If you are salaried and did not file your income tax return by 31 July 2026, you have not missed the boat. You can still file a belated return for the financial year 2025-26 (assessment year 2026-27) until 31 December 2026. It will cost a fixed late fee, possibly some interest, and one choice you may care about: you lose the option of the old tax regime. Here is what a late return costs in rupees, what you give up, and what to do if you filed on time but made a mistake.
The dates that apply to you
For individuals whose accounts do not need an audit, which covers almost every salaried person, the original due date for AY 2026-27 was 31 July 2026, as Angel One's explainer notes. After that, a return filed under section 139(4) is a belated return. The last date for a belated return for AY 2026-27 is 31 December 2026.
You may have seen headlines in late October about an ITR deadline moving to 21 November 2026. That extension is for taxpayers who need an audit, such as businesses and some professionals. It does not apply to salaried filers.
One more date-related point. The new Income-tax Act, 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026, but returns for AY 2026-27 are still governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961, so the section numbers below are the familiar ones.
What a late return costs
The late fee under section 234F
The fee is fixed by income, not by how late you are:
Total income up to ₹5 lakh: ₹1,000.
Total income above ₹5 lakh: ₹5,000.
As the CalcGuru guide puts it, the fee does not grow with delay. Filing on 2 August or on 30 December costs the same.
Interest under section 234A, only on unpaid tax
Interest is 1% per month, or part of a month, on tax still unpaid after TDS and advance tax, counted from the day after the due date. If your employer's TDS already covered your full tax, there is no interest at all.
A worked example. Say you have ₹20,000 of tax left to pay after TDS, perhaps because you had interest income from fixed deposits that your employer never saw. You file on 15 November 2026. The delay runs from August through part of November, which counts as four months:
₹20,000 × 1% × 4 = ₹800 of interest, plus the ₹5,000 fee if your income is above ₹5 lakh.
Pay the tax first and file soon after. Every extra month adds another 1% on the unpaid amount.
What you give up by filing late
The old tax regime
The new regime is the default. To choose the old regime, with deductions like 80C, HRA and home loan interest, the choice has to be made by the due date for the original return. ClearTax's section 115BAC guide says it directly: "If the due date is passed, the taxpayer cannot file under the old regime, though it is beneficial for him."
So if you were counting on PPF, ELSS or HRA deductions, run both calculations before you file. For some people with large deductions, the difference is a few thousand rupees. For many first-jobbers, the new regime was already cheaper and nothing changes. If you contribute to PPF mainly for the tax deduction, our note on how PPF interest is calculated is a reminder that it still earns interest whichever regime you file under.
Carrying forward some losses
Business losses, capital losses and speculation losses cannot be carried forward to future years if the return is filed late. A loss from house property can still be carried forward, according to CalcGuru. If you sold shares or mutual funds at a loss in 2025-26 and wanted to set that loss off against future gains, filing late costs you that.
Filed on time but made a mistake? You have until 31 March 2027
Revised returns now get a longer window. The Finance Act 2026 extended the time to revise from nine months to twelve months after the end of the tax year, so for AY 2026-27 you can revise until 31 March 2027, as StudyCafe's report on the change explains.
There is a catch. Revisions filed between 1 January and 31 March 2027 carry a fee under section 234-I: ₹1,000 if total income is up to ₹5 lakh, and ₹5,000 above that. Revise by 31 December and there is no such fee. A belated return can also be revised within the same window.
Common reasons to revise: interest from savings accounts or FDs that you left out, dividends, a missed capital gain, or a mismatch with your Annual Information Statement. If you moved money into fixed deposits after the recent rate changes, which we covered in FD rates after the repo hike, remember that the interest is taxable in the year it is earned, even if the deposit has not matured.
A five-step checklist for this week
Download your AIS and Form 26AS from the income tax portal. They show the income and TDS the department already knows about.
Work out any tax still due after TDS. If there is some, pay it now to stop 234A interest growing.
Compare regimes honestly. You will be on the new regime, so check that you are not surprised by the result.
File under section 139(4) on the portal, with the 234F fee included in the tax computation.
E-verify the return straight away, for example with an Aadhaar OTP, and keep the acknowledgement. Check the portal for the current verification time limit.
The bottom line
For a salaried person whose TDS covered the tax, a late return usually costs ₹1,000 or ₹5,000 and the loss of the old regime for one year. That is annoying, not ruinous, and much cheaper than not filing at all. File well before 31 December 2026, because after that only an updated return remains, with its own extra cost. Rules here are as reported in October 2026; confirm on the income tax portal before filing. This is general information, not financial or tax advice.
