Belated E-return - without penalty

[Asked by Guest]

Whether E-return can be belated for a corporate till 31st March 2009 without any penalty even if  44AB audit is there and the same was obtained before 30/09/08.

[DEV KUMAR KOTHARI]

For A.Y. 2008-09 if return is filed before 31.03.09 penalty u/s 271F will not be leviable. To avoid penalty u/s 271B the Tax audit report u/s 44AB should be submmitted before end on 30.09.08 (except in areas where extension has been announced- Bihar, Orissa J & K). merely obtaining TAR is not sufficient. In case TAR is not yet submitted, submit the same with condonation of delay petition explaining resonable cause for the delay of few days.

AI Summary

Late e-return penalties avoidable where return filed before year-end and audit report timely submitted, with condonation for short delay.
Avoidance of the late-filing penalty requires filing the corporate electronic return before the relevant year-end; avoidance of the penalty for failure to furnish a tax audit report requires actual submission of the tax audit report by the prescribed audit-report deadline (mere obtaining of the report is insufficient). If the audit report is not yet submitted, it should be filed with a condonation of delay petition explaining reasonable cause for the short delay, taking account of any regional extensions of the filing deadline.