Revised, Belated or Updated Return: Which One Fixes Your ITR, and By When

Quick answer

Three instruments, and picking the wrong one usually costs you the right one.

• Revised return (s.139(5)) — you filed, and what you filed is wrong or incomplete. For AY 2026-27, until 31 March 2027, or until your assessment is completed, whichever is earlier.
• Belated return (s.139(4)) — you never filed at all. For AY 2026-27, 31 December 2026, with a fee under section 234F and the loss of that year's carry-forward.
• Updated return, ITR-U (s.139(8A)) — both windows have shut and you still have income to report. It moves in one direction only: it cannot reduce your liability.

The number most people get wrong is the first. 31 December is not the revised-return deadline. It stopped being that for AY 2026-27.

Who this page is for

Someone who filed and then found the mistake — a missing interest entry, an understated capital gain, an AIS line nobody reconciled — or someone who watched the due date go past. If the due date is still ahead of you, start with our guide to filing an income tax return; if a notice has arrived, see income tax notices and how to respond.

Which year, which Act: settle this first

Calendar 2026 contains two live tax years running under two statutes, and every deadline here sits on one side of that line.

The Income-tax Act, 2025 commenced on 1 April 2026 under its own section 1(3). It does not reach back to AY 2026-27. That year is the income of FY 2025-26 and stays under the Income-tax Act, 1961 — for the return, for revising it, and for connected proceedings including ones begun after 1 April 2026. Section 536(2)(c) of the 2025 Act preserves the repealed Act for "any proceedings initiated on after the 1st April, 2026 … in respect of any tax year beginning before the 1st April, 2026", the gazette's own wording, drafting slip and all.

The first question, then, is which year you are fixing.

The three instruments, side by side

Both fee provisions split at ₹5 lakh of total income: ₹1,000 at or below it, ₹5,000 above.

Revised return: the window now runs to the end of the assessment year

The rule for AY 2026-27

Section 139(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as substituted by section 5(b) of the Finance Act, 2026 with effect from 1 March 2026:

If any person, having furnished a return under sub-section (1) or sub-section (4), discovers any omission or any wrong statement therein, he may, subject to the provisions of section 234-I, furnish a revised return at any time before the end of the relevant assessment year or before the completion of the assessment, whichever is earlier.

The end of the relevant assessment year is 31 March 2027. The Memorandum to the Finance Bill, 2026 states the amendment applies for assessment year 2026-27 (previous year 2025-26), and the Department's e-filing help page gives the same date — though it still footnotes the change as proposed in the Finance Bill, 2026, which is stale: the Bill received assent on 30 March 2026.

Note the words "a return under sub-section (1) or sub-section (4)": sub-section (4) is the belated return, and it matters more than anything else here.

What was superseded. For AY 2021-22 through AY 2025-26 the limit was nine months from the end of the previous year. That rule was right, and it is behind us. Anything giving 31 December as the revision cut-off is describing an older year.

The same rule, a year later, for tax year 2026-27

Section 263(5) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, as substituted by section 66(b) of the Finance Act, 2026:

If any person, having furnished a return under sub-section (1) or (4), discovers any omission or any wrong statement therein, he may, subject to the provisions of section 428(b), furnish a revised return at any time within twelve months from the end of the relevant tax year, or before the completion of the assessment, whichever is earlier.

Twelve months from the end of tax year 2026-27 is 31 March 2028. Same substance; the 2025 Act has no assessment year, so the limit is expressed as a period.

"Or completion of assessment, whichever is earlier"

Read the calendar limb and you plan around March. Read the second limb and you plan around next week.

Once the return has been processed and the assessment completed, the right to revise ends, even though 31 March 2027 has not arrived, and nothing gives it back. A simple salaried return can be processed within weeks of filing, so the practical window usually runs from the date you filed. The rule that follows is worth more than any date on this page: reconcile first, then file, and if you find a mistake afterwards, revise immediately.

What a revision costs

Nothing, if you revise on or before 31 December 2026 for AY 2026-27.

After that, the new section 234-I, inserted by section 16 of the Finance Act, 2026, charges ₹1,000 where total income does not exceed ₹5 lakh and ₹5,000 in any other case. The 2025 Act twin is section 428(b), substituted by section 96 of the Finance Act, 2026, at the same amounts, for a revision furnished beyond nine months from the end of the tax year.

One caveat, stated honestly. Section 234-I as enacted measures its months from the end of the assessment year, while section 139(5) caps revision at the end of that same year — read literally, the fee could never bite. The 2025 Act twin measures from the end of the tax year, and the Memorandum speaks of nine months from the end of the relevant tax year, so the evident intent is nine months from the end of the previous year. We therefore state the fee functionally, rather than reproducing the section's own wording as though it were operative.

Belated return: for the year you never filed

Section 139(4) lets you file up to 31 December 2026 for AY 2026-27, or until the assessment is completed if earlier. Under the 2025 Act, section 263(4) gives nine months from the end of the tax year. Two consequences follow, and the second is usually the larger.

• The fee. Section 234F: ₹1,000 if total income does not exceed ₹5 lakh, ₹5,000 otherwise. Section 428(a) of the 2025 Act carries the same amounts.
• The carry-forward. A late return forfeits the carry-forward of that year's losses. For a salaried filer due a refund, that is nothing. For a business with a loss year, or an investor with capital losses to bank against future gains, it can dwarf the fee.

No version of a belated return avoids the second. If carrying a loss forward is the point, the due date is not a soft deadline.

The genuinely new part: a belated return can now be revised

Until the Finance Act, 2026 the revised and belated deadlines fell on the same day — both nine months from the end of the previous year — so someone who filed belatedly at the end of that window and then found an error had no revision window left at all. The Memorandum to the Finance Bill, 2026 describes exactly this: because the timelines coincided, a person filing a belated return at the end was not having the opportunity to revise the return of income.

The two dates have now come apart. Belated filing still ends on 31 December 2026 for AY 2026-27; revision runs on to 31 March 2027 — and section 139(5) expressly covers a return furnished under sub-section (4). So a belated return filed in October or November 2026 can be revised afterwards, provided the assessment has not been completed.

Two cautions. The assessment limb still applies, and a belated return filed late in the year may be processed quickly, which makes the gap between the two dates theoretical. And revising does not make the return timely — do not assume it restores the carry-forward that late filing forfeited. Nothing in the amendment says it does; if that matters to you, get the position confirmed first.

Updated return (ITR-U): the last resort, and the one that only goes one way

An updated return under section 139(8A) of the 1961 Act, or section 263(6) of the 2025 Act, is available whether or not you filed an original, belated or revised return. The window is long: 48 months from the end of the financial year succeeding the relevant tax year. For the income of FY 2025-26 the succeeding financial year ends 31 March 2027, so the outer limit is 31 March 2031 — check the arithmetic for your own year.

What it cannot do

An updated return cannot produce an enhanced loss, decrease your total tax liability, or increase a refund. And only one may be filed per tax year.

The design is obvious. ITR-U declares income you left out and pays the tax on it. It is not a route for a deduction you forgot or an over-payment you want back — if the correction runs in your own favour, the revised return is the only instrument that carries it.

What it costs

Additional income-tax under section 140B of the 1961 Act, or section 267 of the 2025 Act, on top of the tax and interest otherwise due. The rate escalates with how late the update is, and it is charged on the aggregate of tax and interest, not on the unreported income:

These four tiers, and the extension of the outer limit from 24 to 48 months, come from the Memorandum to the Finance Bill, 2025, section VIII — "Extending the time-limit to file the updated return" — cited below. Two honest caveats. First, the Memorandum is a Bill document: it states the proposal, and we have not separately read the enacted text of section 140B, so treat the tiers as reliable for planning and confirm the exact figure in the utility before you pay. Second, the Memorandum also records that no updated return may be furnished where a show-cause notice under section 148A has been issued after 36 months from the end of the relevant assessment year — unless an order under section 148A(3) determines it is not a fit case for a section 148 notice, in which case the 48-month window remains open.

Note how sharply this escalates: on the same unreported income, updating in month 40 costs nearly three times the additional tax of updating in month 10. Delay is the expensive part.

Two additions made by the Finance Act, 2026

1. An updated return may be furnished in response to a notice under section 148, within the period specified in that notice. Where it is, the additional income-tax under section 140B(3) is increased by a further 10% of the aggregate of tax and interest, under the new section 140B(3A).
2. An updated return may now have the effect of reducing a loss. Note the precision: the bar on producing an enhanced loss stands; what is permitted is bringing a declared loss down.

If a section 148 notice brought you here, the notice sets its own period — our guide to income tax notices covers the triage, and we reply to notices where the position needs arguing.

E-verification: the 30-day rule that can make a timely return late

Every return here — original, belated and revised alike — must be verified, and the clock is short: thirty days from the date of filing, under Notification No. 2/2024 dated 31 March 2024, effective 1 April 2024. The Department's wording carries two consequences that are easy to miss:

Where the return of income is uploaded within due date but e-verified or ITR-V submitted after 30 days of uploading, in such cases the date of e-verification/ITR-V submission shall be treated as the date of furnishing the return of income.

Where the return of income is not verified after uploading, such return shall be treated as invalid, although a condonation request can be submitted for genuine delays.

So a return uploaded on 31 July 2026 and verified on 5 September 2026 was furnished on 5 September — late, with the section 234F fee and the forfeited carry-forward, and nothing about the upload date saves it.

The same logic points at an uncomfortable edge for revisions: a revised return uploaded on 30 March 2027 and verified in April is at real risk of being treated as furnished outside the window that closed on 31 March. We have seen no departmental clarification on that combination, so we will not tell you how it resolves — only what follows: verify the same day you file.

Where rectification fits, and a citation in dispute

None of the three instruments is right when your return was correct and the processing was not — a TDS credit claimed and not given, a challan not picked up, an adjustment you disagree with. That is a rectification. For AY 2026-27 the provision is section 154 of the Income-tax Act, 1961; section 536(2)(c) of the 2025 Act names rectification expressly among the preserved proceedings.

If the 2025 Act provision has to be cited, there is a live contradiction, because you may meet both citations in the wild:

• The gazette text of the Income-tax Act, 2025 puts rectification at section 287, empowering an income-tax authority to amend an order passed by it, an intimation or deemed intimation under section 270(1), or an intimation under section 399.
• The Department's own e-Proceeding FAQ cites section 284. In the gazette, section 284 names the specified authority — Additional Commissioner, Additional Director, Joint Commissioner or Joint Director — for sections 280 and 281, the reassessment approval function, not rectification.

We treat the gazette as controlling and cite section 287, disclosing the discrepancy rather than quietly picking a side. For AY 2026-27 the point is academic: the answer there is section 154. Our notices guide covers the rectification route and its limitation in detail.

Worked examples

Example 1 — Revising in October: no fee

Assumptions: salaried individual, no business income, AY 2026-27; original return filed 20 July 2026 within the 31 July due date and e-verified the same day; total income as revised ₹11,80,000; no intimation issued yet; a ₹46,000 fixed-deposit interest entry visible in the AIS was omitted.

Both limbs are open: 31 March 2027 has not arrived, and no assessment has been completed. A revised return is filed on 9 October 2026 and e-verified the same day. Because it is furnished on or before 31 December 2026, no fee arises under section 234-I. The tax on the omitted interest is payable, but the correction is free. What made it cheap was noticing early.

Example 2 — Revising in February: the fee applies

Assumptions: the same individual and the same omission, AY 2026-27, total income ₹11,80,000, which is above ₹5 lakh; the mistake surfaces on a Form 26AS review in February 2027; no assessment completed.

The revised return is filed on 12 February 2027, still inside the window, so the right to revise is intact. But it is beyond 31 December 2026, so the section 234-I fee applies: total income exceeds ₹5 lakh, so ₹5,000. Had total income been ₹4,60,000, it would have been ₹1,000. Same mistake, four months later, ₹5,000 more: not a cliff, a toll.

Example 3 — Belated in November, then revised in February

Assumptions: individual with non-audit professional income, AY 2026-27, due date 31 August 2026, nothing filed by then; total income as finally returned ₹7,20,000; belated return filed 18 November 2026; an omitted capital gain discovered in February 2027; no assessment completed at any point.

Two instruments in sequence — a sequence that was not possible before the Finance Act, 2026.

• Belated return, 18 November 2026. Section 139(4), inside the 31 December 2026 window. Section 234F fee ₹5,000, total income being above ₹5 lakh. That year's losses cannot be carried forward.
• Revised return, February 2027. Section 139(5) as substituted covers a return furnished under sub-section (4), so the belated return can be revised. Inside the 31 March 2027 window, no assessment completed, and beyond 31 December 2026 — so the section 234-I fee of ₹5,000 applies on top.

₹10,000 of fees, two sections, two defaults. Before the amendment the February correction would not have existed: the belated return would have been the last word.

Example 4 — The assessment closes the window before the calendar does

Assumptions: individual, AY 2026-27; salaried return filed 12 July 2026 and e-verified the same day; processed and the section 143(1) intimation issued September 2026; an under-reported capital gain found in January 2027.

January 2027 is well before 31 March 2027, and it does not help: the assessment limb closed first. What remains is rectification under section 154 if the processing was wrong, or an updated return if income was genuinely omitted.

Example 5 — A year past both windows

Assumptions: individual, income of FY 2025-26 (AY 2026-27); it is now late 2028; a return was filed and assessed; ₹3,00,000 of freelance receipts visible in the AIS were never reported; a deduction is also believed to have been under-claimed by ₹40,000 in the same year.

Both windows shut long ago. What remains is an updated return under section 139(8A), inside the 48-month outer limit. It will carry the ₹3,00,000 of unreported receipts and the additional income-tax under section 140B. Work the tier from the end of the assessment year, not from the filing date: AY 2026-27 ended 31 March 2027, so late 2028 is roughly twenty months on — inside the 12-to-24-month band, at 50% of the aggregate of tax and interest. Let it drift past 31 March 2029 and the same correction moves to 60%, and past 31 March 2030 to 70%. Confirm the figure in the utility before paying.

It will not carry the ₹40,000 deduction: an updated return cannot decrease total tax liability or increase a refund. That relief went with the revision window, and because only one update may be filed, there is no second attempt if the first is wrong.

Common mistakes

• Treating 31 December as the revision deadline. It is the belated-return deadline under section 139(4), and the point after which revising costs a fee under section 234-I. Revision runs to 31 March 2027 for AY 2026-27.
• Planning around 31 March and ignoring the assessment limb. Processing ends the right to revise, often within weeks of filing.
• Assuming ITR-U is a general second chance. It cannot reduce your tax, increase a refund or produce an enhanced loss, and you get one per year.
• Filing and forgetting to verify. Thirty days, and the verification date becomes the furnishing date if you overshoot.
• Using a rectification where a revised return belongs. Rectification is for a mistake in the Department's order or intimation, not one of yours.
• Believing the Income-tax Act, 2025 governs an AY 2026-27 return. It governs tax year 2026-27.

What this page does not claim

We have not read the enacted text of section 140B itself. The additional-tax tiers above are sourced to the Memorandum to the Finance Bill, 2025 — an official budget document, but a Bill document rather than the statute. They are stated for planning; confirm the exact figure in the e-filing utility before paying.

We have not reproduced section 234-I's own months-from-assessment-year-end wording as operative, because on a literal reading it would never bite. We have not asserted that revising a belated return restores the forfeited carry-forward. And we have not silently resolved the section 287 versus section 284 discrepancy — the gazette says 287, the Department's FAQ says 284, and you now know both.

If the amount at stake justifies it, we file revised returns, reconciling what was filed against the AIS, Form 26AS and your books. For a year you have not filed at all, income tax return filing is the starting point, and e-filing support covers the portal mechanics.

Sources and currency

Applies to: Assessment year 2026-27 (income of FY 2025-26), governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961, and tax year 2026-27 (income of FY 2026-27), governed by the Income-tax Act, 2025. The revised-return and fee provisions described here were substituted or inserted by the Finance Act, 2026.

Every deadline, section number and fee on this page was read from the Gazette of India text of the Finance Act, 2026 and the Income-tax Act, 2025, and checked against the Income Tax Department's own e-filing guidance, on 19 August 2026. Where the Department's portal and the gazette disagree, the disagreement is disclosed on the page rather than resolved silently. Income-tax provisions change at each Finance Act; confirm the current position before relying on a date for a filing.

• Finance Act, 2026 (No. 4 of 2026) — Gazette of India Extraordinary, 30 March 2026 (s.5 and s.6 amending s.139 and s.140B; s.16 inserting s.234-I; s.66 amending s.263; s.96 substituting s.428)
• Income-tax Act, 2025 (No. 30 of 2025) — Gazette of India Extraordinary, 21 August 2025 (s.1(3) commencement, s.263 returns, s.287 rectification, s.428 fees, s.536 repeal and savings)
• Memorandum to the Finance Bill, 2026 — extending the period for filing a revised return
• Memorandum to the Finance Bill, 2025, section VIII — "Extending the time-limit to file the updated return": the s.139(8A) outer limit moved from 24 to 48 months, with additional income-tax of 25% up to 12 months, 50% up to 24 months, 60% up to 36 months and 70% up to 48 months from the end of the relevant assessment year, and the s.148A bar after 36 months
• Income Tax Department, e-filing portal — Income Tax Returns
• Income Tax Department, e-filing portal — ITR-V and the 30-day timeline for e-verification