Filing & Compliance · Section 182 · Tax Year 2026-2027
Late Filing Penalty Calculator
Estimate the penalty for filing your income tax return after the due date — the higher of 0.1% of tax payable or Rs 1,000 per day, with the statutory minimum, the 200% cap, the early-filing reductions and the Section 182A surcharge to get back on the Active Taxpayers List.
Step by step
How the penalty is worked out
Enter this year’s and last year’s tax
The penalty base is the higher of the two (Finance Act 2026).
Enter days late
How many days after the due date the return was (or would be) filed.
Daily charge
The higher of 0.1% of the base per day or Rs 1,000 per day, floored at Rs 10,000 (mostly salary) or Rs 50,000, capped at 200% of the base.
Early-filing reduction
75% off within one month, 50% within two, 25% within three. The Section 182A ATL surcharge is shown alongside.
Reading the result
The penalty is rarely the largest cost
The Section 182 figure is visible and finite. What usually costs more is being off the Active Taxpayer List for the period, because non-filer withholding rates then apply to everything you do — banking, property, vehicles, utilities, contracts.
For anyone with ordinary transactional activity, a year outside the list can cost a multiple of the penalty itself, and most of that extra is money that could have been recovered had the return been filed.
Filing late still beats not filing
The penalty is capped, and it stops growing. The withholding differential does not — it keeps applying for as long as you are off the list. Filing late restores your status and stops the larger bleed, which is why "I have missed the deadline, so there is no point now" is the expensive conclusion.
No tax payable does not mean no obligation
A return showing nil liability still has to be filed if you are required to file. The minimum penalty exists precisely for that case, and people who assume a nil return is optional are the ones who find they were accruing a penalty for a year.
Where this stops
This estimates the Section 182 charge. Default surcharge on tax paid late is separate and runs alongside it — one is for filing late, the other for paying late, and both can apply at once.
FAQs
Late filing penalty FAQs
What is the Section 182 late filing penalty?
For a return filed after the due date, Serial 1 of Section 182 charges the higher of 0.1% of the tax payable for each day of default or Rs 1,000 per day, subject to a minimum and a maximum, and reduced if the return arrives within three months of the due date.
What is the minimum penalty?
Rs 50,000, or Rs 10,000 for an individual whose income is 75% or more from salary. The minimum applies even when the daily amount works out to less.
Is there a maximum penalty?
Yes — the penalty cannot exceed 200% of the tax payable for the year.
What does "tax payable" mean here?
Finance Act 2026 redefined it as the higher of the tax chargeable on this year's taxable income and the tax payable for the immediately preceding tax year for which you duly filed a return. A good year last year therefore sets the floor for this year's penalty base — enter both figures.
Do I get a discount for filing only a little late?
Yes — the penalty is reduced by 75% if the return is filed within one month of the (extended) due date, 50% within two months and 25% within three months. This calculator treats each month as 30 days.
What is the ATL surcharge and is it the same thing?
No. Section 182A separately bars a late filer from the Active Taxpayers List for that year unless a surcharge is paid: Finance Act 2026 raised it to Rs 25,000 for an individual, Rs 50,000 for an AOP and Rs 100,000 for a company (from Rs 1,000 / 10,000 / 20,000). An individual can avoid it by giving the Commissioner an undertaking not to acquire any property for six months.
Does this apply if I have no tax payable?
The minimum penalty is still chargeable in principle, though the 200% cap reads as nil when the tax payable is nil — practice varies, so confirm your position with a tax advisor. Exclusion from the Active Taxpayers List applies regardless.
Related tools
Also paid your tax late?
See the separate default surcharge that applies on unpaid tax.
Open Default Surcharge Calculator