Taxpayers Who Missed Multiple ITR Filings May Face Consequences for Outstanding Returns

Belated Tax Compliance: Filing Updated ITR for Earlier Years May Be the Wiser Course

The Income Tax Department recently sent a notice to a taxpayer who has not filed income tax returns for the past three years, prompting a question about the rules for belated compliance. The taxpayer wants to know whether filing the latest return alone is enough, and if so, whether it's necessary to file updated returns for the previous years.

The Income Tax Department's rules for belated compliance are clear: a person can only file an ITR for one assessment year at a time in the regular course. This means that for the current assessment year 2026-2027, the taxpayer can file the ITR, but cannot file ITRs for the previous years.

However, the law provides for the filing of updated ITRs for taxpayers who have not filed their earlier ITR or could not revise the filed ITR to include some of the taxable income. A person can file an updated ITR for a maximum of four years preceding the current assessment year. In this case, the taxpayer can file updated ITRs for the assessment years 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025, and 2025-2026.