laws are not so stringent. In this article, tax implication will be explained considering all the scenarios . You being a salaried person may have missed the filing return if you have an income on which all the taxes have been deducted or have been deposited by way of advance tax, no need to panic. There should be no additional penalty or interest for not filing the return by July 31, 2009 ,provided you act now. You still have the time to file your return of income for the assessment year 2009-10 till March 31-2011. See the basics of how tax is calculated . Rules * However, persons who have any Business or Capital loss to be carried forward may have a cause to worry as the said loss would not be allowed to be carried forward to next year if the return of income is not filed before the due date. * If you still have any outstanding taxes to be paid (after deducting TDS and Advance taxes paid, if any) you would be liable to pay simple interest @ 1% per month or part of the month, on the tax payable commencing from the date following the due date till the date of filing the return. Say, your income tax liability for the year is Rs. 40,000. You have TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) of Rs. 20,000, and you have paid an advance tax of Rs. 6,000. Thus, the remaining tax payable by you is: Net Tax Payable = Income tax liability for the year – TDS – Advance tax paid = Rs. 40,000 – Rs. 20,000 – Rs. 6,000 = Rs. 14,000. [ad#link-unit] Now there are two cases , which we have to consider Case 1: File income tax return before the end of assessment year Say you file your income tax return on 17th September, 2009. In this case, you would be filing your return 2 months late (partial months are considered as full months). Final Amount = Net Tax Payable + Interest for 2 months at the rate of 1% per month Amount payable , = Rs. 14,000 + (2% of Rs. 14,000) = Rs. 14,000 + Rs. 280 = Rs. 14,280 Case 2: File income tax return after the end of assessment year Say you file your income tax return on 4th June, 2010. In this case, you would be filing your return 11 months late (partial months are considered as full months). On top of this, you would be filing the income tax return after the end of the assessment year for which you are filing the return. So, in this case, Final Amount = Net Tax Payable + Interest for 11 months at the rate of 1% per month + Lump sum penalty of Rs. 5,000 = Rs. 14,000 + (11% of Rs. 14,000) + Rs. 5,000 = Rs. 14,000 + Rs. 1540 + Rs. 5,000 = Rs. 20540 Save some tax by understanding Income clubbing provisions of Income tax Additional Scenario You have losses that you need to carry forward . This applies irrespective of whether you have any net tax payable or not. If you do not file the income tax return for a year by the due date, a loss for that year can not be carried forward. The only exception to this rule is loss from house property – this loss can be carried forward even if the IT return is not filed in time. Thus, if you have a loss from any of the heads of income (except for the head “Income from house property”), and you file your income tax return late, you would not be able to carry forward your losses. Thus, you would lose the benefit of set off of these losses against the income of the next year.